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How 'bout them Chicago Blackhawks? Blackhawks shake off tough call on way to Game 1 win
By Shawn P. Roarke - NHL.com Managing Editor
Since the start of the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Chicago Blackhawks have found themselves in a few tough spots in 71 games of make-or-break hockey.
They have conquered the majority of the obstacles placed in their path, winning the Stanley Cup in 2010 and 2013. But other challenges have gotten the better of them, leaving them full of regrets and disappointment.
Whether success or failure was found, each of those experiences has built the character of the team that took the ice Sunday afternoon to play the Los Angeles Kings in the first game of the Western Conference Final.
So it should have come as little surprise when the Blackhawks were able to shake off a controversial call and the change in momentum it produced in favor of the Kings in the second period of the game, which Chicago eventually won 3-1 to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-7 series.
"When you have to do something, you do it," said Chicago defenseman Duncan Keith, who put his money where his mouth is by scoring the winning goal. "If you just let it bother you, then it's obviously going to affect the way we play. There was nothing we could do, so just move on and try to play the right way."
What had the Blackhawks in not only a snit but at an early crossroads in this rematch of the 2013 Western Conference Final? It was a controversial call that denied them a 2-0 lead early in the second period.
Jonathan Toews, the captain, made a power move to the Los Angeles net and was corralled into the path of goaltender Jonathan Quick by defenseman Slava Voynov. The puck and Toews arrived at Quick at the same time. Quick stopped the puck, but not Toews, who bowled over the goalie and landed on top of him. While that was happening, Voynov struck the puck with his skate and pushed it into the net.
The referee pointed at the goal, the red light flashed rhythmically, and the Blackhawks on the ice raised their sticks in celebration. As Toews tried to disengage from Quick, the Chicago goal song started blaring, and the raucous crowd at United Center was in full furor.
The celebrations explain why everybody missed the officials gathering by the official scorer and discussing what had just happened. When the referee skated to the center-ice circle, he commanded attention. When he explained the reason for the no-goal ruling -- incidental contact on Quick by Toews -- the crowd went ballistic. Chicago coach Joel Quenneville joined them, seething with anger as he petitioned for the redress of his grievances from his perch atop the bench.
"I just took it to the net, kind of lost it when I got to the short post," Toews said. "Obviously, the puck was in, the guys were celebrating. I'm not sure too much interference. I haven't seen the play. Obviously, it happened pretty fast. I think when it comes down to it, it was disappointing because of, you know, how the play was called on the ice."
Not too long after play resumed, the Kings scored the tying goal, jump-starting a domination that would extend for almost the entire period. The Kings got an odd-man break, and Tyler Toffoli redirected a Tanner Pearson pass by Chicago goalie Corey Crawford at 4:35. Instead of holding a 2-0 lead in the game, the Blackhawks were facing a 1-1 tie and a team with a renewed sense of confidence.
It was a recipe for disaster if the Blackhawks allowed it to become one.
They didn't.
"There's swings where it goes back and forth, and the [momentum] switches, but we have to just stick with it, keep our shifts short, stay simple and not give them much," Chicago forward Bryan Bickell said.
Less than eight minutes after Los Angeles tied it, Chicago took the lead for good, scoring on a counterattack at 11:54. The Kings mismanaged the puck in the neutral zone, and Marcus Kruger claimed the turnover and fed it to Saad, who got it to Keith at the point. His shot bounced off two different Kings and deflected high past Quick's glove.
It was one of six shots Chicago managed in the second period, when the Kings had 17 shots, as well as the momentum of that reversed call. Yet, the Blackhawks headed to the dressing room for the second intermission with a 2-1 lead, a tell-tale sign of a championship pedigree.
In the third, Chicago held the fort, thanks in large part to the brilliance of Crawford, who is playing with the confidence forged during the run to last season's championship.
In the dying minutes of the game, Chicago counterattacked again. The Kings were pressing for the equalizer, but the Blackhawks found themselves sprung for a 3-on-1. Defenseman Johnny Oduya, as the fulcrum of the attack, made a fancy head deke and then passed the other way to Toews, who scored without controversy this time.
Just like that, Chicago earned its seventh straight home-ice victory of these Stanley Cup Playoffs and maintained home-ice advantage heading into Game 2 on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, RDS, TSN).
"You [have] to commend our players for not changing their approach in big games," Quenneville said. "I think there's always going to be adversity in the course of a game; you're always going to lose momentum in the course of a game. Against a good team like that, you want to get it back as quick as you can, which I thought was a big point in today's win.
"I think our guys are very resilient and I think our top guys lead the charge in that area."
Bear Down Chicago Bears!!! Mel Tucker discusses scheme, personnel.
By Larry Mayer
How will the defensive scheme look different this year compared to last season?
MT: "There are some alignments that we're going to use with our defensive linemen that are going to look different, and the technique those guys will play also will be different. Some of our run fits will be different as well."
General manager Phil Emery has said that
MT: "We've told those guys that they have to know multiple spots from Day 1, so we're going to move those guys around probably as early as the third OTA. Bostic is going to play Mike and Sam, Shea's going to play Sam and Mike, Khaseem will play Will and Sam, and D.J. will primarily play Mike, although he's played outside linebacker over the years. Lance is going to play Will and those other guys are going to compete and we'll see what will be our best combination of guys."
