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Bear Down Chicago Bears!!! Trestman eager to see Clausen play.
By Larry Mayer
Locked in a battle with
“I’m excited to see him just like we all are,” coach Marc Trestman said in advance of the preseason opener against the Eagles. “He’s had a good camp. He’s picked up the system very quickly. He’s throwing the ball well overall.
“He’s been fairly consistent throughout practice knowing where to go with the football. It’s not always perfect, but nobody is perfect in practice. He’s in a serious competition with Jordan and we’ll see what both of them can do Friday night under the lights.”
Clausen signed with the Bears June 5 after spending his first four NFL seasons with the Panthers. The Notre Dame product has not appeared in a regular-season game since his rookie year in 2010 and missed all of the 2013 campaign with a shoulder injury that required surgery.
Clausen participated in the final two weeks of the Bears’ offseason program, and has steadily improved in training camp as he becomes more familiar with the offense.
“I feel like I know the system,” Clausen said, “not to where I want to know it a year down the road, but I feel confident executing what the coaches call.”
Many NFL offenses utilize similar concepts, but digesting new terminology is like learning another language and, not surprisingly, the greatest challenge for Clausen.
“It’s a hurdle that I’m still trying to get over,” he said. “It’s kind of breaking old habits, but you’re not going to learn it overnight. It’s a process. Each day out, each practice, each game out, it’s going to get a little easier and feel a little more comfortable.”
As he prepares for Friday night’s preseason opener, Clausen’s goals are simple.
“I’m just trying to go out there when my name’s called, make plays, get the team in the right play for the situation, keep the chains moving and put points on the board,” he said.
In a No. 2 quarterback, the Bears coaching staff is seeking a substitute who can step in and run the offense efficiently at a moment’s notice.
“We’re looking to see how he can run the offense,” said offensive coordinator Aaron Kromer. “By no means are we looking for a superstar. We’re looking for a guy that can read a coverage and throw it to the correct guy, or work with the unit and make him successful.”
Bears starting quarterback Jay Cutler has been impressed with Clausen’s attitude since the two starting working together one day after Clausen joined the team in June.
“He’s a good guy,” Cutler said. “You never really know anybody until you get to sit down and talk with them, and he was eager. He was very humble and just wanted to learn the offense and get a shot. I think he’s progressed really well. As quickly as he’s learned the offense, not only spitting it out but making the necessary changes and in the run game, he’s done a really good job.”
Clausen hopes to continue to progress and ultimately earn a roster spot with the Bears. If that doesn’t happen, he’s striving to catch the attention of another NFL club.
“Every day’s a job interview whether it’s on the practice field here for the Chicago Bears or going out in preseason games for 31 other teams,” Clausen said. “It’s a job interview each and every day, and that’s how you have to approach it.”
Preseason opener could give clues about Bears 'D'. What's Your Take?
By ANDREW SELIGMAN (AP Sports Writer)
The long-anticipated debut of Jared Allen with the Chicago Bears might be pushed back a week.
The grand unveiling of the rebuilt defense figures to come at a later date, too.
Chicago hosts the Philadelphia Eagles on Friday in a preseason opener that still could provide a glimpse even if it's lacking some star power.
Allen missed practices this week with his wife giving birth to the couple's second daughter, throwing his status for this game into doubt.
If he does play, it will probably only be a cameo since starters generally make early exits.
Tight end Martellus Bennett might also miss this one after being suspended indefinitely following an altercation with cornerback Kyle Fuller in practice on Monday.
As for the Bears' new-look defense?
Well, Friday's game could provide a hint or two of things to come whether Allen plays or not and some position battles could start to come into focus.
Throw in the fact that the Bears will face the defending NFC East champions, a team that beat them last season, and there is at least some intrigue in this game.
That starts with the defense.
''We do a few things that are different but the mentality is still there,'' Bears linebacker Lance Briggs said. ''Things that we've always been taught and that's play physical, run to the ball and create takeaways.''
All those are things the Bears did not do last season on the way to an 8-8 record. Now, they're looking for more on defense, and the same goes for the Eagles.
Where they differ is how they tried to achieve it.
While the Bears went the makeover route, most notably signing Allen from Minnesota, the Eagles made few changes to a defense that was the worst in franchise history in yards allowed. The 6,304 yards Philadelphia gave up were 15th-most in NFL history and the 4,636 passing yards were fifth-most.
