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Sports Quote of the Day:
"The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand." ~ Vince Lombardi, Two Time Super Bowl Winning and Legendary NFL Coach
How 'bout them Chicago Blackhawks? Loss to Wild a 'wake up call' for Blackhawks.
By Tracey Myers
The Chicago Blackhawks returned home late Tuesday night, frustrated, and perhaps a little humbled, by their Game 3 loss to the Minnesota Wild.
“Winning six games in a row, maybe we were a little overconfident in ourselves and Minnesota did a good job of making it a series last night,” Patrick Kane said on Wednesday. “If anything, it’s a wake up call for us.”
The Blackhawks aren’t reeling after that loss, just their first in their last seven postseason games. And recent history shows they do just fine down series stretch runs: the Blackhawks are 13-1 after Game 3 in their last five postseason series.
Still, the Blackhawks got a reminder that the Wild aren’t going away quietly. Now they need to respond on Friday, when the Wild host them in Game 4 of their best-of-seven series, which the Blackhawks still lead 2-1. The Blackhawks were fine in their Game 1 victory over the Wild, better in their Game 2 decision. Game 3, when they wanted to push the pace more and play their best game, they fell short.
So they’re looking to bring that full game, the one they still haven’t played in this series, on Friday.
“The urgency is there now. We’ve seen how they can play and how far they battled for winning games. That’s something that we have to have too and it was a little bit of a wake-up call, but not really,” Johnny Oduya said. “I think we knew that this is the way they play. We saw it in last series where I think for a lot of parts, they out-battled Colorado a lot. Yeah, we have to play better, that’s just the bottom line.”
The Blackhawks are well versed in how the Wild play, how it likes to stifle an opponent and force them to work that much harder to get opportunities. On Tuesday, the Blackhawks had a few choice chances, but not many. Their puck possession game was off. Their net presence was absent. The Blackhawks know there’s a fine line between pushing the pace and forcing something, the latter of which can lead to mistakes and rushes the other way. They need to find the right side of that line.
“We went in there with a mindset to ‘hey, let’s play tight, let’s make sure we don’t get the crowd into it’ and it took them 42 minutes and change to get excited,” coach Joel Quenneville said of the Wild, who got the game-winner about two minutes into the third period. “We did what we wanted to do but we didn’t get enough offense. It’s going to be tight and you have to willing to play a tight game and try to find a way through that.”
The Blackhawks know the game the Wild plays. They know they have to be patient, yet persistent.
They need to play at top level, which hasn’t happened yet this series. Friday is as good a time as any.
“We still feel that we haven't played our best game in the series,” Kane said. “Hopefully it'll come next game."
Bear Down Chicago Bears!!! Kyle Fuller: Chicago Bears' NFL Draft Profile.
CSN Staff
Kyle Fuller (CB), Virginia Tech
6’0” | 190 lbs.
2013 stats:
24 tackles, 2 TFL, 2 INT, FF
Selected:
1st round, 14th overall (Chicago Bears)
What scouts are saying:
“Fuller is a tall, rangy cornerback with the tools to play both outside and in the slot. In press coverage, he needs to improve his jam, but he has the fluidity to mirror underneath and enough speed to carry vertical routes. In off coverage, he uses a side shuffle, reads through the wideout to the quarterback and shows a burst to close on the ball. He is a firm tackler in run support. He should be a Day 1 starter at the next level.” (Daniel Jeremiah, NFL.com)
“Physical in run support and works hard to get off blocks. Closes in a flash with a fierce attitude. Heady and opportunistic player. Very good ball awareness and NFL ball skills. Good blitzer. Experience playing inside and outside and at safety, linebacker and special teams.” (Dane Brugler, CBSSports.com)
“Fuller pulled out of the Senior Bowl after dealing with a sports hernia throughout his senior year. He had surgery in November. Although he lacks great speed, Fuller plays like a natural who has the athleticism to cover and the aggressiveness to play the run.” (Frank Cooney, The Sports Xchange)
Fit for Bears:
The cornerback position was a top need for the Bears heading into the NFL Draft. After re-signing Tim Jennings to a four-year contract and inking Charles Tillman to a one-year deal, there is no sense of urgency to find an immediate starter at the position for 2014. But Tillman (33) and Jennings (30) are not getting any younger, which is why taking Fuller in the middle or late first round should be considered a smart move for long-term stability in the secondary. Fuller suffered a season-ending injury just three games into his senior season, so he would benefit from learning from a pair of quality veterans and being in a situation where he can progress slowly with little pressure to perform right away.