How confident are you that McClellin will make a successful transition from defensive end to linebacker?
MT: "I'm super confident. We want to be big and physical, and he goes from being the smallest guy in the defensive line room to the biggest guy in the linebacker room. He's very athletic. You watch him move around in our offseason program and in our coaching sessions and he looks like a linebacker. He looks at home. He looks very comfortable. When you go back and look at some of his tape from Boise State and the Senior Bowl, he looked comfortable in a two-point stance as well as in space as a rusher and in coverage. He'll tell you that he's comfortable doing that."
Emery said the safety position is wide open. How do you see the position?
MT: "Yes, safety will be wide open. You can put that all in caps.
Where does fourth-round safety
MT: "Like I said, it's wide open, so he'll have an opportunity to come in and compete and show us what he can do. He has tremendous ability. I also like his toughness, his versatility and ability to support the run. He's a high-percentage tackle and he's also done a lot in coverage inside and outside, man coverage and zone, underneath coverage and the deep part of the field. So he'll definitely have the opportunity to come in and compete and we'll see how it shakes out. We're going to play the best guys."
MT: "I'm not concerned about it. Injuries are a part of the game. They're very unpredictable. I'm not concerned with his health or where he'll be. I'm glad he's back. He's a good player and he will help us."
What attribute do you like most about first-round cornerback
MT: "There's probably a list of about 25 things that I like about him. If I had to pick one thing I like best it would have to be his toughness."
How important is it to have toughness on defense?
MT: "We want tough, physical, strong players on the defensive side of the ball. We want all of our guys to be able to tackle at every position, and the name of the game is hitting. It's always been that. It really hasn't changed. We don't have any finesse positions, so we're always looking for tough guys."
Joining a defense with two Pro Bowl cornerbacks in Tillman and
MT: "The way the NFL is right now you're in sub personnel at least half of your total snaps and there are some games that you're in sub personnel pretty much the entire game. So your third corner is like a starter. Your third corner plays as much as your third linebacker, who's a starter in a 4-3 defense. So that third corner is a huge role. Kyle will have an opportunity to compete and if he is the third corner then he'll play a lot."
What are your impressions of second-round defensive tackle
MT: "The kid was very well-coached [at LSU]. It was evident when I watched the tape that he has a really good base of fundamentals and techniques and things like that. He's big and he does a nice job in the run game. He can press blocks. He's athletic, so he's not on the ground a whole heck of a lot. He played against very good competition and he's strong. We think we can develop him as an inside rusher also because of his athletic ability."
What did you see on tape of third-round defensive tackle
MT: "He showed an ability outside of the run game to be able to win one-on-one in the pass rush. He was a good rusher inside. He's explosive. He's got some juice in there and he has a high motor."
How realistic is it to expect that Ferguson and Sutton both will contribute as rookies as part of the defensive line rotation?
MT: "Both of them have the ability to contribute from a talent standpoint and a potential standpoint. We'll just have to see how it shakes out when they get in here. But they'll get every opportunity to show what they can do. We're going to put the best guys out there in the rotation who give us the best chance to win."
Bears finish rookie minicamp with different impressions.
By John Mullin
Defensive tackle Ego Ferguson, the Bears’ second-round draft choice out of SEC powerhouse LSU, was humbled.
Kyle Fuller, the No. 1 pick and 14 overall, impressed with not just his speed, but more his acceleration from zero to top speed, and as a cornerback closing down quickly to support the run defense.
Safety Brock Vereen was All-Big Ten at Minnesota but came away from three days of minicamp with one first thought: “I learned how to practice.”
All were part of the Bears’ first organized sessions with draft choices, undrafted rookie free agents and 38 additional undrafted players brought in on a tryout basis. Some of that former group, including Florida State linebacker Christian Jones, impressed to the point that the Bears will move to bring them back on a more solid next-step basis.
"Certainly our draft choices will be back this week, our free agent signings will be back and we’ve got a few tryout guys we’ll look to bring back,” coach Marc Trestman said Sunday.
The newcomers were given a crash course in NFL life, with groups on offense and defense being sent off the field by Trestman for poor execution and different times. That was part of what was a new way to practice for Vereen, who worked against wide receivers in the slot, not just backs and tight ends.
His observation that he learned how to practice, “As simple as that sounds, it’s night and day from any other practice that I’ve ever had. It’s fast, you learn on the fly and I think that’s the best way to do it.”
Ferguson arrived with something to prove if only because he was a starter in only his third and final year at LSU. And as he saw the effort being put in by undrafted and tryout hopefuls, it had an effect on him. He appreciates what he has.
“You’ve got guys coming from everywhere across the country and I feel blessed being drafted,” Ferguson said. “You see a lot of people who have a real commitment to the game and it humbles you.”
California Chrome wins Preakness, will have shot at Triple Crown.
Associated Press
California Chrome repelled one challenger and then put away another in the stretch to win the Preakness on Saturday, setting up a Triple Crown try in three weeks.
The chestnut colt with the four white feet will attempt to sweep the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes, something that hasn't been done since Affirmed in 1978. Since then, 12 horses have won the first two legs and failed to complete the sweep; the last was I'll Have Another two years ago.