The major additions the Eagles made were safety Malcolm Jenkins, cornerback Nolan Carroll and rookie linebacker Marcus Smith, a first-round draft pick. They're also counting on improvement from within to support a record-setting offense as they enter their second season under defensive coordinator Billy Davis.
''It's really a chance to get to see guys in live action with officials in a different setting and see which guys can show up a little bit,'' coach Chip Kelly said.
''And that's the interesting thing of this, there's going to be some guys that I think maybe someone didn't have an idea where they were going to be, and there's going to be some other guys that maybe will disappoint. But you don't know until you can put them into action.''
The Bears believe they are poised to make a big jump after missing the playoffs for the sixth time in seven years and avoid a replay of last season, when the offense carried the team. It would be hard for them not to improve in that area, considering how bad things were.
Chicago ranked 30th overall in 2013 and last against the run. The Bears also tied Jacksonville with a league-low 31 sacks while allowing 2,583 yards rushing on 5.3 yards per carry - both club records.
Despite that, they had a chance to clinch the NFC North before getting blown out 54-11 at Philadelphia last season. They then lost the finale to Green Bay the following week and missed the playoffs.
Allen, the five-time Pro Bowl defensive end, was the marquee addition. But even if he doesn't play on Friday, this will be a chance to see how newcomers such as defensive end Lamarr Houston are fitting in.
It will also be a chance to see how Shea McClellin is adjusting from the move from defensive end to linebacker. It might also bring a little more clarity to the rotation at safety, where there's a wide-open competition, and at middle linebacker with Jon Bostic and D.J. Williams listed as co-starters on the depth chart.
''Yeah, well, really the depth chart is just a starting point,'' defensive coordinator Mel Tucker said.
''It's what it is. They all play, we count their reps, we move them around. As you can see during practice, guys are shuffling in and out in different groups and all that just trying to make sure that everyone gets the correct amount of reps so that we can evaluate them. And so really there's nothing set in stone right now.''
Chicago Sports & Travel, Inc./AllsportsAmerica Take: I think the defense is going to show major improvement but my biggest concern is the injury bug and depth at corner and linebacker. We have a lot of good young talented players, however, we need to harness the talent and bring the hunger out of them. Trestman's a terrific coach and the offense was great last year but three things bother me about the offense. They are the depth at quarterback (a viable backup for Cutler, man, I miss McCown), depth at running back (a viable backup for Forte) and depth at wide receiver (a third and fourth backup for Marshall and Jeffery). When the injury bug hit Marquess Wilson, I realized how vulnerable we really were on offense. Our starting line from last year still hasn't played enough this year to gel yet, again thanks to injuries and illness. Martellus Bennett will be back with a different attitude and I'm sure everyone got the message that upper management and the coaching staff sent (even though they stated there was no message). We have four more weeks until the season starts and preseason games #2 and #3 will tell us the rest of the story. On paper, the Bears look marvelous but so do the other teams in the NFC North. Do not write any team off and I mean none of them. Let's get everyone healthy, focused and see what the backups at quarterback, running back, cornerback and linebacker can do against Philadelphia tonight. I still believe the Bears can go deep into the playoffs but we still have a long way to go before we can even think about getting there.
Now you know what we think and how we feel, we'd love to know, what’s your take? Marion P. Jelks, Chicago Sports & Travel, Inc./AllsportsAmerica Blog Editor. Please use the comment section below and have at it. Let us know your thoughts.
So you think you know football, Chicago Sports & Travel, Inc./AllsportsAmerica is going to give you a chance to prove it!!!!!
Who will win the Super Bowl and be this year's NFL Champion???
The wait is over, the time is now, football is here.
Attention: Diehard NFL Fans: It's going to be a great year!!! Good luck to your favorite team, however, let it be known that the Bears are on a mission. Enhance your season and support your team with the challenge below. Try it, you'll love it. Good Luck.
How 'bout them Chicago Blackhawks? Top 10 NHL teams that improved the most this offseason.
By Ryan Lambert
Every summer, there are many teams that take at least some sort of step forward in terms of overall quality through drafting, signing, and trade acquisitions. This summer in particular it seemed, weirdly, as though a lot more teams in the league than usual were able to do so.
More troubling for the have-nots in the NHL, though, is that it was mostly teams that were actually good already which took the biggest steps forward.
Doesn't seem fair, but that's life.
But what good would all those changes be if we couldn't rank them arbitrarily?
10. Los Angeles Kings
It's tough to be sure the Kings really and actually count for this list, but let's say they do anyway. They didn't add anybody, but more importantly, they really didn't lose one guy in particular either.