2014 NFL 1st Round Draft Picks.
By Chris Burke & Doug Farrar
Pick #/ Team / Player / Position / College / Grades By CBSSports.com
1. Houston Texans: Jadeveon Clowney, DE, South Carolina, A
2. St. Louis Rams (via Washington): Greg Robinson, OT, Auburn, B+
3. Jacksonville Jaguars: Blake Bortles, QB, UCF, A+
4. Buffalo Bills (via Cleveland): Sammy Watkins, WR, Clemson, C-
5. Oakland Raiders: Khalil Mack, OLB, Buffalo, B+
6. Atlanta Falcons: Jake Matthews, OT, Texas A&M, A-
7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Mike Evans, WR, Texas A&M, B+
8. Cleveland Browns (via Minnesota): Justin Gilbert, CB, Oklahoma State, C
9. Minnesota Vikings (via Cleveland): Anthony Barr, OLB, UCLA, B
10. Detroit Lions: Eric Ebron, TE, North Carolina, C-
11. Tennessee Titans: Taylor Lewan, OT, Michigan, C
12. New York Giants: Odell Beckham Jr., WR, LSU, B+
13. St. Louis Rams: Aaron Donald, DT, Pittsburgh, A
14. Chicago Bears: Kyle Fuller, CB, Virginia Tech, A
15. Pittsburgh Steelers: Ryan Shazier, OLB, Ohio State, B+
16. Dallas Cowboys: Zack Martin, G/T, Notre Dame, B+
17. Baltimore Ravens: C.J. Mosley, LB, Alabama, B
18. New York Jets: Calvin Pryor, S, Louisville, B-
19. Miami Dolphins: Ja’Wuan James, OT, Tennessee, B
20. New Orleans Saints (via Arizona): Brandin Cooks, WR, Oregon State, B+
21. Green Bay Packers: Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, S, Alabama, A
22. Cleveland Browns (via Philadelphia): Johnny Manziel, QB, Texas A&M, A
23. Kansas City Chiefs: Dee Ford, DE, Auburn, C-
24. Cincinnati Bengals: Darqueze Dennard, CB, Michigan State, B+
25. San Diego Chargers: Jason Verrett, CB, TCU, B+
26. Philadelphia Eagles (via Cleveland, Indianapolis): Marcus Smith, LB, Louisville, B
27. Arizona Cardinals (via New Orleans): Deone Bucannon, S, Washington State, B
28. Carolina Panthers: Kelvin Benjamin, WR, Florida State, C
29. New England Patriots: Dominique Easley, DT, Florida, A
30. San Francisco 49ers: Jimmie Ward, S, Northern Illinois, B
31. Denver Broncos: Bradley Roby, CB, Ohio State, B+
32. Minnesota Vikings (via Seattle): Teddy Bridgewater, QB, Louisville, B-
Just another Chicago Bulls Session… Can Thibs, Bulls coexist for next 3 years?What's your take?
By Nick Friedell
To understand what is happening right now in the public face-off between Tom Thibodeau and the Chicago Bulls' front office, you have to understand one basic question: Can both parties coexist and succeed together in the future?
Yes, Thibodeau has three more years on his current contract. He's proven himself to be one of the very best coaches in basketball. His players get sick of his domineering style sometimes, but they still respect him because he wins. They have bought into his system completely, and it shows in how hard they play each night.
The issue for the Bulls is that all of that is secondary right now. The will-he-stay-or-will-he-go storyline involving Thibodeau is hovering over everything the organization does. It's become this summer's version of the endless "Derrick Rose watch" that engulfed the Bulls throughout last season.
The latest wrinkle to the Thibodeau story is that the Golden State Warriors plan to ask for permission to speak with the veteran coach after firing Mark Jackson on Monday, according to Yahoo! Sports
This news comes on the heels of an ESPNLosAngeles.com report last week that the Los Angeles Lakers are expected to ask for permission to speak with Thibodeau about their head-coaching vacancy.
The fact that any team is asking about Thibodeau's availability is telling in itself. Bulls general manager Gar Forman and executive vice president John Paxson have repeatedly praised Thibodeau publicly for the job he has done, but apparently the rest of the league doesn't believe those sentiments mean much.
It appears as though all the ups and downs that Thibodeau and the front office have experienced over the past couple of years have led league executives to believe that Thibodeau can be let out of his contract for the right compensation.
What is that compensation?
Nobody knows the answer to that question, but it's still a safe bet that the Bulls would listen if the Lakers offered up their lottery pick this season. The Warriors don't have the kind of high draft pick that would interest the Bulls, so that seems like more of a longshot at this stage.
So why won't either side just come out and say Thibodeau is staying put?