Maybe the horse with the modest pedigree and average Joe owners is the one.
California Chrome defeated Ride On Curlin by 1 ½ lengths at Pimlico, covering 1 3/16 miles in 1:54.84. He's now won six straight races by a combined 27 ½ lengths for 77-year-old trainer Art Sherman.
"It's quite a thrill," Sherman said. "I knew we had to run harder this race."
California Chrome bounced out of the gate running, with jockey Victor Espinoza moving the colt into the clear. Pablo Del Monte, a 34-1 shot, charged to the lead and was soon joined by filly Ria Antonia.
Espinoza tucked California Chrome into third, an ideal spot behind the leaders. They stayed there until making their move approaching the final turn.
California Chrome made a move for the lead, catching Pablo Del Monte while Social Inclusion joined the chase. Pablo Del Monte soon dropped back along the rail, and California Chrome sprinted away from Social Inclusion at the top of the stretch.
But there was one more challenge to come.
Ride On Curlin, next-to-last in the 10-horse field, ranged up and briefly appeared ready to overtake California Chrome. Once again showing his class, California Chrome denied the threat.
"It's an awesome feeling," Espinoza said. "Today it was just a crazy race. I got more tired mentally than physically. I see another horse go to the front. I was going to sit second. .. I sit back, as soon as the other horse got clear of me, it worked out perfect."
California Chrome paid $3, $3 and $2.40. Ride On Curlin returned $5.60 and $3.80, while Social Inclusion was another 6 ½ lengths back in third and paid $3.40 as the 5-1 second choice.
General a Rod was fourth, followed by Ring Weekend, Pablo Del Monte, Dynamic Impact, Kid Cruz, Bayern and Ria Antonia.
California Chrome became the first California-bred to win the Preakness since Snow Chief in 1986.
Alert!!! Nasal strip rule could keep California Chrome from Triple Crown run.
By Pat Forde
Now comes the hard part.
After capturing the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, California Chrome's joyful journey moves on to Belmont Park. Where Triple Crown dreams go to die.
The horse has been sensational in taking the first two legs, stretching his winning streak to six races. He has faced the best 3-year-old colts in the land and dusted all of them. He hasn't even been forced into an all-out stretch duel, instead opening up big leads and cruising to the wire.
So there is every reason to believe California Chrome is good enough to finish the job in New York June 7.
Unless you know the history of futility. That will suffuse your belief with doubt.
There are a million ways to lose a Triple Crown at Belmont, and we've seen plenty of them in the 36 years since Affirmed won the last one. We've seen horses nipped at the wire (Real Quiet, 1998), passed in the stretch (Smarty Jones in 2004, Silver Charm in '97) stumble out of the gate (War Emblem, 2002), fail to fire (Big Brown, 2008) and fail to even start because of injury (I'll Have Another, 2012).
Twelve times since Affirmed, a horse has come to the Belmont one win short of immortality. Twelve times the quest has gone unfulfilled. It has become the biggest tease in sports.
It's so ruthless, the Marquis de Sade thinks the Belmont is cruel.
The sabotage of California Chrome's karma may already have begun. Amid the afterglow of the Preakness victory Sunday morning, 77-year-old trainer Art Sherman found out that New York racing stewards have not allowed horses to run with nasal strips that enhance breathing. Chrome has been wearing strips throughout his current winning streak. Sherman even raised the possibility of co-owner Perry Martin not entering the colt if Chrome is not allowed to wear nasal strips.
Which may kill horse racing altogether. But don't expect it to come to that.
California Chrome's connections can make a request to the New York Gaming Board to use the strips and it will be up to the stewards to rule on such a request. Two years ago the stewards said I'll Have Another could not race in the Belmont with a nasal strip.
With or without the strips, this is going to be a hard three weeks for Chrome and his people.
When chasing a Triple Crown, what has been a joy ride for the horse's human connections to this point tends to turn into a forced march. The pressure mounts. The nerves fray. Life in the spotlight gets old. So does life on the road. And it is difficult to maintain ideal conditioning of the star 3-year-old from the first Saturday in May through June 7.
Trainer Bob Baffert, who has won nine Triple Crown races – three Derbies, five Preaknesses and one Belmont – once said that if you have the fittest horse on Derby day, you should still have the fittest horse two weeks later at the Preakness. A trainer doesn't need to do much to maintain that advantage. But the hard part is keeping the horse at or near that physical peak for another three weeks – that's when things go wrong.
While a trainer of a Triple Crown aspirant is trying to find that fine line in pre-Belmont conditioning, the fundamental unfairness of the event is actively conspiring against him.
The Belmont will be California Chrome's third race in five weeks, and it will be the longest race of his life at 1½ miles. It is the utmost durability test in a sport where durability is passé.
The Triple Crown is an anachronism, working on a schedule that dates back to when thoroughbreds routinely ran every couple of weeks (if not more often than that). That is almost unheard of in this day and age, yet the traditionalists in the sport recoil at the suggestion of spacing out the races.
