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Note: We're always looking for ways to improve our blog, so as of today, May 2, 2014, we will end each blog with a new addition, On This Date in Sports History....., We hope that you'll enjoy it.
Sports Quote of the Day:
"Nothing can substitute for just plain hard work. I had to put in the time to get back. And it was a grind. It meant training and sweating every day. But I was completely committed to working out to prove to myself that I still could do it." ~ Andre Agassi, Retired and Former World #1 Professional Tennis Player
How 'bout them Chicago Blackhawks? Wild-Blackhawks Preview
By JAY COHEN (AP Sports Writer)
Patrick Sharp thought the Chicago Blackhawks were going to play the Colorado Avalanche. Then he thought they were going to play the Minnesota Wild. Then he thought they were going to play the Avs again, and on and on it went.
While the Wild and Avalanche played an epic Game 7 on Wednesday night, the Blackhawks were hanging on every goal.
''It was crazy. Back and forth. Every time there was a goal scored, I was thinking we were playing that team or the other team, right down to the very end,'' Sharp said.
The very end had the Wild celebrating after Nino Niederreiter's second goal of the game lifted Minnesota to a 5-4 overtime win at Colorado, setting up a rematch from last year's playoffs. Minnesota lost to Chicago in five games in the first round, and the Blackhawks went on to win their second NHL title in four seasons.
''It is definitely a different team,'' Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. ''You got to commend them on how they played at the end of the year to get themselves in the playoffs. Had a great run and had a lot of momentum going into that series, and they played a great series.''
Minnesota became the first team in NHL history to record four tying goals in Game 7 of a Stanley Cup playoff series, according to STATS. The Wild also advanced for the first time since they made it to the Western Conference finals in 2003.
''We don't want to make a habit of continually getting down in a game but we kept fighting and got some timely goals,'' star forward Zach Parise said.
Next up is Game 1 of the conference semifinals on Friday night in Chicago, where the Blackhawks practiced Thursday without captain Jonathan Toews. Quenneville said the center was ''a little under the weather'' and would play in the opener.
The big question for the Wild was the status of goaltender Darcy Kuemper, who left midway through the third period of Game 7 with an injury. Ilya Bryzgalov, who started the first two games against Colorado, came in and made one save in the final 13:15 to help Minnesota advance.
Here are five things to watch in the Wild-Blackhawks series:
SCHEDULING: The Blackhawks closed out the Blues with a 5-1 victory in Game 6 on Sunday, and then rested for two days before returning to practice on Wednesday. The Wild had that incredible Game 7 against Colorado, and then traveled to Chicago with a short turnaround before Game 1 of the second-round series. With Game 2 on Sunday afternoon, Chicago could jump on a weary Minnesota team to quickly grab control of the series, or the Wild could use the momentum from their first-round escape to steal home-ice advantage from the rusty Blackhawks.
''It could work either way,'' Sharp said. ''You've seen teams come and then really ride that momentum from the previous series and you've seen the opposite happen.''
SCORING: Wild star Zach Parise had 10 points in the first round against Colorado, but only managed one goal in the last year's playoff series against Chicago. The 29-year-old forward has four goals and two assists in 20 career games against the Blackhawks. Parise had plenty of miserable company last postseason. Captain Mikko Koivu was shut out against the Blackhawks, finishing with a minus-six rating for the five games. Star defenseman Ryan Suter also was held without a point.
GOALTENDING: While Minnesota is uncertain about its situation in net, Corey Crawford is rolling for Chicago. He had a big shutout in Game 3 of the first round against St. Louis, and stopped 35 shots in Sunday's clinching 5-1 win. Crawford is third in the NHL with a 1.98 goals-against average and a .935 save percentage in the postseason.
HISTORY: Chicago (107 points) placed third in the Central Division, right above Minnesota (98) in fourth. But the Wild went 3-1-1 against the Blackhawks this season. They won three of the first four meetings before a 3-2 shootout loss at Chicago on April 3.
OVERTIME: Not only did Minnesota go the distance against Colorado, but four of the games went to overtime. Chicago also played four overtimes against St. Louis in the first round, including a 4-3 loss in Game 1 that required three extra periods.
Minnesota Wild Vs. Chicago Blackhawks Television Playoff Schedule.
Chicago Tribune
Round 2 Stanley Cup Playoffs
Game 2, Sunday: Wild at Blackhawks, 2 p.m. (NBC)
Game 3, Tuesday: Blackhawks at Wild, 8 p.m. (CNBC)
Game 4, Friday, May 9: Blackhawks at Wild, TBD
Game 5, Sunday, May 11-*: Wild at Blackhawks, TBD
Game 6, Tuesday, May 13-*: Blackhawks at Wild, TBD
Game 7, Thursday, May 15-*: Wild at Blackhawks, TBD
*-if necessary
By Jay Patt
It wasn't supposed to end like this. The team with the heart, hustle and muscle got outhearted (don't think that's a real word), outhustled and outmuscled in a dreadful 75-69 Game 5 loss against the Wizards at the United Center that has the Bulls "Gone Fishin'" at least a few weeks earlier than most expected.
I was in the building Tuesday night, and let me tell you, those last few minutes of the fourth quarter were some of the most excruciating I've ever witnessed in person. After D.J. Augustin cut the Bulls' deficit to three with just over two minutes left, this happened:
- The Bulls gave up three offensive rebounds on one possession (thanks, Carlos Boozer) before a Bradley Beal turnover, which chopped about a minute-and-a-half off the game clock
- Boozer got his shot blocked at the rim
- The Wizards committed a shot-clock violation
- Jimmy Butler missed the 358953457th layup of the game
- Andre Miller missed two free throws, only for Nene to get an offensive rebound. Beal split a pair of free throws, only for Nene to get an offensive rebound. John Wall made two free throws, sealing the Bulls' fate.