From the Bulls' perspective, the front office's approach has always been that they don't respond to rumors. At this stage, that is how they are viewing the recent Thibodeau news. He's under contract to the Bulls for three more seasons, so why should they have to say anything about a coach who is locked up for the foreseeable future?
From the Thibodeau camp perspective, why would they come out and knock down rumors about their client? They have to believe the more interest, the better. Like most professionals, coaches want to be wanted, and Thibodeau is no different. He appears to be happy in Chicago and has had a lot of success building the culture he wanted over the past four years. But maybe all the public back and forth over the last few years has worn him out. Maybe he wouldn't mind starting fresh in a new place with an even bigger say in personnel. Maybe the Bulls wouldn't mind adding another asset in the form of a lottery player.
This is what happens as the days pass and both sides remain silent. Speculation persists. Doubt over the future lingers. In the end, it all comes back to one question regarding Thibodeau's future: Can he and the Bulls' front office coexist in the future?
If they can, then the inquires from other teams will fade away. Thibodeau and Forman will issue a joint press release and the matter will be quashed. Thibodeau may have three years left on his contract, but the oddity in this situation is that until he signs a new one, until he and the Bulls make another public declaration for the future, fans are left to wait and wonder about what's going on.
Chicago Sports & Travel, Inc./AllsportsAmerica Take: These rumors about a rift between the front office and Coach Thibodeau have been going on for a couple of years. It's time to bring them to an end. He pushes the players hard but they respect him and give him more than 100%+ effort. We saw a similar situation like this when Doug Collins was the coach of the Bulls. He was let go and Phil Jackson was brought in and the rest of that story is history; six championships. You can say that Phil had Michael Jordan but he had many different and some difficult personalities that he had to convince to play together. Personally, we think that Thibs is a terrific coach. Let both camps sit down like adults, settle this issue and get back on the road to another championship. That's how we feel, you know what we think, what's your take? Marion P. Jelks, CS&T/AA Blog Editor.
Baseball in Brazil? U.S. sports rise in the land of soccer.
By Brian Winter
Brazil is and always will be a soccer country, especially during a year in which it hosts the World Cup.
Nevertheless, the major U.S. sports leagues for football, baseball and basketball are seeing unprecedented growth here as Brazilians become wealthier, more worldly and even frustrated with the shortcomings of their own national pastime.
The newfound success of the U.S.' National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) here has been a surprise even to their own executives, although Rio de Janeiro's beaches have not been taken over by touch football just yet.
Baseball and football remain niche sports in Brazil, with even basic rules a mystery to most observers here. Basketball has a longer tradition here, but is still likely not even the second-most popular sport in the country. That is thought to be either volleyball or mixed-martial arts.
Yet each of the U.S. major sports leagues can point to important milestones in Brazil during the past two years.
The NBA became the first U.S. league to open a permanent office in Brazil, in 2012. The NFL saw its average TV audience in Brazil double in 2013.
MLB welcomed the big-league debut of its first Brazilian-born player in 2012 and at least two others are expected to make professional rosters this year.
"There has been an awakening of the Brazilian market and a lot of people are benefiting from it," said Chris Parsons, the NFL's senior vice president for international affairs.
He linked the rising interest to Brazil's economic boom in the last decade, which lifted some 35 million Brazilians out of poverty and into the middle class.
That fueled an explosion in air travel, especially to the United States. The number of visas issued by U.S. consulates in Brazil more than doubled between 2008 and 2012, to one million.
As a result, Parsons said U.S. sports have become an "aspirational" status symbol - an expression of newfound affluence, especially among the youth who set the stylistic tone in cultural capitals like São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
For example, Neymar, Brazil's biggest soccer star and a marketing icon for the rising middle class, wore a Michael Jordan baseball cap and a basketball jersey for Anderson Varejao, a Brazilian-born player for the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers, in one of his first public appearances after signing with FC Barcelona last year.
"American sports are cool right now," said Arnon de Mello, the NBA's managing director for Brazil. "There has always been a synthesis of lifestyle, street culture, art and music in the NBA ... (and) that carries a real appeal these days in Brazil."
SHOWMANSHIP IS KEY
Unlike other parts of Latin America, especially in the Caribbean basin, Brazil never experienced a strong U.S. military or commercial presence that brought American culture as well.
So while baseball is ubiquitous in Venezuela and Cuba, for example, it is still very difficult to find it played here.
Brazilians say they are especially drawn to the big-time feel of U.S. sports, which are usually played to full stadiums with TV-friendly attractions, such as fireworks and cheerleaders.