They're a team that won the Stanley Cup and therefore had few changes to make. In the end, the barely did that: They traded center Linden Vey — who's good but was unnecessary in Los Angeles — to Vancouver (for a second-round pick; nice pickup), and re-upped Jeff Schultz. Really simple maintenance on what was already a finely tuned machine.
Oh, and they also re-signed Marian Gaborik for seven years with an AAV of just $4.875 million, giving him the fifth-highest cap hit among Kings forwards, and he took a substantial paycut because he liked all the winning he was doing. This ensured that the price Dean Lombardi paid for the rental was more than worth it. That's a pretty solid deal for a guy who was dominant alongside Anze Kopitar in the playoffs. A full, potentially injury-free season together (not that I'd go betting on that) seems like it could follow.
For a team that needed little to no help, ensuring they didn't lose Gaborik's services was key. The big knock on the Kings has always been that they didn't score a lot at 5-on-5 in particular, but this might sort that problem out pretty well.
9. Chicago Blackhawks
This is another team that didn't really need the help, but made two more tangible changes.
The first was offloading Brandon Bollig on Calgary in exchange for a third-round pick. Bollig is bad and he made the team worse when he was on the ice. Getting rid of him — and his confusingly high $1.3 million-per-for-three-years deal — is addition by subtraction in perhaps its purest sense. Does his absence mean they clear some roster space for Teuvo Teravainen?
But then they went out and added Brad Richards to replace Michal Handzus as the team's No. 2 center. The tires are certainly getting a little bare for Richards, but he'll be asked to do far less in Chicago than he was in New York, and at $2 million and one year — a bargain at 1.35 Bolligs — the risk is basically non-existent. If he can find any kind of chemistry with Patrick Kane, this could pay off in a serious way, and make them an even bigger Cup threat than they already were.
8. Minnesota Wild
Finally, we come to a team that actually needed more improvement to be competitive. One of Chuck Fletcher's biggest problems last season was that the depth on this team wasn't really there, particularly when it comes to scoring.
His solution to the problem, then, was to go out and get some depth and scoring. Thomas Vanek alone would have made for a pretty good offseason (as long as you ignore the looming calamity in net, barring a legendary coming of age for Darcy Kuemper), but tacking on Jordan Schroeder was a decent enough bet.
Vanek adds a lot more credibility to a top-six that kind of lacked it last year; the Wild were 24th in goals for last season (below Calgary!), and Vanek will certainly help there. So, too, will the continued maturation of some of the teams very promising young forwards, including Justin Fontaine, Jason Zucker, Charlie Coyle, Mikael Granlund and Erik Haula.
As for Schroeder, again, this is low-risk, because he's signed on a two-way deal for $600,000. He's a former first-round pick and Minnesota native AND former Minnesota Golden Gopher. If nothing else, they'll sell a bunch of Schroeder jerseys. Maybe he just needed a change of scenery.
Pity about the goaltending, though.
7. Edmonton Oilers
It's fair to say that the Oil took a bit of a risk in some regard this offseason, but nonetheless the roster today is better than it was last season.
Yes, they still have a gaping hole down the middle, and that's inescapable. It's really hard to figure out what they think they're going to be able to do about it. But they've improved in a number of other ways.
Mark Fayne is an interesting choice on the blue line, for one thing. The numbers from last season suggest that he was actually a bit of an anchor for New Jersey but was still well into the positive area in terms of possession, and his contract is extremely reasonable ($3.625 million for four years) if he works out to be what they want. Hard to guess why they're paying Nikita Nikitin more than that ($4.5 million for two), but that doesn't diminish his personal value.
The big change is up front though, as they brought in Teddy Purcell — though in doing so created the hole in the middle of the ice by trading Sam Gagner — and, more importantly, Benoit Pouliot. Both players drive the bus in terms of possession, and while they seem to be only worth about half a point a game each, that's: a) better than the dregs of the Oilers lineup last season, and b) what Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Nail Yakupov are there for.
Getting the puck into the attacking zone (probably due to a lack of depth and maybe some wobbly knees because of all the systems changes over the last few years) was the team's big problem last year, and nearly every move they made this summer addresses it.
Total cap cost to bring on Pouliot, Purcell and Fayne, less the loss of Gagner: $8.925 million. Very solid improvement for the price.
6. Columbus Blue Jackets
This is another club that didn't really have to make any changes to impress, and they, in fact, only made one. Like a few other clubs mentioned on this list, the Blue Jackets didn't really have much in the way of top-six depth.