Last Thursday I mentioned to California Chrome assistant trainer Alan Sherman (Art's son) my long-held preference for spacing the races thusly: the Derby on the first Saturday in May, as usual; the Preakness on the first Saturday in June (something endorsed by Maryland Jockey Club president Tom Chuckas); and the Belmont on July 4. A stuffed-shirt member of the horsey set immediately interjected, "Why don't they make the World Series nine games?"
It was a nonsensical retort, but it shows how tightly some cling to history in a sport that is barely surviving in the present.
If the World Series were nine games, it likely would not prevent the best team from winning. In horse racing, the best 3-year-old doesn't often win the Belmont because the races are rigged against him.
California Chrome was the only top-six finisher in the Kentucky Derby to contest the Preakness. The rest of them skipped the second leg of the Triple Crown to regroup, and several of them will show up at Belmont with superior rest to take their shot at the horse that blew them away in Louisville.
Among those we may see in New York are Derby runner-up Commanding Curve, third-place finisher Danza, fourth-place Wicked Strong and fifth-place Samraat. That's a lot of competition that is armed with a huge advantage in the most grueling race these horses will ever run.
The last eight winners of the Belmont skipped at least one leg of the Triple Crown. Of the last 12 Belmont winners, only one (Afleet Alex in 2005) contested all three legs of the Crown.
Spacing out the races would ensure a Triple Crown aspirant had adequate rest to be ready for all three. And it certainly would encourage the best horses to compete in all three races.
Until that happens, we're stuck with a sporting competition that applies a heightened degree of difficulty on its top performer. It is neither sporting nor makes sense, and it has contributed to a succession of buzzkill Belmonts in recent years.
It would be wonderful to see California Chrome, with his charming backstory and human connections, end the 36-year drought. But given everything he is up against, don't get your hopes up.
Just another Chicago Bulls Session… Indiana plays its best game in weeks, as the Pacers down the Heat in Game 1.
By Kelly Dwyer
It’s been repeated endlessly, by many, that the Indiana Pacers were designed to dethrone the Miami Heat. The Pacers’ recent struggles against just about every other team in the NBA have been well documented, following up a 17-16 end to the regular season with a tough pair of series against the underwhelming Atlanta Hawks and Washington Wizards. But once the Pacers see the defending champs, things start to clear up.
That Pacers stereotype extended into the Eastern Conference finals on Sunday afternoon, as Indiana used a startlingly efficient attack to down the Heat 107-96, taking the first game of the potential seven-game tilt. All five Pacers starters scored in double figures in the win, the 14th time the teams have played in the postseason since 2012.
And despite the Heat’s relatively poor Game 1 showing, one figures the teams will likely meet another six times before an Eastern champion is decided. The Heat may not have known what hit them in Game 1, but they’ll surely have it figured out by the time these two meet again on Tuesday.
Game 1 was decidedly one-sided, though. The Heat had their moments, notching 54 points in the paint against the NBA’s best regular- and postseason defense, but the Indiana offense was the tipping point. Indiana came out with what star swingman Paul George agreed was “a great deal of energy,” scoring 30 points in the opening quarter and attacking the Heat’s small-ball lineup. Soon-to-be retiring forward Shane Battier got the start over Udonis Haslem up front, and the Heat seemed overwhelmed while attempting to close out on Pacers shooters and penetrators – something that was barely helped when Miami coach Erik Spoelstra started Haslem over Battier to begin the second half.
Pacers guard George Hill did well to penetrate early and often, in ways that weren’t always set up to call his own number, notching 11 points in the frame. It was Hill’s backcourt mate Lance Stephenson, however, that put Indiana over the top.
Charged with leading the bench corps, the fiery hybrid guard appeared on the verge of a second-quarter meltdown as a few calls didn’t go his way and after Pacers big men Ian Mahinmi and David West dropped a pair of Stephenson’s would-be assists. Lance went on to force the action himself – something that isn’t always welcomed by Pacers teammates or the squad’s coaching staff, but on this late afternoon he seemed to be reading the tea leaves, not to mention the Heat defense, quite well.Stephenson, high-stepping and often going behind his back with dribbles, scored a needed 17 points in the win, notching eight assists and only turning the ball over twice in 41 minutes. It was a needed spark after the Pacers offense bogged down a bit following that hot start, one that Hill certainly appreciated after his open looks seemed to go away. “All the guys in this locker room know,” Hill said following the win, “that he’s one heck of a player.”
Paul George was even more succinct: “He’s learned to be a professional,” George noted, before going on to credit Lance’s abilities to initiate ball movement. “We didn’t let the ball stop.”
Players on both sides agreed as much. Quick action and ball movement has been the impetus behind Indiana’s best days all season, but it’s been months since the Pacers looked this good, and performed with the sort of alacrity needed to create the ability to execute such as this.
And it came against the Heat, which is apparently something we’re supposed to be surprised at. In one afternoon, the Pacers swiftly reminded us why we’re supposed to consider them to be championship contenders.
Though Miami’s execution was spotty at best, none of the team’s particulars or role players seemed unnerved following the spanking; and not in ways that would lead you to believe the defending champs are taking things easy or waiting to flip the proverbial switch. Spoelstra did point out that his team was “probably at our worst defensively.”
He also took time to credit Indiana, while mentioning one statistical quirk.