By contrast, Brazil's domestic soccer league suffers from poor attendance as violence in the stands and dilapidated stadiums chase many fans away. Pacaembu Stadium in Sao Paulo, where two of the city's teams play most of their games, does not even have a fully functional video screen.
"You watch American football and, man, it's a show. You don't watch only for the game. That is what is missing in Brazilian soccer," said Mauricio Araujo, president of the Ipanema Crabs, an amateur beach football team in Rio.
Only about 50 people attended last Saturday as the Crabs played their first game of 2014 against the Copacabana Pirates. But in a separate semi-professional league, where teams use helmets and pads and play on grass fields, has teams all over Brazil and attracts crowds of 5,000 people or more.
When it comes to basketball, the NBA wants to make sure it replicates the spectacle and showmanship enjoyed by U.S. audiences. For a pre-season game it staged between the Chicago Bulls and the Washington Wizards in Rio last October, the league made sure "every aspect of the game was the same."
That meant, for example, bringing in the same light show, dancer and team mascots that would be seen in, say, Chicago.
The game - the first ever staged in South America - played to a stadium at nearly 98 percent of capacity. That was the highest percentage of seats sold for a pre-season game anywhere last year, according to the NBA.
A LEG UP FROM JAPAN
Baseball, for its part, has been able to leverage a chapter of its history that is little-known outside Brazil.
Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city, experienced a huge influx of Japanese immigration during the early 20th century. They brought baseball with them, although "Westerners" were generally excluded from playing, said Raylla Matusomori, a member of the Anhanguera Nikkey Club, which organizes games.
"For 60 years it was very restricted," she said. "So baseball stagnated."
Even that has been changing though.
Andre Rienzo, who grew up in a small city outside Sao Paulo, was introduced to the sport shortly after his parents divorced 20 years ago. His mother, suddenly charged with raising three unruly boys on her own, believed that the only way for Rienzo to gain discipline was through greater contact with the town's Japanese community - which meant playing baseball.
Rienzo began pitching, and became a star. He was discovered by a Cuban scout as a teenager, and made his major-league debut for the Chicago White Sox last year.
"It's a crazy story," Rienzo said. "But there are others like me." He said the sport is growing as more Brazilians are able to afford baseball gloves and other equipment.
Last month, MLB brought Rienzo and Paulo Orlando, a minor-league outfielder for the Kansas City Royals' system, to Sao Paulo for a series of promotional events. The league erected a small batting cage outside a community center, drawing a few dozen kids, some of them wearing pinstriped baseball jerseys.
The kids watched in awed silence as Orlando took a few huge swings at balls from a pitching machine. At the end, he picked up a baseball and bounced it, soccer-style, on his foot and knee - drawing the biggest applause of the day.
"I guess that's what people know best," he said afterward, laughing.
Golf: Martin Kaymer ties the course record at TPC Sawgrass with opening 63.
By Shane Bacon
It hasn't exactly been an easy go of it for Martin Kaymer since becoming the top golfer in the world back in 2011. Kaymer had a career year in '10 to jump up the rankings, and after a runner-up finish at the Accenture Match Play it was the top ranking for a man who looked like he had the golf world in his grasp.
But as we've seen so many times before, Kaymer lost it. He hasn't had a professional win since November of 2011, and while it has been better in 2014 for the 29-year-old German, he was still looking for that one round that could get him back on track.
It happened on Thursday at the Players Championship, where Kaymer tied the course record with a 9-under 63, making nine pars and nine birdies and bringing up one of the most beautiful scorecards you will see this season.
Of course, low scores aren't new to Kaymer. In his pre-European Tour days, Kaymer shot a 13-under 59 at the EPD Tour event including a bogey, and his last win, at the HSBC Champions in '11, included a final round 63 that gave him the three-shot win.
Now comes the hard part for any golfer going dirty low. Kaymer has to go out and follow up a bogey-free round of 63 with something else salty if he wants to stay atop this stacked Players leaderboard. But, being atop a leaderboard and hoping for a second straight good round is better than sitting near the bottom wondering just how in the world you can make it to the weekend.
NASCAR, The Setup: First Kansas night race a challenge.
By Brad Parrott
Since this is Kansas Speedway's first night race, the transition from day to night will throw crew chiefs a challenge. Whether their changes make a night-and-day difference all depends on making the right calls.
Teams will have a similar situation to a few weeks ago at Darlington Raceway, where Sprint Cup teams practiced during the day and didn't have the luxury of practice once the sun went down. Teams will have to set their car about 10 degrees loose during the day to have a good car come nighttime.
It's going to be a race where everyone's not going to take four tires on every stop because the pavement is the way it is. There will be decent fall-off in lap times -- the track has a lot of grip to start, but it tails off. The track, being in the Midwest, has weathered a hard winter and it takes some age off the surface, for sure.