So they went out and acquired Scott Hartnell, who can still do a lot of good things well even if he is getting on in years. In doing so, they also offloaded a positively awful and needlessly expensive player in RJ Umberger, which in and of itself would have been a win. Getting a positive producer back in return — even if you have to worry about his iffy contract for several more years — is worth the additional $150,000 cap hit per year.
There's also reason to believe Brian Gibbons, the only other remotely notable NHL player they acquired this summer, can be a generally positive depth player for them, so that was a good signing too. Jarmo Kekalainen is really good.
Now they just need to get Ryan Johansen signed.
5. St. Louis Blues
We're back to a team that really didn't need a whole lot of help, but the help they got was far more substantial than what Chicago and Los Angeles received.
Adding Paul Stastny for the value they did was a coup for Doug Armstrong, because the reason the Blues didn't get past the Blackhawks last season was that they didn't have any additional scoring pop beyond their top line. Their No. 2 center in terms of time on ice last season was Patrik Berglund. No. 3 was Steve Ott. Adding someone that good in the middle, and consequently shuffling everyone else down a spot in the lineup, will go a long way to shoring up the competitive quality of an already-good team.
That's the clear headline here, for sure.
Another underrated decision the team made, though, involved a pretty quiet swap: They sent Roman Polak to Toronto for Carl Gunnarsson. Sneaky move, because Polak was a couldn't even stay above water in terms of possession on a team this good, despite soft competition. Meanwhile, Gunnarsson was buried under Randy Carlyle's ultra-passive system, and drew more difficult assignments. Prior to last season, he was always about break-even in terms of relative corsi, so moving to an actual well-coached team could do wonders.
4. Anaheim Ducks
One could make a fairly reasonable argument that the Ducks were a one-line team last season. Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry both posted more than a point a game. No one else put up more than 49. This was also evident in the fact that the possession numbers weren't good for the entire team, but drove over a cliff when Perry and Getzlaf were off the ice.
To that end, Bob Murray went out and traded Nick Bonino for Ryan Kesler, and in doing so added significant credibility to the club's Cup chances (though perhaps not enough). The last few years, the numbers have suggested that all the success was driven by Getzlaf and Perry, and without much foundation beyond. Actual deep teams could and did knock them off in the playoffs. That won't be as much of a problem.
People knock Kesler because he was hurt a lot two years ago and doesn't produce as much as he did when he was putting up 70-plus a year for that little while. But turning your nose up at a guy who played 77 games and had 25 goals last season seems, uh, ill-advised.
As for the Dany Heatley gamble, having a guy to whom Getzlaf or Perry can say, “Stand there and put it on net when I pass it to you” might just smooth over the loss of Teemu Selanne ... realistically but not spiritually. At least he's cheap.
Final word on Kesler: He's not as good as Stastny, but the price they paid to get him (the overrated, sheltered, and lucky Nick Bonino) and the team's need for a player like what Kesler brings to the table makes him arguably more valuable.
3. Tampa Bay Lightning
Steve Yzerman has generally moved his team in a positive direction since taking the job, though with a few baffling decisions mixed in every once in a while, presumably to keep things interesting.
This summer, though, the questionable moves are nowhere to be found — well, except for adding Evgeni Nabokov for reasons that don't seem too sane at all — and all that's left are the biggies:
Adding two former New York Rangers and shedding a bunch of salary qualifies as a significant step forward.
Tampa's biggest weakness was on defense (only two guys with positive corsi relatives on that blue line, and one of them was Sami Salo), and adding the all-of-a-sudden properly rated Anton Stralman sure does help ease that concern. He makes everyone he plays with better, and the chance to add someone like that in free agency doesn't come along often.
Tacking on a very strong No. 3 center — albeit for a little more money than he's probably worth — isn't a bad look either, because Brian Boyle can pick up a lot of slack if Tyler Johnson takes a step back in his sophomore campaign. Certainly, he's an improvement over Nate Thompson.
Those two, plus having Steven Stamkos's leg back in working order, should make the Bolts a much better team. Just watch out for falling Ben Bishop save percentages.
2. Dallas Stars
I've spent a lot of this summer feeling like the Stars took the biggest step forward, from borderline playoff team to sure-thing with a chance to do a little bit of damage in the Central, of any team in the league.
Adding Jason Spezza and Ales Hemsky in a few days to shore up the team's pop was maybe the single biggest power move by a general manager this summer. That immediately adds so much credibility to the team's power play and 5-on-5 scoring that they might have pulled even with St. Louis in terms of overall quality, which is saying something.