“If you would say coming into this game,” Spoelstra told reporters after the contest, “that we’d score 96 and have over 50 [points] in the paint, I would say we’d be in the driver’s seat for a win. If we do our normal, even anywhere close to our normal defense.”
One gets the feeling Spoelstra is very much looking forward to a tape breakdown between games, even knowing that a return viewing of Game 1 will reveal error after error as the Pacers piled up the points. LeBron James said he's looking forward to cataloging his team’s “breakdowns,” and guaranteed his team “will clean up.”
Dwyane Wade – and again, this is not coming off as flippant in any way – told reporters that a game like this would be “easy to move on from.” This is the sort of confidence you build while winning consecutive titles, making the Finals in another year and working to be four games away from a fourth straight Finals appearance this season. You know the Heat will get it together.
The same can’t be said for the other side, in spite of endless proclamations from Indiana players that they know they have to match or even exceed this sort of play in Game 2 if they want to keep home-court advantage. So few trust these Pacers, after that poor end to the regular season and dodgy playoff debut, that you couldn’t help but admire them countering the expected Miami counter with those proclamations postgame. A pre-emptive counter that Miami has probably already countered.
This is why wild cards, after 24 combined regular-season and playoff pairings since 2012, and with six more likely to line up, are so important and so pivotal.
And they don’t come much wilder than Lance Stephenson.
Report: Kevin Love will test free agency next season.
By Mark Strotman
The Bulls are sure to go hard after New York Knicks impending free agent Carmelo Anthony this summer, but if they strike out on the Knicks' sharpshooter there could be a Plan B to pursue in 2015.
According to Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News, Love, who will be a free agent after next season, has told the Timberwolves that if he is not traded this coming year he will leave Minnesota, effectively departing without the Timberwolves receiving anything in return.
"Kevin Love’s people reiterated to the Timberwolves this past week that they had better trade him or else he’ll leave via free agency when his contract is up after next season," Lawrence reports. "With Love looking to exit, there’s your No. 1 reason the T-wolves have not been able to find a head coach to take over for Rick Adelman. Love wants to play for the Lakers but he’s also open to coming to the Knicks."
The Lakers and Knicks both have been thought of as the main potential landing spots for Love, but if the Bulls use the Amnesty provision on Carlos Boozer this offseason and hold tight on signing a max player this summer, it could open up even more options in 2015. Along with Love, Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo is set to become a free agent this summer.
The Timberwolves and Bulls were once though to be potential trade partners with each other in a deal involving Love (and Luol Deng), but nothing ever came of such rumors. If Love decides to leave via free agency and the Bulls decide they could make a run at him in a year, they may not have to break the bank or put all their baskets in one egg with Anthony (or any other potential free agent) they may want to pursue.
This past season Love was exceptional, averaging 26.1 points, 12.5 rebounds and shooting 46 percent from the field on better than 18 attempts per game. He's bordering on elite, and at only 25 years old his best basketball is in front of him. And though the Bulls will soon have to pay Joakim Noah and are locked into a long-term deal with Taj Gibson, the prospect of acquiring a talent as good as Love would almost certainly attract the Chicago front office.
Baseball wonders why pitchers' elbows keep tearing.
By RONALD BLUM, AP Sports Writer
All of baseball is focused on a most precious 2 1/8 inches - the average length of the ulnar collateral ligament.
This year, more than a dozen major league pitchers already have undergone Tommy John surgery - which involves replacing the elbow ligament with a tendon harvested from elsewhere (often the non-pitching elbow or forearm) in the patient's body. All-Stars Patrick Corbin, Josh Johnson and Matt Moore have had the surgery, and NL Rookie of the Year Jose Fernandez was scheduled to have his operation Friday.
"It's a problem. There's no question about it," baseball Commissioner Bud Selig said. "I'm almost afraid to pick up the paper every day because there's some bad news."
The surgery forces a player to miss at least a full season, but many power pitchers - including Chris Carpenter (2007), Stephen Strasburg (2010) and Adam Wainwright (2011) - threw as hard with their repaired elbows as they did before. Matt Harvey is still recovering from surgery last year.
The league hopes it can find ways to protect these million dollar elbows before surgery is required.
Dr. James Andrews, one of the world's top orthopedic physicians, will be meeting with a research committee Monday at Major League Baseball's headquarters.
"We're going to put together a research project to help figure this out. We don't know quite what to say at this point," he said. "But, yeah, it's got everybody's attention."
A 2013 survey showed 25 percent of big league pitchers and 15 percent of minor leaguer pitchers had undergone the procedure.
"This does not include the guys who didn't make it back. These are the success stories," said Glenn Fleisig of the American Sports Medicine Institute, who conducted the survey with Stan Conte of the Dodgers.
With the advent of high-tech scans such as MRIs, doctors usually can pinpoint exactly what's wrong. And with pro pitchers under the watch of radar guns whenever they throw, the slightest drop in velocity triggers scrutiny.
But for more than a century, pitchers came up with "sore arms" and "dead arms," trying to pitch through pain.
"Back then, you could be on your deathbed and you never told anybody because if you said, `God, my arm hurts,' there were 15 guys waiting to take your place," Tommy John said. "So I kept my mouth shut and just kept pitching, kept pitching, kept pitching."