- Joakim Noah, who dragged ass around the court with a knee injury for most of the second half, committed a turnover to end the season.
As galling as the Wizards' own incompetence was in closing this game out, the Bulls were somehow even worse. Watching the Wizards get offensive rebound after offensive rebound after offensive rebound after offensive rebound after offensive rebound was absolutely surreal. But I guess that's what happens when your center is playing his 42nd and 43rd minutes on one leg and the other big man on the court, who was only playing because of a brutal injury to Taj Gibson, has one foot out the door. Things were so bad I gave Kirk Hinrich a somewhat substantial ovation after he fouled out simply because he was one of the few Bulls to actually play decently well on the night.
I guess that's also what can happen when a team goes full bore over the last few months of the season to achieve the best regular-season record possible. Many of us worried about the use of "playoff rotations" throughout the latter half of the year, wondering if that would come back to bite the Bulls in the rear end. We questioned whether the Bulls had that extra gear. It was apparent that they didn't, and even Tom Thibodeau admitted after the game that "there was nothing left."
Of course, one could argue that even if the Bulls "had something left," it wouldn't have mattered. The Wizards have their own problems, but it's pretty clear that they were the more talented team, and I admit I underestimated them. John Wall's shot selection leaves quite a bit to be desired, but he generally controlled the series at the point. Beal was awesome, leaving me to yearn for a player of his ilk. Trevor Ariza was a killer for most of the series. Marcin Gortat often has issues simply hanging on to the ball and bricked quite a few layups, but he made plenty of other key contributions. Nene ate up Noah, and while Jo's injury may have had something to do with that, I don't want to take too much away from Nene. The guy was a monster and was huge in Game 5 after sitting out Game 4 because he was a dope for fighting Butler. In addition to the starters, the Wizards got some nice contributions from the bench, notably Miller, Trevor Booker and Martell Webster.
I thought the Bulls would be able to survive despite the talent gap because of how they thrived during the second half of the season. Hard work, defense, timely offense and coaching would propel them to at least the second round. But the normally stingy Bulls' defense wasn't up to snuff, they were uncharacteristically beat to numerous loose balls and the timely offense was essentially nowhere to be found outside of some big Butler threes in Game 3. As for the coaching, this wasn't Thibodeau's finest hour, and his insistence on sticking with Boozer in the starting lineup even when things were dire is something that confounded even Wizards fans. And I must give some credit to the oft-maligned Randy Wittman for making some key adjustments that helped the Wizards win.
Now that I think more about it, perhaps this was a fitting way for this Derrick Rose-less and Luol Deng-less season to end. The try super hard team that relies on a center to play point guard and a retread to carry the team offensively bows out in the first round because the offense sucks, guys are hurt and there's nothing left in the tank. Yeah, perhaps we should have seen this coming given the roster construction, but these guys played SO well in 2014 that it really had me thinking they could make a deep playoff run. I've told myself before that I wouldn't get fooled again by regular-season success. I got fooled again.
However, I don't want to take too much away from what the team accomplished this year. After Rose went down again and the team looked dead in the water, I had my sights set on the lottery. But the team never quit, and they were able to provide some truly memorable moments. Watching Noah and Gibson grow was a lot of fun. Augustin's regular-season renaissance was a lot of fun. Even if getting to 48 wins may have sapped the Bulls of their energy for the postseason, just getting to that number was pretty remarkable given the woeful start.
But now I'm looking toward the future, and I'm ready for some changes. We've made fun of the #2014Plan for several years on this site, but this truly is a key offseason for this franchise. As the Bulls FO likes to say, they have "flexibility." They can amnesty Boozer. They own the rights to Nikola Mirotic and two first-rounders. They can and should make a play for Carmelo Anthony. There are options here, and it'll be interesting to see how things play out.
Whatever route the Bulls choose, acquiring more offense is sure to be the name of the game. Obviously a healthy Derrick Rose will help things, but there are still so many questions surrounding his future. And even if Rose comes back close to his MVP self, it's clear the Bulls still need more offensive weapons. Sign offense, trade for offense, draft offense...whatever. Defensive-minded guys are great and all, but Thibodeau could probably teach a chair to play defense. Just get some guys who can put the ball in the damn basket.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Welcome to the Finger-Wagging Olympics. What's your take?
It's time to look at ourselves — and our collective moral outrage — in the mirror, says former NBA player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Moral outrage is exhausting. And dangerous. The whole country has gotten a severe case of carpal tunnel syndrome from the newest popular sport of Extreme Finger Wagging. Not to mention the neck strain from Olympic tryouts for Morally Superior Head Shaking. All over the latest in a long line of rich white celebrities to come out of the racist closet. (Was it only a couple days ago that Cliven Bundy said blacks would be better off picking cotton as slaves? And only last June Paula Deen admitted using the “N” word?)
Yes, I’m angry, too, but not just about the sins of Donald Sterling. I’ve got a list. But let’s start with Sterling. I used to work for him, back in 2000 when I coached for the Clippers for three months. He was congenial, even inviting me to his daughter’s wedding. Nothing happened or was said to indicate he suffered from IPMS (Irritable Plantation Master Syndrome). Since then, a lot has been revealed about Sterling’s business practices:
- 2006: U.S. Dept. of Justice sued Sterling for housing discrimination. Allegedly, he said, “Black tenants smell and attract vermin.”
- 2009: He reportedly paid $2.73 million in a Justice Dept. suit alleging he discriminated against blacks, Hispanics, and families with children in his rentals. (He also had to pay an additional nearly $5 million in attorneys fees and costs due to his counsel’s “sometimes outrageous conduct.”)
- 2009: Clippers executive (and one of the greatest NBA players in history) sued for employment discrimination based on age and race.