All 1.5-mile tracks are different, but the track that Kansas is most similar to is Las Vegas. Everyone will more than likely start to work off their Vegas setups to get a baseline. Some teams are scared to make big changes from those, quite honestly. Some will go to the seven-post simulator and run their Vegas setup if it worked well for them, but other teams will throw something totally different at it to see if it works with the simulation. All crew chiefs will head into the race with a playbook in hopes of making their big spring package work through the fast, variably banked corners.
I think what you'll see in the race is some similarity to this season's race at Vegas -- the Team Penske cars qualifying up front and racing up front all day. They've really showed their strength on these 1.5-mile tracks.
Look for the Roush Fenway cars to come back and make a move. They haven't showed a whole lot of mile-and-a-half strength but so many players throughout the season have stepped up. We're in that stretch now where wins mean everything and finishing well just means that you can carry that momentum to the next race.
Joe Gibbs Racing has performed well this season, but Kansas has been a gremlin for Kyle Busch lately. It may be a chance for him to regroup this year since the ride-height rules have changed. The cars are sitting on different springs, their shock absorbers are different, and it'll be just the third race for the Generation-6 car at this track.
If a team has done its homework in the last two weeks with a seven-post or other simulation tests, you can make Kyle Busch the best driver there if your car's set up right. The potential is there for him to have a better run there than he's had in the past, based off how his car handles right off the truck.
Strategy calls will definitely come into play. Kansas has had more than one race where gas mileage comes into effect, so we'll have some situations where teams may gamble on pit stops.
It's all about which team can gain track position and give themselves a chance to get out front.
Big Money Attracts Deep Pockets: More Billionaires Buying Into Soccer.
By Tom Van Riper
A few months ago, Boston Red Sox owner John Henry explained to a Boston Chamber of Commerce audience why he decided to broaden his sports horizons by purchasing European soccer team Liverpool FC in 2010. Among a handful of reasons, according to a report in Mirror, were the similarities of the two cities – seaport towns with heavy Irish-Catholic populations, and classic, cozy stadiums. But what really stood out was this:
“When we play our rival Manchester United the audience on television is about a billion people. That’s about nine times the audience of the Super Bowl.”
And so Henry became the latest in a line of 21st century billionaires to invest in European soccer. While individual returns vary, it’s been a good place to be lately: the average value of the 20 most valuable clubs now tops $1 billion, a 36% jump over the past two years.
In the earlier days of European soccer’s long history, teams were largely owned by local merchants. Today, of course, it’s a different ballgame - franchises like Manchester United, Real Madrid and Arsenal are global brands with global audiences. With all the media and sponsorship dollars now at stake, clubs are attracting the deep pockets of the world’s wealthy. Chelsea has morphed into a power under the heavy spending of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, who snapped up the team in 2003.
An ownership stake in a soccer team - even a small one - is a big status symbol these days. Even LeBron James’ trophy case includes a piece of Henry’s Liverpool squad, a slice of which he bought in 2011 from Henry shortly after Henry’s purchase from yet another (now former) American sports owner, Tom Hicks. Yes, across the globe, soccer is the hip place to be.
Last fall, we published a list of billionaires owning Major League Soccer clubs in the U.S, an impressive group of names that includes NFL owners like Robert Kraft and Paul Allen. This time around, we’re sticking with owners of European clubs from among our most valuable team list.
Seven of our 20 most valuable teams are owned by nine billionaires. Three of them run the helm at Arsenal: U.S. - based sports magnate Stan Kroenke, who owns a controlling interest, and minority owners Alisher Usmanov and Farhad Moshiri. The three Arsenal owners boast an estimated collective net worth of $25 billion.
And of course, Silvio Belusconi, the former Italian Prime Minister who is now forbidden to hold public office thanks to a tax fraud conviction. Worth $9.2 billion, Berlusconi has owned Italian power AC Milan since 1986. The government may have rooted him out, but soccer hasn’t.
How does college sports solve the growing players movement?
By Jon Solomon
Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby let out a sigh.
The wheels are turning in college athletics. Northwestern players have tried to unionize, the Ed O'Bannon trial is scheduled for June, other lawsuits are getting started related to capping the value of college athletes, and two Congressional hearings are coming over the next week. Meanwhile, everyone involved in college athletics struggles to turn the NCAA ship.
“A number of things we're working on right now -- litigation, restructuring the NCAA -- it's going to be a very long horizon before they're solved,” Bowlsby said Wednesday. “I wish I had a crystal ball. You'd be more than willing to do the work if you knew where it was going to end. But we don't so we're slogging through it.”