UCL reconstruction has increased 10-fold in the first decade of the 21st century, Andrews and Dr. Jeremy Bruce wrote in the May issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, citing a paper by J.R. Dugas. Experts think young pitchers throw far more often now than they did a decade or two ago.
"Baseball, once considered a seasonal sport, has become a year-round event in some regions of the United States, with increased team travel play and sponsored tournaments," Andrews and Bruce wrote.
An ASMI study published in 2011 examined 481 pitchers ages 9-14, and then checked with them 10 years later. Those who threw more than 100 innings in a year were 3.5 times more likely to need elbow or shoulder surgery or were forced to stop playing baseball.
New York Mets medical director Dr. David Altchek says he's performing the procedure more often among teenagers, who are not as strong as professionals and are trying to impress with high velocities.
"When you're throwing year-round, you don't have much time for all this fitness stuff," Altchek said. "So you're fitness gets sacrificed, Your arm is overloaded. That's a recipe for disaster."
The USA Baseball Medical/Safety Advisory Committee recommends limits of 50 pitches per game and 2,000 pitches per year for 9- and 10-year-olds, and 75 pitches per game and 3,000 per year from 11-14. The limit rises to 90 at ages 15-16 and 105 for ages 17-18, with no more than two games a week.
Looking back, Harvey said he ramped up his arm for events as a teenager.
"At 16 how much strengthening or throwing are you really doing in between those tournaments before you have to go blow it out again?" he said.
Dr. Gary Green, MLB's medical director, said the sport has been collecting data on injuries and lengths of layoffs in both the major and minor leagues since 2010. However, innings and pitch counts as amateurs aren't tracked. Dr. Bert Mandelbaum, MLB's director of research, is heading the probe.
"We're looking at it in terms of the demographics: Can we predict who is going to get this injury? Is there something in their training? Is there something in their biomechanics?" Green said.
Fleisig concluded "how much you pitch and how hard you throw are the dominant factors."
After Dr. Frank Jobe's pioneering operation on John in 1974, there were no more than four similar operations annually until a spike to 12 in 1996, according to research by Jon Roegele, who writes for the Hardball Times and Beyond the Box Score. The figure rose to 43 by 2003 and 69 in 2012 before dropping to 49 last year.
Tom House, the former big league pitcher and pitching coach, has advocated strengthening muscles in the kinetic chain involved in throwing. John thinks the opposite approach should be taken.
"These guys today, they spend more time in the weight room than they do on the mound. Strengths and weights are fine, but if that was everything, then Arnold Schwarzenegger would be a 20-game winner," John said. "They just get so big and strong that there's very little elasticity in their arms."
Todd wins Byron Nelson for 1st PGA Tour title.
By STEPHEN HAWKINS
Brendon Todd was shocked when he saw his ball settled at the base of a tree by the 13th green in the final round of the Byron Nelson Championship.
As good as he is with his short game, it wasn't natural for the slender 6-foot-3 Todd to set up left-handed and hit the ball with the back side of a 4-iron.
"Definitely, without a doubt," Todd said when asked if it was his most unique shot in a competitive round.
Todd saved par at the 185-yard 13th hole after knocking the ball to 7 feet, part of a bogey-free 4-under 66. He finished at 14-under 266.
It was the 77th career PGA Tour event for Todd, who twice in the past five years had to go back to back to the Web.com Tour to regain full playing privileges. He earned $1,242,000, a PGA Tour exemption through the 2015-16 season and a spot next year in the Masters.
NASCAR: Jamie McMurray wins All-Star Race after taking lead from Carl Edwards.
By Nick Bromberg
Kyle Larson might be the most talked-about Chip Ganassi Racing Sprint Cup Series driver in 2014, but Jamie McMurray has the team's first win of the year. It's just not a points-paying one.
McMurray used track position and the outside line to seize the lead in the final segment of Saturday night's Sprint All-Star Race and take the $1 million prize that goes to the winning team.
McMurray started the 10-lap segment in second place, and stayed with Carl Edwards, who was the leader, through turns one and two on the first lap. After the two battled side-by-side, McMurray prevailed and pulled away for a convincing and not dramatic win over the last eight laps.
The final 10-lap segment is preceded by a mandatory four-tire pit stop for the entire field. The order coming on to pit road for that stop is determined by a driver's average finish over the first four 20-lap segments. Kevin Harvick had the highest average finish and came down pit road first.
However, Harvick came off pit road third, and by the time he got around Edwards for second, McMurray was way too far out in front in the Charlotte clean air for Harvick to make a challenge.
McMurray was second coming on to pit road after his crew chief Keith Rodden made the decision for track position over tires. Before the mandatory pit stop, McMurray last pitted for left-side tires on lap 25. The two-tire stops kept McMurray at the front of the field and, ultimately, in position to overtake Edwards.
Larson, a rookie, has garnered a lot of attention this season for the speed he's shown throughout the year's first 11 races. He finished second at California, had the pole at Richmond and is 13th in the standings. McMurray has had much of the same speed, he just hasn't had the finishes to show for it. A potentially good run went up in flames after a flat right-front tire last week at Kansas, and an incredibly fast car at Bristol ended up crashed and in 38th place.