And now the poor guy’s girlfriend (undoubtedly ex-girlfriend now) is on tape cajoling him into revealing his racism. Man, what a winding road she led him down to get all of that out. She was like a sexy nanny playing “pin the fried chicken on the Sambo.” She blindfolded him and spun him around until he was just blathering all sorts of incoherent racist sound bites that had the news media peeing themselves with glee.
I don’t blame them. I’m doing some whooping right now. Racists deserve to be paraded around the modern town square of the television screen so that the rest of us who believe in the American ideals of equality can be reminded that racism is still a disease that we haven’t yet licked.
What bothers me about this whole Donald Sterling affair isn’t just his racism. I’m bothered that everyone acts as if it’s a huge surprise. Now there’s all this dramatic and very public rending of clothing about whether they should keep their expensive Clippers season tickets. Really? All this other stuff I listed above has been going on for years and this ridiculous conversation with his girlfriend is what puts you over the edge? That’s the smoking gun?
He was discriminating against black and Hispanic families for years, preventing them from getting housing. It was public record. We did nothing. Suddenly he says he doesn’t want his girlfriend posing with Magic Johnson on Instagram and we bring out the torches and rope. Shouldn’t we have all called for his resignation back then?
Shouldn’t we be equally angered by the fact that his private, intimate conversation was taped and then leaked to the media? Didn’t we just call to task the NSA for intruding into American citizen’s privacy in such an un-American way? Although the impact is similar to Mitt Romney’s comments that were secretly taped, the difference is that Romney was giving a public speech. The making and release of this tape is so sleazy that just listening to it makes me feel like an accomplice to the crime. We didn’t steal the cake but we’re all gorging ourselves on it.
Make no mistake: Donald Sterling is the villain of this story. But he’s just a handmaiden to the bigger evil. In our quest for social justice, we shouldn’t lose sight that racism is the true enemy. He’s just another jerk with more money than brains.
So, if we’re all going to be outraged, let’s be outraged that we weren’t more outraged when his racism was first evident. Let’s be outraged that private conversations between people in an intimate relationship are recorded and publicly played. Let’s be outraged that whoever did the betraying will probably get a book deal, a sitcom, trade recipes with Hoda and Kathie Lee, and soon appear on Celebrity Apprentice and Dancing with the Stars.
The big question is “What should be done next?” I hope Sterling loses his franchise. I hope whoever made this illegal tape is sent to prison. I hope the Clippers continue to be unconditionally supported by their fans. I hope the Clippers realize that the ramblings of an 80-year-old man jealous of his young girlfriend don’t define who they are as individual players or as a team. They aren’t playing for Sterling—they’re playing for themselves, for the fans, for showing the world that neither basketball, nor our American ideals, are defined by a few pathetic men or women.
Let’s use this tawdry incident to remind ourselves of the old saying: “Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom.” Instead of being content to punish Sterling and go back to sleep, we need to be inspired to vigilantly seek out, expose, and eliminate racism at its first signs.
Chicago Sports & Travel, Inc./AllsportsAmerica Take: We're not going to beat a dead horse to death, everyone in the world that pays attention to sports know what the current issue is this week with regards to the NBA; "The Donald Sterling Tapes." President Obama was even asked about it at a press conference on his recent trip to Asia. The above article highlights several sides of this issue. Many people will jump on this incident for financial gain, to gain notoriety and to get their 15 minutes of fame. The NBA commissioner has started the ball rolling by taking a sincere and severe stand fining and banning Mr. Sterling from the NBA for life. Let's build on his lead and continue to move forward in an effort to heal another of society's nasty wounds called racism. Simply put, to quote the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., "Never, never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way." That's what we think, we'd love to know, what's your take? Marion P. Jelks, CS&T/AA Blog Editor
Kentucky Derby 140 draw, starting positions and morning-line odds.
By Jessie Oswald
We now know from which post each of the Kentucky Derby 140 contenders will start from and the odds installed upon each.
As expected, Santa Anita Derby (G1) winner California Chrome has been installed as the favorite at odds of 5-2. He’ll break from post 5 under jockey Victor Espinoza for trainer Art Sherman.
This year's edition of the Kentucky Derby includes several local trainers to note:
Louisville-based trainer Dale Romans drew post 14 for his Transylvania (G3) winner and Blue Grass Stakes (G1) runner-up Medal Count. Jockey Robby Albarado has the mount.
Ride On Curlin, trained by Bill Gowan, a resident of nearby Shepherdsville, will break from post 19 under jockey Calvin Borel.
Louisville-based trainer Mike Maker received post position 1 for Vicar's in Trouble at odds of 30-1, post 8 for General A Rod at odds of 15-1 and post 2 for Harry's Holiday at odds of 50-1.
Dallas Stewart, another Louisville trainer, drew post 17 for Commanding Curve at odds of 50-1.
A full listing of post positions, jockeys, trainers and morning-line odds follows:
| Post | Horse | Jockey | Trainer | Odds |
| 1 | Vicar’s In Trouble | Rosie Napravnik | Mike Maker | 30-1 |
| 2 | Harry’s Holiday | Mike Maker | Corey Lanerie | 50-1 |
| 3 | Uncle Sigh | Irad Ortiz, Jr. | Gary Contessa | 30-1 |
| 4 | Danza | Joe Bravo | Todd Pletcher | 10-1 |
| 5 | California Chrome | Victor Espinoza | Art Sherman | 5-2 |
| 6 | Samraat | Jose Ortiz | Rick Violette | 15-1 |
| 7 | We Miss Artie | Javier Castellano | Todd Pletcher | 50-1 |
| 8 | General A Rod | Joel Rosario | Mike Maker | 15-1 |
| 9 | Vinceremos | Joe Rocco, Jr. | Todd Pletcher | 30-1 |
| 10 | Wildcat Red | Luis Saez | Jose Garoffalo | 15-1 |
| 11 | Hoppertunity | Mike Smith | Bob Baffert | 6-1 |
| 12 | Dance With Fate | Corey Nakatani | Peter Eurton | 20-1 |
| 13 | Chitu | Martin Garcia | Bob Baffert | 20-1 |
| 14 | Medal Count | Robby Albarado | Dale Romans | 20-1 |
| 15 | Tapiture | Ricardo Santana, Jr. | Steve Asmussen | 15-1 |
| 16 | Intense Holiday | John Velazquez | Todd Pletcher | 12-1 |
| 17 | Commanding Curve | Shaun Bridgemohan | Dallas Stewart | 50-1 |
| 18 | Candy Boy | Gary Stevens | John Sadler | 20-1 |
| 19 | Ride On Curlin | Calvin Borel | Bill Gowan | 15-1 |
| 20 | Wicked Strong | Rajiv Maragh | James Jerkens | 8-1 |
| AE | Pablo Del Monte | Jeffrey Sanchez | Wesley Ward | 50-1 |
Post #11, Hoppertunity scratched due to injury, (Sore foot), 05/01/2014.