How exactly are all of these issues going to be solved in the coming years? The players' movement, aided by powerful lawyers eyeing money and a steelworkers union that could use fresh blood, shows no sign of weakening.
The confluence of players-rights issues in a highly-litigious environment wasn't lost on administrators and coaches this week at the Big 12, Pac-12, Mountain West and MAC spring meetings. They said the right things. They talked publicly about the need to provide more benefits for college athletes while laboring on the details.
The irony of working inside the lavish Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa to find money in budgets for athletes' benefits wasn't lost on observers either.
Congress and its high-paid officials will get involved Thursday with a House committee hearing to discuss the recent National Labor Relations Board decision that Northwestern football players are employees. Stanford athletic director Bernard Muir is among the witnesses who will testify, although he deferred discussing what he will say Thursday on Capitol Hill.
On May 14, O'Bannon, North Carolina academic whistleblower Mary Willingham and Houston Texans running back Arian Foster will be among the witnesses to testify at a Senate committee hearing. NCAA President Mark Emmert has been invited to attend. The committee will examine whether the commercial operation of college athletics unfairly exploits college athletes, including issues related to their education.
Both sides of the debate over giving athletes more rights and compensation agree on this point: There's not a whole lot of faith that Congress will solve anything.
“Would I like government involvement? Absolutely, if it can absolutely help get a solution to a problem,” said Sonny Vaccaro, the former shoe marketer turned O'Bannon lawsuit consultant. “This particular fight is not a political fight, which you know it's going to be. I would hope there are people in government who can put aside their political views and solve issues for thousands and thousands of athletes. That's why the courts would be a better solution.”
Said Bowlsby: “I think there are judicial solutions, there are legislative solutions and there probably associational solutions within the conferences and the NCAA. You can always count on Congress to hold hearings on anything that is high profile.”
The inclusion into this debate of Willingham, a former North Carolina reading specialist who resigned this week amid an academic scandal that involves athletes, strikes at the heart of college sports. Are enough athletes actually being educated as a tradeoff for participating in commercialized games inside a multi-billion-dollar industry?
Willingham said she plans to testify about more than 4,000 emails of support that she has received in the past five months from educators, athletic academic advisers, athletes and even one president. She said they tell her they've lived the same experiences of academic fraud in college sports.
“We need to not be afraid of the NCAA because as long as we stay afraid, then nothing will change,” Willingham said. “Nobody wants to go on the record, but I need them to start talking.”
How could money be distributed?
Arizona football coach Rich Rodriguez disagrees with the “woe is me” picture that's being described of college athletes. Yes, Rodriguez agrees, more should be done for them.
“I think everybody knows we can make it a little bit better -- and that's all we have to do is just make it a little bit better, whether it's allowing them three meals a day or a little extra stipend or paying for parents to come to games,” said Rodriguez, who would also support a percentage of jersey sales going to players after they graduate. “But I don't think we need to paint a picture that these student-athletes are living under a bridge.”
This is a common feeling among coaches.
“If everybody wants to be professionals, they can make everybody professionals but that also means the guys that don't do their job, we fire them, and the guys who do a great job, we give them raises,” Washington State football coach Mike Leach said.
Conference USA commissioner Britton Banowsky said he would support considering allowing athletes to receive licensing money that's put aside into a trust fund and collected later.
“I think we're going to have to look at that and we're going to have to find a way to make it happen within the collegiate space,” Banowsky said. “I'm a big advocate for rewarding student-athletes that are graduating and have made a contribution for four years. I do like the concept of those funds being captured at the end of the collegiate experience. It will be up to the legal process and legislative process to provide guidance on where it settles.”
That approach has some similarities to what renowned mediator Kenneth Feinberg described to SI.com about how he would distribute money to former college players if the O'Bannon and Sam Keller plaintiffs win their names, images and likenesses lawsuit against the NCAA.
The Former College Athletes Association (FCAA), which includes Feinberg on the board, would demand from the NCAA a share of revenue it generates from the commercial use of former college players. Feinberg told SI.com that the FCAA would only be for former college athletes — male and female — and not current ones. One of the FCAA's board members is Ramogi Huma, who is leading the efforts to unionize college athletes.
“I think it's very difficult to sift out real value as to who brings how much value to what,” Bowlsby said. “I think we also ought to be very careful to depart from the collegiate model. We're a function of higher education and should stay as close to that mission as we possibly can. Now, is there a way to put something in place after college or during college? We aren't very far down looking at that path. But this is not a time where we should foreclose on any options.”