Kasey Kahne might have had the best car of the entire night and won the second and third segments of the race. However, he smacked the wall off turn four in the fourth segment and pancaked the left side of his car, ruining any chances he had at a win.
Kyle Busch won the first segment and he too was eaten by the wall. OK, he was tasted by the wall and devoured by Joey Logano's car. Busch got a run on Clint Bowyer while diving to the inside of his brother Kurt Busch in the second segment and made contact with Bowyer's rear bumper. Bowyer got loose and then made contact with Kyle Busch, sending him into the wall. After Busch bounced off the wall, Logano smashed into his car.
The All-Star Race win is McMurray's third win at Charlotte Motor Speedway. McMurray's first Cup win came in the fall race in 2002 and he also won the fall race in 2010.
Arsenal no longer the punch line after ending trophy drought with FA Cup win.
By Martin Rogers
English soccer's most noteworthy, most talked about and most joked about trophy drought came to an end on Saturday as Arsenal ended nine barren years with a dramatic FA Cup final triumph.
Arsene Wenger's side survived a furious opening burst from underdog Hull City that put it in a two-goal hole to eventually prevail 3-2 in extra time and lift the cloud of frustration that had long plagued the famed North London club.
A deft winning goal from Aaron Ramsey meant no more chatter about when, if and how Arsenal's next trophy would come and it put an end to the speculation about the future of Wenger, English soccer's longest-serving coach. Also, there will be no more taunts from rival fans – maybe even a whole new outlook for Arsenal.
"It has been a long time," midfielder Mikel Arteta said. "We have put it right today. This is the start of a new era."
Despite perennially being one of England's highest-profile and historically successful teams, the Gunners were hamstrung by one date: May 21, 2005. That was when the club beat Manchester United in an FA Cup final penalty shootout, the last hurrah before an empty spell of 3,283 days that no one could have predicted.
During that time, there was a defeat in the 2006 Champions League final, a shock loss to Birmingham in the 2011 League Cup final and even a brief flirtation with this season's English Premier League crown before a mid-campaign slump.
Yet amid it all, Arsenal bucked the now-entrenched habit in European soccer of firing the coach when things do not run with perfect fluency. Since Wenger's last trophy, every English league club – not just the 20 Premier League teams but all 92 sides in the top four divisions – have switched managers. Indeed, Wenger's Arsenal tenure of nearly 18 years is longer than every other EPL boss put together.
There were times when that loyalty seemed to have morphed into blind faith. But as the boss and his players celebrated on the Wembley Stadium turf and plans for him to sign a new contract were confirmed, it sunk in that the most reliably ever-present entity in the English game is a studious Frenchman who was virtually unknown when he arrived in 1996.
Wenger described this win as perhaps his "most emotional" and there is no doubt he had started to need a day, and an outcome, like this. Arsenal's fans will be eternally grateful for his service but they had long since grown sick of the jibes, the near-misses and the cobwebs growing in the trophy cabinet.
Now, with the pressure off, the club can breathe once more.
"This was an important moment in the life of this team," Wenger admitted, "because to lose would have been a major setback."
But it could have been different on this afternoon when the FA Cup, that famous and mischievous old competition, promised what would have been the latest in its history of stunning quirks.
Hull, whose Premiership position of 16th following promotion last season deserves credit and commendation, was not expected to put up anything like the fight it did. Within eight minutes, remarkably, Steve Bruce's battlers were two goals to the good courtesy of James Chester's timely deflection on Hull's first real attack and Curtis Davies' tap-in rebound minutes later.
With a golden opportunity at silverware slipping away fast, Arsenal held its nerve. Santi Cazorla gave Wenger's men hope on 17 minutes with a superb free kick and from then on Arsenal began a steady barrage. Hull defended gamely but could not prevent Laurent Koscielny from sweeping in the equalizer after 71 minutes and effectively sending the game into extra time.
In the additional period, it was one-way traffic. Hull tried to force the contest to a penalty shootout, but a skillful move fitting for a Cup winner clinched the victory for Arsenal in the 109th minute.
Olivier Giroud's backheel in the penalty area fell into the path of Aaron Ramsey, who didn't break stride before rifling it into the bottom corner and leaving goalkeeper Allan McGregor little chance. You knew then that the wait was over for the Gunners and their supporters.
The final whistle brought relief and joy and no shortage of tears. After nine long years, Wenger has his prize, Arsenal has its pride back and, for now at least, the Gunners are the ones laughing.
Franklin embraces being face of Penn St post-JoePa.
By RALPH D. RUSSO (AP College Football Writer)
Penn State coach James Franklin is fine as long as he keeps moving.
Only in those rare moments when he gets to take a break during the Nittany Lions' coaches caravan, a 17-stop tour spanning most of May, is he in danger of crashing.
''I'm not really good with down time,'' Franklin told reporters during stop No. 11 in New York on Wednesday, not far from the site of the Freedom Tower at 1 World Trade Center. ''I kind of hit the wall. I think if we just would have come and moved, I would have been fine. But the down time wasn't good.''
A triple-espresso and a Red Bull had Franklin back to his energetic and chatty self.
''I'm ready!'' Franklin said, punctuating his recovery with a couple loud claps. ''Watcha got?''