Note: Lines and odds are subject to change.
Bear Down Chicago Bears!!! Emery, Bears taking calls on possible first-round trade.
By Dan Wiederer, Tribune reporter
Chicago Bears general manager Phil Emery has hopes and dreams and realistic visions of what might be available to him with the 14th pick in next week's NFL draft.
On Thursday morning, during a pre-draft news conference at Halas Hall, Emery made it clear the Bears have a short list of six players they are zeroed in on at No. 14.
“I’d be happy that two out of the six were on the board at our pick,” Emery said. “And I’d be ecstatic if three of the six were on the board at our pick.”
But the Bears GM also made it clear he wasn’t fixated on staying at No. 14 if a valuable trade proposal comes his way and a chance to move down materialized.
“We’ve gotten some calls,” Emery asserted. “Other than working with our staff and our scouts on refining and fine-tuning our selection of players that we feel will be available in particular areas of the draft, we’re also working very hard at figuring out the scenarios of what works in terms of how far down we could go.”
With an eye on building his roster through the draft, Emery certainly wouldn’t be averse to adding more picks later in the draft. The Bears have seven selections – one in each of the first five rounds plus two in the sixth.
But Emery could part with that No. 14 pick and drop back a few slots with a hope of adding another selection later in the draft.
That would, of course, come with plenty of internal discussion and plenty of math.
“Just say in theory you go down six picks,” Emery said. “That means you have to count the pick you’re giving up as one and now you’re going to pick six picks later. So you have to have six picks on the board that have that graded value, that you’re comfortable taking. You have to come up with six players where I would take any one of those six. And you will rank order them. And you may end up with the last one on the list. But that last one? You better want. Or you shouldn’t trade. So if you don’t have that number of players that you feel good about, you shouldn’t trade.”
A trade up, Emery hinted, seems less likely for the Bears next week.
“Trade ups are expensive,” he said. “Obviously. You’d just have to feel like the player that you’re trading up for makes a dynamic difference in your team.”
Chicago White Sox: Hahn recognizes opportunities to win 'are sacred'.
By Scott Merkin / MLB.com
If the White Sox continue to play impressive baseball as they have over the first 27 games this season, general manager Rick Hahn and the White Sox front office will have an important decision to make.
Their reshaping program that began last season was aimed at sustaining long-term success and winning multiple championships, not just providing a quick fix. But if Hahn's '14 squad proves to be a viable contender, not fool's gold with a hot start as Hahn discussed as a barometer during Spring Training, then the White Sox might have to part with some of that young nucleus to supplement a current playoff push.
It's a balancing act, according to Hahn, who truly appreciates how sacred the chances are to win World Series titles along with White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf and executive vice president Ken Williams.
"We are still very early in the season. We are still getting to know our own club," Hahn told MLB.com on Tuesday. "We are still dealing with some health issues, both ones we already have dealt with and others that inevitably will spring up. We are still getting to know the rest of the division and the league and what they will look like.
"Should we get to the point one month, two months from now, where we are in this thing and we are forcing the issue in terms of a chance to win, where we feel like we have a legitimate chance to win, we absolutely will look at ways to improve those chances in '14. Would we mortgage the future to do that? Probably not.
"It really is a balancing act," Hahn said. "You don't want to pass on a chance to win. They are sacred. At the same time, this is a long-term proposition we are trying to build here, sustain over an extended period, and we don't want to hamper our ability to do that."
Hahn believes that if the White Sox are in a position to conceivably win sooner than others expect, it will be because of the performance of players who will be with the White Sox for an extended period. He also believes the organization has positions of depth, where even if they aren't looking to move young players, those needed to bring back veteran commodities in return, they have the depth in those areas to fill in if the move is necessary.
As for having money to spend in July, the White Sox haven't gotten to that point yet.
"Let's put it this way," Hahn said. "Over my now entering 14 years here, when we've had a chance to win, there have been resources available to augment and improve those chances. We haven't had the conversation yet in terms of how much we would need economically much less where exactly we would spend it."
Magical Cabrera in control at Quail Hollow.
By Andrew Both; Editing by Mark Lamport-Stokes and Frank Pingue
Twice major champion Angel Cabrera conjured up some of his old magic to seize the first round lead with a six-under-par 66 in the first round of the $6.9 million Wells Fargo Championship on Thursday.
The long-hitting veteran from Argentina reeled off four successive birdies around the turn to end the day one stroke in front of Americans Phil Mickelson and Martin Flores.
German Martin Kaymer, Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy and Englishman Justin Rose are among a group of nine players a further two shots back on an impressive leaderboard.
Cabrera, 44, has made few headlines since losing a playoff to Adam Scott at last year's Masters but he is still capable of matching it with the game's best on any given day.
"I played very well on the greens and saved myself on the holes that I didn't play so well," Cabrera, whose only two PGA Tour victories came at the highest level with the 2007 U.S. Open and the 2009 Masters, told reporters.