USC athletic director Pat Haden said a post-graduation licensing fund is a “possibility” as a new NCAA model gets discussed.
“So if you graduate you'll be back and have access to funds to finish your education and go to graduate schools,” Haden said. “That's potentially viable.”
‘Pandora's box' of paying players
Rodriguez offers a hypothetical question. Suppose colleges kept the status quo or gave players a cost of attendance or just a little bit more money for meals.
“Do you not think we'll always have players who want to play?” Rodriguez said. “Will they all of a sudden go on strike and say they're not going to play college football anymore? That's not going to happen. There will always be kids who want to play with the opportunity to play in huge stadiums with all these services and one day, if I'm good enough, I can play in the NFL.”
Stanford football coach David Shaw points out the positives of athletes leaving college without significant debt. He draws a line when asked whether college players should be allowed to reach their market value when it may never be higher for many of them.
“Once you go down that road, tell me what happens to college football,” Shaw said. “Because I see Pandora's box. You're talking about agents, you're talking about not recruiting, you're talking negotiation. That's a completely different world. You're not even talking about education anymore.”
Education is exactly what Willingham, the North Carolina academic whistleblower, wants to talk about. She said she hopes Emmert will attend the Senate committee hearing "so I can finally introduce myself after all these years."
For now, college sports leaders work around the edges to attempt to satisfy players, courts and politicians. Meetings are devoted to figure out how to provide power-five conferences with the authority to provide benefits that players' advocates say won't be enough.
“All of these things would have been enough 20 years ago if they handled it 20 years ago,” Vaccaro said. “It's certainly not enough in 2014. The problem is they're always behind. They should be current. Current now is billions of dollars in the networks. That's the elephant in the room here. They have new TV money they didn't have to this extent in 1990. These people are the smartest people in the room and they can't get it done?"
Bowlsby said it's an “unknown” whether autonomy will keep Division I under one tent. It's a stick that major conference commissioners have brought out several times in recent years against smaller conferences.
“I know that we have to adopt a system that allows us to oversee and manage the organizations that we have,” Bowlsby said. “We'll do whatever we have to do to make that happen. Right now, we're a very significant minority among Division I -- 65 schools out of 350 -- and we don't look much like those other 275.”
This is Bowlsby's greatest concern about college sports. Thirty years ago, Bowlsby worked on an NCAA committee that recommended an athletic scholarship should include a $2,000 stipend. He's working on the same issue today.
“There's an inability to move through the NCAA system a piece of intact legislation that can make its way through the system with the intent intact and to be functional on the backside,” Bowlsby said. “I just think it's virtually impossible to do that right now.”
So they discuss and debate and dine.
Meanwhile, the clock continues to tick on what the future of college sports may look like.
O'Bannon to testify at Senate hearings regarding NCAA.
By Dennis Dodd
Ed O'Bannon confirmed to CBSSports.com he will testify next week at Senate hearings concerning the current state of college athletics.
The Chronicle of Higher Education first reported that O'Bannon and North Carolina whistleblower Mary Willingham had been invited to speak U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. The hearings are scheduled for next Wednesday.
Committee chair Jay Rockefeller IV (D-West Virginia) has reportedly invited two significant figures for those criticizing the NCAA. Willingham recently resigned at North Carolina citing a hostile work environment. The former athletic academic advisor at the school has alleged she was dealing with athletes who were reading at barely literate levels.
O'Bannon is the lead plaintiff in the landmark anti-trust lawsuit against the NCAA seeking compensation for players likenesses and imagines. The suit is due to begin June 9.
O'Bannon told CBSSports.com he was not sure of the exact talking points but that he was eager to participate.
“It's amazing when a few guys come together and have a dream and it eventually kind of comes to reality,” O'Bannon said of the attention being paid to the NCAA case. “It's nice. I'm loving it. We've been at this so long, and people are finally taking it serious. First and foremost, I've always said this has never been a money grab. This is something a whole lot deeper than that.”
The Chronicle also reported – and O'Bannon reiterated -- that NCAA president Mark Emmert had also been invited to the hearings.
An NCAA spokesman said it could not comment until the Senate committee and chairman release the list of participants. Calls to Rockefeller's office seeking comment were not immediately returned.
NBC extends Olympic deal through 2032 for $7.75B.
By STEPHEN WILSON (AP Sports Writer)
NBC secured the U.S. broadcast rights to the Olympics through 2032 on Wednesday in a record six-games agreement worth $7.75 billion, a surprise deal that shuts out rival American networks and provides further long-term financial security to the IOC.
NBC already holds the rights through the 2020 Olympics in a four-games deal signed in 2011 for a then-record $4.38 billion.