What Penn State's new coach has is roster whittled down by crippling NCAA sanctions, expectations that might be out of whack after his predecessor's surprising success, and a fanbase that in some corners is still trying to come to grips with massive changes after decades of stability.
While former Nittany Lions coach Bill O'Brien had a tough time dealing with all that goes into being the face of Penn State in the post-Joe Paterno era, Franklin seems more comfortable with the job.
''I'd love to just sit in a room and draw up plays and Xs and Os and recruit as well, but that's not what being a college football coach is about,'' he said. ''It's everything. It's getting out and interacting with the fans and the media. It's talking to alumni. It's raising money. It's recruiting. It's developing the players. It's reinforcing academics. It's everything. And my thing is ... if you're going to do it you might as well embrace it. You might as well have fun with it.''
Franklin has been going pretty much nonstop since moving from Vanderbilt to Happy Valley in the middle of January.
The coaches' caravan is Penn State's way to connect with its alumni outside of central Pennsylvania, and an opportunity for Franklin to rally support from fans still scarred from the collapse of Paterno's regime under the weight of the Jerry Sandusky child-sex abuse scandal in 2011.
O'Brien did a remarkable job navigating a tough situation. He became Penn State coach without knowing the school would get hammered by the NCAA with a four-year postseason ban and huge scholarship losses.
O'Brien held the team together, and guided it to 15 victories. Still, those loyal to Paterno made it tough for O'Brien to feel as if he had the full support of the Penn State community. And the many Penn State fans and alumni who did back O'Brien didn't trust the leadership at the school above him.
After two years of trying to help heal Penn State, O'Brien left for the NFL.
Now the job is Franklin's. Part of it is the caravan, where he is trying to inject Penn State with the enthusiasm he brought to Vanderbilt.
''At Vanderbilt you were trying to get people to become fans of the local team,'' said Franklin, who went 24-15 at Vandy, the best winning percentage for a Commodores coach since the 1940s. ''At Penn State, we're trying to get people that maybe have fallen off the bandwagon to bring them back to being part of the family.''
Attendance at Penn State dipped after the Sandusky scandal. The Nittany Lions drew 96,587 per game last season, which ranks among the best figures in the country. The problem is Beaver Stadium holds more than 107,000. Selling those extra 10,000 tickets is important to the athletic department's budget.
''(At Vanderbilt), we were trying to sell out a 40,000-seat stadium, which they'd never really sold out,'' Franklin said. ''Here we're trying to go to from 95,000 to 107,000. I guess my point is the same message and the same beliefs and the same philosophies are still there. It's just a little bit different.''
On the field, this is the season the sanctions will really start to sting Penn State. There is so little depth on the offensive line that two defensive linemen were converted and immediately moved to the top of the depth chart.
The presence of sophomore quarterback Christian Hackenberg, who threw for 2,955 yards and 20 touchdowns last season, should help, but Franklin acknowledges it will be a challenge for his staff to hide the team's deficiencies.
Optimistic by nature, Franklin's biggest challenge is to get people excited for Penn State football, while not driving up expectations that could already be unrealistic coming off O'Brien's unexpected success.
He admits it's difficult, but he is putting it on himself.
''I know this sounds funny,'' Franklin said, ''but we have 107,000 fans at the game, I want to have an intimate personal relationship with every single one of them.''
Lawsuit against NCAA takes new twist on damages.
By TIM DAHLBERG (AP Sports Writer)
An antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA took a new twist when former UCLA basketball star Ed O'Bannon and 19 other former athletes gave up their claim to individual monetary damages, just weeks before the case is scheduled to go to trial.
An attorney for the plaintiffs said the move was made so the focus would be on the NCAA in the trial, and not on money sought by the former players. Michael Hausfeld said it simplifies the case by avoiding having a jury try to figure out which players were harmed and whether they should be compensated for that harm.
NCAA lawyers objected.
If the case goes forward without individual damage claims, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken would issue a trial verdict on the antitrust issues without a jury.
On This Date in Sports History: Today is Monday, May 19, 2014.
MemoriesofHistory.com
1910 - Cy Young (Cleveland Indians) got his 500th win.
1912 - American League president Ban Johnson told the Detroit Tigers that if they continued to protest Ty Cobb suspension they would be banned from baseball.
1918 - The Washington Senators played their first Sunday game. They beat Cleveland 1-0 in 18 innings.
1935 - The National Football League (NFL) adopted an annual college draft to begin in 1936.
1942 - Paul Waner (Atlanta Braves) became the third National League player to get 3,000 hits.
1962 - Stan Musial set the National League hit record when he got his 3,431st hit.
1974 - The Philadelphia Flyers became the first post-'67 expansion team to win the Stanley Cup. The Flyers won the cup the following season as well.
1984 - The Edmonton Oilers won their first Stanley Cup. They defeated the New York Islanders in five games.
1988 - The Boston Red Sox retired Bobby Doerr's #1.
1991 - Willy T. Ribbs became the first black driver to make the Indianapolis 500.
1994 - Jennifer Capriati checked into a drug rehab center.
2002 - Roger Clemens (New York Yankees) got his 287th win. He tied for 22nd place on the all-time victory list.
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