He had two birdies and one bogey in the first five holes at Quail Hollow before kickstarting his move up the leaderboard with a five-foot birdie putt at the par-five seventh.Cabrera then recorded four consecutive birdies from the ninth, three of them from close range, along with a monster 42-foot putt from the fringe at the 11th.
SUCCESSIVE EAGLES
Kaymer, who had consecutive eagles in his round, was unable to remember even having previously notched the rare feat.
"I don't think I've ever done that before," said Kaymer, who sank a 15-footer at the seventh hole and then holed out from 65 yards from the rough at the par-four eighth.
He considered his two eagles, which were bookended with bogeys, just reward for an otherwise frustrating day on the greens.
"I missed a lot of short putts today," he said. "I stayed in the tournament but overall it would have been nice to get a couple more shots here and there."
Kaymer was ranked number one in the world barely three years ago, but has since slipped to 63rd.
He has not been playing badly, missing only two cuts worldwide since this event last year, but has not often contended for victory.
McIlroy, returning after a two-week post-Masters break, looked sharp apart from a couple of wayward drives.
"I gave myself chances for birdies and putted a little better than I have in the last few weeks, so that’s a positive," said the 2010 champion, who birdied three of the four par-fives.
"I played the par fives well, which I wanted to do (because) at Augusta I didn't."
This week's event has attracted a high-quality field, although not quite as strong as it did in its first few years at Quail Hollow.
The course received rave reviews when the event was first held in 2003, but the greens were in poor condition last year which perhaps scared off a few players from returning.
The greens were subsequently dug up and replanted and early reports by the players suggest they are in better condition this year.
The PGA Tour Has a Winning Problem.
By Michael Fitzpatrick ,
Despite a complete nosedive in television ratings every time Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are absent from a tournament, the PGA Tour has been attempting to convince the general public that professional golf is in a great place with a new crop of “up-and-coming stars.”
At times, it can even feel as if the PGA Tour’s push for this “next generation” of “stars” is more to convince itself and its sponsors of a bright post-Woods future than it is to convince the general public to tune in and watch Matt Kuchar rack up yet another top-10 finish.
While there is no question that the PGA Tour does possess some talented young players, the tour’s biggest problem right now comes down to winning.
It is difficult to market these talented young players as golf’s next generation of stars when they simply do not win golf tournaments.
How can the tour possibly attempt to use Rickie Fowler as the face of any marketing materials when the guy has won just one PGA Tour event in five years as a pro?
Jordan Spieth has moved up to seventh in the Official World Golf Ranking and has recently become the ringleader of this new “young gun” craze with his whopping one PGA Tour win at the extremely weak-fielded John Deere Classic.
Jason Day is ranked sixth in the Official World Golf Ranking but has just two PGA Tour wins in eight years on tour.
Keegan Bradley is 27 years old and hasn’t added to his three-win career total since August of 2012.
Webb Simpson is 28 years old and has four PGA Tour wins. However, two of those wins came at very weak-fielded events (the Wyndham Championship and the Shriners Hospital for Children Open, which is a Fall Series event).
Hunter Mahan is 31 years old and has just five PGA Tour wins in 12 years on tour.
Harris English has two PGA Tour wins, both of which have come at glorified Web.com Tour events (the FedEx St. Jude Classic and OHL Classic at Mayakoba).
Patrick Reed was considered golf’s “next big star” a couple of months ago when he won the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral, but that was his first career win at any kind of high-profile event. Since that time, Reed has finished no better than a tie for 48th and missed the cut at the Masters, which was the first major championship he ever attended.
Bill Haas is 31-years-old and the 2011 FedEx Cup Champion. Yet he has just five career PGA Tour wins, with only three of those wins coming at events containing even halfway decent fields.
The only two exceptions among this “young gun” crowd would be Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson.
McIlroy has 11 professional wins, including two major championships; however, he hasn’t found the winners circle on the PGA Tour since the 2012 PGA Championship and has shown a propensity to let his game slip for prolonged periods of time.
Johnson has eight PGA Tour wins at the age of 29, but he has also let a number of tournaments, including several major championships, slip through his hands. And like McIlroy, he is prone to long stretches where he is completely MIA from PGA Tour leaderboards.
When excluding McIlroy, who has a legitimate chance to be the top dog of this next generation if he can manage to find some form of consistency, the other players the PGA Tour is constantly trying to shove down our throats as the game’s “future” have combined for just 13 wins at tournaments that would be considered high-quality events and two major championships.
To put that into perspective, during Woods’ first five years as a pro, he won 29 PGA Tour events, including six majors.
This was a period of time when the masses flocked to the game in a manner that had not been seen since a young man by the name of Arnold Palmer travelled the country cocking his head and hitching his pants up in the early 1960s, and is it any wonder why?
Woods winning 29 times in five years with six majors, including four major championship wins in a row, was damn entertaining.
Unfortunately, Kuchar’s slew of top-10s and Rickie Fowler’s one career PGA Tour win are just not going to get many people reaching for the remote control on Sunday afternoon, which was quite evident during the 2014 Masters.
Despite players such as Fowler, Spieth, Kuchar and Bubba Watson in the mix on Sunday, the Masters weekend television ratings hit their lowest level since 1957.
Even at the very top of the Official World Golf Ranking, with players who are a bit too old to be considered young guns but are still among the PGA Tour’s top stars, we see similar results.
Adam Scott is the No. 2 player in the world but has won just two PGA Tour events since 2011. One of those two wins was the 2013 Masters, though.
Henrik Stenson has four career PGA Tour wins but has won just twice on the PGA Tour since 2009. Both of those wins, including a win at the Tour Championship, came during last year’s FedEx Cup playoffs and were enough to earn him the title and a $10 million payday.