There was no auction or open bidding this time, with only NBC making an offer. NBC had outbid Fox and ESPN in 2011 for the previous rights.
The new agreement goes into effect from 2021 and covers the Summer Olympics of 2024, 2028 and 2032 and the Winter Games of 2022, 2026 and 2030. The host cities for all those games have yet to be chosen.
The deal covers all media platforms, including free television, subscription TV, Internet and mobile rights. The deal is valued at $7.65 billion, plus an extra $100 million for promotion of the Olympics between 2015 and 2020.
''This agreement is excellent news for the entire Olympic Movement as it helps to ensure its financial security in the long term,'' Bach said. ''The IOC has worked in close partnership with NBC for many decades, and we are thrilled we will continue to work with them through to 2032.''
Steve Burke, CEO of NBC Universal, called it ''one of the most important days in the history'' of the network.
By 2032, NBC will have covered a total of 23 editions of the Olympics going back to the 1964 Summer Games in Tokyo. The network has broadcast every games since the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
According to the IOC, the new deal breaks down this way: $2.5 billion for the Olympics of 2022 and 2024, $2.55 billion for 2026-2028 and $2.60 billion for 2030-2032.
The accord marks a big victory for Bach, who was elected IOC president in September, taking over from Jacques Rogge after 12 years in office. In a conference call, Bach called it ''a happy day for the whole Olympic movement.''
The agreement came down to the IOC doing business with people they know.
''We know that, with this long-term agreement, the Olympic Games and the Olympic values are in good hands with a partner we trust,'' Bach said. ''We have full confidence in and we can say this because of the long-time experience we have with NBC.''
Bach cited NBC's ''great expertise in Olympic broadcasting and the passion always showed for the Olympic Games.''
Brian Roberts, chairman and CEO of Comcast, which owns NBC, said the network was encouraged to make a new deal because of the profits and strong ratings from the 2012 London Olympics and 2014 Sochi Winter Games.
Bach said there was no reason to open up bids to other networks.
''We wanted to build on this long-term partnership with NBC,'' he said. 'We could be sure, we are sure, that the Olympic Games will be presented in a way the Olympic spirit requires and how we see it. ... We didn't see any reason to take any risk with regards to broadcast and presentation of the Olympic Games in the United States.''
Bach said he first floated the idea of a new long-term deal with NBC at a dinner in New York in November. He held further talks with Roberts during the Sochi Games and continued the negotiations under wraps, with only his closest aides informed.
''The last touch was given to the deal this afternoon,'' Bach said.
The agreement could benefit a potential U.S. bid to host the Olympics. The U.S. hasn't held the Summer Games since Atlanta in 1996. The U.S. Olympic Committee is currently considering cities for a possible bid for the 2024 Summer Games, which will be awarded in 2017.
The IOC and NBC said the deal was made without any guarantees of where the games will be held.
''The allocation or the election of the host city is not about money,'' Bach said. ''There are many more factors to be considered. We were signing this agreement even before the procedure for the 2024 has started.
''Having said this, a strong bid from the United States would be very much welcome, would be a very strong competitor. We have full confidence in our friends in USOC that they are following their procedure and then come up with a strong candidate for 2024.''
On This Date in Sports History: Today is Friday, May 9, 2014.
MemoriesofHistory.com
1945 - In the U.S., the wartime government ban on horse racing was lifted.
1961 - Jim Gentile (Baltimore Orioles) set a major league baseball record when he hit a grand slam home run in two consecutive innings. The game was against the Minnesota Twins.
1973 - Johnny Bench hit three homeruns in a game. It was the second time he had achieved the feat.
1984 - The Chicago White Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-6, in 25 innings. The game took 8 hours and 6 minutes to complete.
1987 - Eddie Murray (Baltimore Orioles) became the first player to switch hit homeruns in two consecutive games.
1989 - Rick Cerone (New York Mets) committed his first error in 159 games as catcher.
1989 - Kevin Elster (New York Mets) committed his first error in 88 games as shortstop.
1993 - The Phoenix Suns beat the Los Angeles Lakers 112-104 in overtime to become the first NBA team to lose two playoff games at home and then come back to win three straight.
1995 - The Cleveland Indians tied a record when they recorded 8 runs before making an out. They beat the Minnesota Twins 10-0.
1997 - The San Diego Padres retired the #35. Pitcher Randy Jones had worn the number.
1999 - Marshall McDougall (Florida State) hit six consecutive home runs and knocked in 16 runs. Both records were set in the 25-2 victory over Maryland.
2001 - In Accra, Ghana, at least 120 people died in a stampede at a soccer match.
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