Going with a 1-2 punch of Tyler Seguin and Spezza probably gives Dallas the best two-center combination in the division, and puts them pretty close to tops in the league.
The team still has a little ways to go on the blue line, unfortunately, but they have some very good young pieces that give them a little flexibility in this regard to go make a trade happen if they deem it absolutely necessary.
But because of that, now that I really sit down and think about it, it feels like the top spot should actually go elsewhere.
1. New York Islanders
It's hard not to love what the Islanders did this offseason.
They traded for the rights to Jaroslav Halak then, in a twist on an old Islanders trope, actually signed him. Reasons this is a win: Halak is pretty good and the Isles' previous goaltending situation was among the worst in the league. Then they added Chad Johnson, who seems like he could be a pretty decent backup.
That immediately made the team as much as 12 or 14 standings points better, because Evgeni Nabokov should not be an NHL goaltender in 2013, let alone going forward. If this was the only improvement the team made, that would be a great one, and would probably land them at top-3 on this list.
But Garth Snow wasn't going to rest on his laurels. He also went out and added both Mikhail Grabovski and Nikolai Kulemin, both advanced stats darlings who also happen to be able to put up pretty good points totals when used correctly (Randy Carlyle used neither correctly).
In addition, it should be noted that the team will likely improve because of circumstances that lingered from last year. They got rid of Andrew MacDonald (this is huge!) and will likely have healthier seasons from Lubomir Visnovsky and John Tavares to really shore things up, along with improving young players.
It would be shocking if this team didn't make the playoffs. Can you imagine saying that about the Islanders four months ago?
Blackhawks' relationship with USO continues to grow.
By Nina Falcone
Prior to the start of every Chicago Blackhawks home game, current and former members of the United States military join singer Jim Cornelison on the ice as the sold-out crowd inside the United Center stands and applauds while the National Anthem is performed.
It's a tradition that has become one of the most spectacular and moving moments in all of sports, and it was started after the Blackhawks and United Services Organization (USO) began to develop a relationship over 17 years ago.
But those pregame performances are just one example of the connection between these two organizations. And on Tuesday, members of the Blackhawks' organization joined the USO to serve them a meal as a small thank you for all their service to the country.
"We get a chance to serve them, I mean this is a privilege," Blackhawks president and CEO John McDonough said. "So we get to be here for two or three hours and make some new friends which we all did tonight. It's a great event."
Just another Chicago Bulls Session… Bulls: Fellow rookies high on Doug McDermott's NBA potential.
By Mark Strotman
Doug McDermott's fellow 2014 NBA draft class believes the Creighton sharpshooter is going to be a real talent in the Association.
At the Rookie Photo Shoot last week in New York City, NBA.com polled 38 first-year players on eight different questions about this year's talented class. Thirty-nine different players received votes in the various categories, and players weren't allowed to vote for themselves, college teammates or current NBA teammates.
And of those eight questions, McDermott, the No. 11 overall pick in June's draft, received votes in five different categories, including (unsurprisingly) the most votes for being the best shooter in this year's class. Here's a quick look at how McDermott's peers voted for the sharpshooter.
Who will be the 2014-15 Rookie of the Year?
1. Jabari Parker, Milwaukee (52.8 percent)
T2. Doug McDermott, Chicago (8.3 percent)
T2. Andrew Wiggins, Cleveland (8.3 percent)
T4. Shabazz Napier, Miami (5.6 percent)
T4. Nerlens Noel, Philadelphia (5.6 percent)
T4. Elfrid Payton, Orlando (5.6 percent)
With Andrew Wiggins' future in Cleveland in doubt -- he'll almost certainly be part of a deal with Minnesota that sends Kevin Love to Minnesota -- the Chicago native Parker was the runaway favorite. Given the keys to the Bucks franchise, it's really Parker's award to lose as he takes over a Milwaukee team that won just 15 games a year ago. He's been billed as the most NBA-ready prospect and will get the minutes to pile up the stats to be considered a favorite for the award.
McDermott joins a loaded Chicago team, and though he's the top outside shooter on the Bulls roster and may even start at small forward it'll be tough for him to earn the award as the fourth option on offense, valuable as he may be.
Which rookie will have the best career?