Matt Kuchar is 35 years old and the No. 5 player in the world, but he has just seven PGA Tour wins in 15 years as a professional.
Justin Rose, who is the 10th-ranked player in the world, has just five PGA Tour wins in 11 years on tour.
Eternal optimists will say this level of parity is simply the result of so many great players out on tour right now.
However, that has always been the case.
As the game has slowly expanded around the globe, each generation of professional golf has rightfully claimed that its generation has deeper and more talented fields than the previous generation.
But almost without fail, a single great player or small group of great players from each generation has managed to separate himself or itself from the rest (with the one recent exception being 1986 - 1996, which is general not viewed as a golden era in the game).
This would suggest that the level of parity we are now seeing on the PGA Tour is not a case of too many great players but rather a lack of any truly great player/players with the ability to distance himself/themselves from the pack.
This is, of course, troubling news for the PGA Tour and the game of golf in general.
Golf participation has already declined in recent years, particularly here in America.
In contrast to sports such as NFL football, in which parity has resulted in a popularity boom for the game, golf has never managed to thrive when void of a dominant force.
Woods and Mickelson are both nearing the twilight of their careers, and when the day inevitably arrives that these two giants of the game are no longer competitive, the PGA Tour could be in for a very rude awakening.
That is not to say the game of golf will simply keel over and die when Woods and Mickelson retire. The PGA Tour has been around for a long time, and golf has been played for hundreds of years. There is nothing to suggest that the game of golf won’t survive long into the future.
However, there is a big difference between surviving and thriving.
Over the past 17 years or so, the game of golf thrived largely as a result of Woods’ arrival on the scene back in 1996.
The PGA Tour doesn’t need another Woods in order to thrive for the next 17 years.
Golf has been played in a professional manner since the early 1860s, and Woods is one of the top two or three players to have ever picked up a golf club. The likelihood of another Woods emerging in the next decade or two would is incredibly slim, and the game has managed to thrive during periods of time in which the dominant player or players have not been nearly as successful as Woods.
That being said, the PGA Tour does need at least one of these talented young players to step up and assume his position as the game’s next dominant force.
That doesn’t mean they need to win 14 major championships or 30 percent of tournaments they enter. But they certainly need to start winning a lot more than they have been in order to provide entertainment in a sport that is teetering on the edge of a hard decline.
The only problem with that scenario is that, in this writer’s opinion, there is no one on tour right now (with the possible exception of McIlroy, if he can manage to find some level of consistency) with the ability, personality and showmanship to even come remotely close to filling the void that will be left by the likes of Woods and Mickelson.
And that is a major problem for the PGA Tour, no matter how much it tries to convince you otherwise.
Chase Watch: Who will win, get in at Talladega?
Staff report, NASCAR.com
The new Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup format doesn't have Wild Cards. Under the previous system, the two drivers with the most wins from 11th through 20th in points made the playoffs.
Sunday's Aaron's 499 (1 p.m. ET, FOX) at Talladega Superspeedway could be the best hope for a Wild Card to make the 16-driver Chase Grid. Drivers with the most wins who sit in the top 30 in points and have attempted to qualify for all 26 races can make the Chase.
Last year's spring winner at Talladega, David Ragan, was 25th in points following last September's race at Richmond. Under the new format rules, he would have made the Chase.
As NASCAR returns to the world's fastest track, these five drivers have a chance to fast-track their way into the Chase with a win.
David Ragan
The defending race winner's other NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory came at Daytona International Speedway. Among active drivers with more than two Talladega starts, Ragan is tied with Brad Keselowski for the best average finish (14.2). He has lead-lap finishes in 12 of his 14 career starts, including seven top-10s and four top-fives. Ragan is 31st in points, 26 behind Front Row Motorsports teammate David Gilliland, so he needs to pick up his performance over the final 17 races to cash in a win for a Chase berth.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
The 2013 Sunoco Rookie of the Year winner has the top driver rating (94.7) and best average finish (8.0) among active drivers. He has just two starts at this track, but he's kept himself in the mix in both races with the second-best average running position (12.5), average green flag speed (193.253 mph) and average mid-race position (12.5). Ford has won two of the last three races at Talladega, and the No. 17 car went to Victory Lane in the fall of 2012. Sitting 26th in points, Stenhouse Jr. would earn a provisional Chase spot with a win. He also would join other active drivers, Keselowski and Brian Vickers, by notching his first career win at the track.
Jeff Gordon
Among active drivers, Gordon has the most wins (six), top-fives (15) and laps led (83). Four-Time hasn't won in Alabama since sweeping both races in 2007, but he has three top-14 finishes in his last three starts there, including a runner-up results in the fall of 2012. A seventh win would tie Rick Hendrick with Richard Childress for most wins at Talladega with 12 and would move Gordon within three of Dale Earnhardt, the all-time winner at the track.
Matt Kenseth
Some drivers like to ride in the back at Talladega. Not Matt Kenseth. Since 2005, he has led the most laps (407), spent the most laps in the top 15 (2,239) and has the best percentage of quality passes, or passes among drivers in the top 15, at 73.8 percent. It all adds up to the second-best driver rating (91.6) among active drivers. Kenseth has three top-10 finishes in his last four starts at the track, leading 142 laps in this race last year before getting shuffled back to eighth.
Clint Bowyer
For five races from 2010 through 2012, Bowyer had five consecutive top-seven finishes, including consecutive wins in the fall race. He failed to win three in a row in the fall of 2012 with a 23rd-place finish and was 18th in this race last spring, but he finished 10th last October. He has eight top-10 finishes in his 16 starts at the track, and his 15.9 average finish trails only Stenhouse, Keselowski, Ragan and Dale Earnhardt Jr. among active drivers.
Go deeper: Check out NASCAR's Talladega Statistical Analysis for more stats and notes for the Aaron's 499 (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, FOX).
Here are the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings after nine races:
| Pos. | Driver | Chase berth |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Joey Logano | Winner: Texas, Richmond |
| 2. | Kevin Harvick | Winner: Phoenix, Darlington |
| 3. | Carl Edwards | Winner: Bristol |
| 4. | Kyle Busch | Winner: Fontana |
| 5. | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Winner: Daytona |
| 6. | Brad Keselowski | Winner: Las Vegas |
| 7. | Kurt Busch | Winner: Martinsville |
| 8. | Jeff Gordon | Points leader |
| 9. | Matt Kenseth | 2nd in points |
| 10. | Jimmie Johnson | 8th in points |
| 11. | Ryan Newman | 9th in points |
| 12. | Brian Vickers | 10th in points |
| 13. | Greg Biffle | 11th in points |
| 14. | Austin Dillon | 12th in points |
| 15. | Kyle Larson | 13th in points |
| 16. | Denny Hamlin | 14th in points |
Juan Pablo Montoya is back in NASCAR to run at Michigan and Indianapolis.
By Nick Bromberg
Juan Pablo Montoya is returning to NASCAR.
No, he's not bailing on his full-time ride in the IndyCar Series, but the former Sprint Cup Series driver is returning for two races with Team Penske in 2014. Montoya will drive a third Penske car as a teammate to Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano at Michigan and Indianapolis.
“It will be fun to get back behind the wheel of the Cup car,” Montoya said in a statement. “It’s hard to believe, but Roger Penske has never won the Brickyard 400. I think that Brad, Joey and I will give Roger (Penske) and Team Penske a great opportunity to check that off the list and we should be strong at Michigan as well.”
Penske has won the Indianapolis 500 15 times.
Montoya has had success in the Cup Series at Indianapolis before. He was strong at the 2009 and 2010 Brickyard 400s, but saw his chances for a win slip away both times. In 2009 he led 116 laps before speeding on pit road and finishing 11th. In 2010 he started on the pole and led 86 laps but crashed and finished 32nd.
Both of those starts were with Chip Ganassi, the owner he drove for when he won the 2000 Indianapolis 500. After a stint in Formula 1, Montoya returned to the U.S. and made his first foray into NASCAR with Ganassi in 2006. He drove for Ganassi until the end of last season, when the team announced that Kyle Larson would take over the No. 42 car.
Montoya then moved to Team Penske, Ganassi's main rival in the IndyCar Series. Through three IndyCar races, Montoya has shown speed. He was running fourth in Sunday's race at Barber Motorsports Park before spinning on a damp track and finishing 21st. He's currently 11th in the points standings.
Manchester City-Everton Preview.
By CHRIS ALTRUDA (STATS Editor)
Manchester City know the Premier League title is theirs for the taking, but they also realise they can take nothing for granted as they enter the bogey ground of Goodison Park on Saturday for a key crunch match versus an Everton squad still in contention for the last Champions League spot.
The two top-5 squads enter their match in Merseyside with very different agendas. Still holding a match in hand, Manchester City (24-5-6) have the inside track on a second title in three seasons if they can claim the maximum nine points from this three-match, eight-day stretch since they have a superior goal differential over front-running Liverpool.
Midfielder Fernandinho expressed an air of optimism heading into this match, sensing his team's rising confidence that comes with controlling their destiny.
"We are back with a big chance of being champions again, we are not depending on other teams - it only depends on us, and that has changed a lot," he told the team's official website. "The pressure was always on our side because we are a big team with big players and our target was always the Premier League title.
"We will need to play our best football, in the way we have played for the last month."
The return of Yaya Toure proved influential in Sunday's 2-0 win at Crystal Palace as the Ivorian assisted on Edin Dzeko's goal in the fourth minute before scoring one late in the first half. Toure's 19 goals are five more than any midfielder in England, and he is also tied for second in the league with six match-winners.
"They are at home in front of their fans, and they are always good at home," Fernandinho added. "It's a massive game for both teams."
Match-winners, though, have been near-impossible to come by for City at Goodison Park, where the Citizens have dropped four straight by a combined 7-1 scoreline and won only once in their last 15 trips to the blue side of Liverpool (1-4-10). Their only victory over Everton (20-9-7) in that span was a 2-1 triumph April 25, 2009.
And though the Toffees face long odds in overtaking Arsenal for fourth - they're currently down four points with two matches remaining following their damaging 2-0 defeat at Southampton last Saturday - manager Roberto Martinez insists there's a chance and is not concerned about the help a win over Manchester City would give neighbours Liverpool, who are chasing their first title since 1990.
"We look at it as we're trying to get the next six points," Martinez said. That's the only thing that matters. It narrows things down quite easily. They are precious points for us so we can't really afford not to give everything we've got, but helping other teams, that's not the way we do our work. We're focusing on trying to win for ourselves."
Martinez will have to make at least one change to his starting XI since on-loan midfielder Gareth Barry cannot play. Defender Phil Jagielka is expected to be available, though Sylvain Distin may miss a second straight match due to a hamstring issue.
City were 3-1 winners in the reverse fixture. Romelu Lukaku staked Everton to a short-lived lead in the 16th minute as Alvaro Negredo instantly leveled the match in the 17th. Sergio Aguero scored late in the first half, and Toffees' goalkeeper Tim Howard was credited with an own goal after stopping Aguero's penalty kick that deflected off the post and then him before rolling into the net.
Manchester City have never done the double over Everton in the Premier League.
Klinsmann to call 30 players into training camp.
AP Sports
U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann intends to call a full complement of 30 players for his team's pre-World Cup training camp at Stanford University.
Klinsmann plans to announce his preliminary roster May 12, a day before it must be given to FIFA and two days before the training camp opens. He must submit a final 23-man roster to FIFA by June 2.
He said some players who are coming back from injuries need to be evaluated.
Preparing for their seventh straight World Cup appearance, the Americans play exhibitions against Azerbaijan on May 27 at San Francisco; Turkey on June 1 at Harrison, New Jersey; and Nigeria on June 7 at Jacksonville, Florida.
They travel the following day to their their base camp in Sao Paulo. At the World Cup they open against Ghana on June 16 at Natal, face Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal six days later in the Amazon rain forest city of Manaus and close the group stage against Germany on June 26 at Recife.
No clear consensus on spring game formats as coaches try different routes.
Noah Trister | The Associated Press
Michigan State let its players choose sides for the annual spring football game, like a group of kids meeting up on the playground. Arkansas State auctioned off one of its coaching spots on eBay, allowing a fan to come in and call plays.
Oklahoma State, meanwhile, scaled back its plans, inviting fans to show up for a practice instead of a scrimmage.
Spring games have become offseason highlights in many parts of the country. Alabama and Penn State announced crowds of over 70,000 this year, and they certainly aren't the only schools with fans who turn out in droves for their football fix. But for coaches, these public scrimmages present an interesting challenge — in part because there seems to be no consensus on what format works best.
"These games, when everybody is drafted like this, are always fun, they're always interesting," said Michigan State assistant Jim Bollman, who will coach one of the teams in the Spartans' spring game Saturday. "One thing you always see a little bit different, is the leadership side of things. You have some guys that all of a sudden are with some younger guys that they haven't been with all spring."
The spring game is a chance for players and coaches to put on a show for fans and there's obvious value in that. But spring football is also a time for preparation, and sometimes a game-like scenario isn't what a coach really wants or needs.
Oklahoma State's Mike Gundy decided to scrap the usual spring game format this year, opting instead for a public practice in which fans had a chance afterward to go onto the field for autographs and mingle with players. Gundy cited heavy roster turnover as the reason for the switch.
"Years ago, I was the guy trying to promote spring games. However, I also have to look at what is best for the team and our fans," he said. "There just weren't enough bodies for both teams. ... Every so often, when we have a big senior class leave — which I don't have a problem with a big senior class — we may have to do something like this."
Oklahoma State's "Orange Blitz" this year drew about 2,500 fans, down from 15,000 for the spring game in 2013.
Pittsburgh is another school that didn't bother with a spring game this year. Nebraska, on the other hand, drew over 60,000 fans — but instead of splitting players into two teams, coach Bo Pelini went with an offense vs. defense format, citing injuries and a lack of depth at some spots.
The offense won 55-46 in a scoring system that awarded points to the defense for certain accomplishments. The highlight, though, was probably Pelini's entrance, when he cradled a cat in his arms as he walked out of the tunnel and raised it over his head. The cat was a nod to the avatar on a popular Pelini parody Twitter account.
Yes, there's still room for goofiness in spring football, and Arkansas State may have come up with the most unusual attention grabber. The Red Wolves auctioned off a chance to coach their game.
Nick Bhardwaj of California submitted the winning bid of $11,700 in an eBay auction — raising the obvious question of how much money Alabama or Texas could raise with a similar stunt. Bhardwaj coached the Black team, which won 48-17 over the Red team. The auction drew plenty of publicity, and Blake Anderson — Arkansas State's real coach — was pleased with the game's atmosphere. He said plenty of recruits were on hand.
Anderson, though, is sympathetic any coach who feels he shouldn't hold a full scrimmage.
"I think you've got to do what the bodies allow you to do," he said. "I think if we get to the point where we don't have the bodies to do it, we'll find the next best option."
Anderson said he tried to keep first-teamers on the same team, so it was no surprise when the game turned into a bit of a mismatch. He figured it was best to let his top players get used to playing with each other in a game-like situation.
That won't be possible at Michigan State, where quarterback Connor Cook will be on a different team from running back Jeremy Langford and wide receiver Keith Mumphery. That should make for a less predictable result, although the quality of play is anyone's guess.
"Things certainly won't be as smooth on offense," Bollman said. "There's no way. There's just not so many things that you can get operating."
What there will be is suspense — and perhaps a more competitive attitude from the players — and that's the main benefit for the Spartans. Assistant Ron Burton will coach against Bollman, and he said the player draft itself has already taught the staff a little more about next season's team.
"It's a part of an experience as a true teacher, being able to set a team, find out more about your players from other players, from who they think can help their team, and you find out who they like and dislike," Burton said. "We found out who our guys thought were the best players. That was good."
Big Ten-ACC challenge features Duke-Wisconsin.
By The Sports Xchange
The schedule for the 2014 ACC-Big Ten Challenge was announced Thursday with the headline attraction matching Duke against Wisconsin.
1876 - Ross Barnes hit the first homerun in the National League.
1904 - Laska Durnell became the first woman to own a Kentucky Derby starter and winner with Elwood.
1920 - In Indianapolis, the first game of the National Negro Baseball League was played.
1923 - Walter Johnson pitched his 100th shutout.
1939 - Lou Gehrig set a new major league baseball record when he played in his 2,130th game. The streak began on June 1, 1925.
1954 - Stan Musial (St. Louis Cardinals) set a new major league record when he hit 5 home runs against the New York Giants.
1958 - The New York Yankees threatened to broadcast games nationwide if the National League went ahead with plans to broadcast their games into New York.
1970 - Diane Crump became the first female jockey to ride in the Kentucky Derby.
1988 - The Baltimore Orioles signed a 15 year lease to remain in Baltimore and get a new park.
1988 - Pete Rose (Cincinnati Reds) was suspended for 30 games for pushing an umpire.
2002 - Mike Cameron (Seattle Mariners) hit four home runs against the Chicago White Sox.
2009 - The Dallas Cowboys practice bubble collapsed during a storm during a practice. At the time, 27 players were working out. Almost all were drafted last weekend or signed as undrafted rookies. Twelve people were injured.
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