1. Jabari Parker, Milwaukee (45.9 percent)
2. Doug McDermott, Chicago (13.5 percent)
3. T.J. Warren, Phoenix (8.1 percent)
T4. Andrew Wiggins, Cleveland (5.4 percent)
T4. Zach LaVine, Minnesota (5.4 percent)
This is certainly high praise for McDermott from his peers, but he's off to an impressive start after a sparkling performance in the Las Vegas Summer League, where those voting got a chance to see him show off his entire offensive arsenal. Also the lone rookie with two years of USA Basketball experience under his belt, McDermott has a head start on some of his fellow rookies. The lack of votes for Wiggins, the top pick, is somewhat surprising, though the aforementioned uncertainty of where he'll be playing may have factored in.
Which rookie is being most overlooked?
1. Kyle Anderson, San Antonio (11.1 percent)
T2. Mitch McGary, Oklahoma City (8.3 percent)
T2. Glen Robinson III, Minnesota (8.3 percent)
T2. C.J. Wilcox, Los Angeles Clippers (8.3 percent)
T5. Gary Harris, Denver (5.6 percent)
T5. K.J. McDaniels, Philadelphia (5.6 percent)
T5. Doug McDermott, Chicago (5.6 percent)
T5. Andrew Wiggins, Cleveland (5.6 percent)
The rookies hit the nail on the head with Anderson, a sophomore from UCLA who doesn't necessarily do one thing great but does everything well. His lack of a true position won't be an issue in San Antonio (see: Boris Diaw in last year's NBA Finals) and he has plenty of upside.
McGary missed most of his sophomore season at Michigan with a back injury but was one of the best freshmen in the country in 2012. McDermott won't be asked to do as much in Chicago as he would have on other lottery teams, which could have some overlooking his ability to shoot from the perimeter as well as an underrated offensive skill set.
Which rookie is the best shooter?
1. Doug McDermott, Chicago (39.5 percent)
2. Nik Stauskas, Sacramento (26.3 percent)
3. Joe Harris, Cleveland (13.2 percent)
T4. P.J. Hairston, Charlotte (5.3 percent)
T4. C.J. Wilcox, Los Angeles Clippers (5.3 percent)
No surprise here. As if McDermott's historically good shooting and scoring numbers at Creighton weren't enough, the Bulls rookie lit up the Summer League last month by averaging 18.0 points in four games on 44 percent shooting from beyond the arc. In most classes Stauskas would have finished first in this category; in two seasons at Michigan he shot 44 percent from deep and was widely regarded as the best shooter in the Big Ten.
Which rookie is the best playmaker?
1. Tyler Ennis, Toronto (24.3 percent)
2. Kyle Anderson, San Antonio (18.9 percent)
3. Marcus Smart, Boston (13.5 percent)
T4. Dante Exum, Utah (5.4 percent)
T4. Doug McDermott, Chicago (5.4 percent)
T4. Shabazz Napier, Miami (5.4 percent)
T4. Elfrid Payton, Orlando (5.4 percent)
You'll notice that this list consists of all collegiate point guards, except one. McDermott isn't just a traditional spot-up shooter; his ability to move without the ball and hit from anywhere on the floor makes him a playmaker in a different sense than the floor generals on this list, but his inclusion is a hat-tip to him in that there's more to playmaking than just a pretty pass.
Note: It was interesting to see that no player listed Derrick Rose as his favorite NBA player, but that should change when this process is done next season after Rose has had a year back in the spotlight, both with Team USA and in Chicago.
NCAA a bigger threat to NBA than FIBA.
By Ethan Sherwood Strauss
It’s truly insane that the NBA allows its best talents to risk their careers playing in a different league for different coaches, but sometimes tradition codifies insanity. Perhaps the latest gruesome injury will cause the league to reconsider.
How can a sport trafficking in billions allow its brightest stars to fall into a nebulous area where top medical attention isn't assured? How can such a powerful corporation toss the reins to a bunch of slapdash programs that have little incentive to help the NBA and every incentive to win right now, even if the player suffers long term? In the parlance of Mark Cuban, it’s the epitome of stupidity that the NBA allows itself to be used so that other corporations make hundreds of millions, if not billions.
I'm talking about NCAA basketball, of course. Right now, quite a few owners and executives are fixated on FIBA, with some seeing Paul George's sickening injury in a Team USA scrimmage as a "game-changer," or at least a validation for long-held concerns. There's a revulsion at how an event NBA teams have no control over can alter the trajectory of an entire franchise. The aforementioned Cuban has emphatically tweeted in opposition to a system in which players don't get paid, the NBA doesn’t get paid and all the money flows to an opaque sports bureaucracy.
Thing is, that arrangement perfectly describes NCAA basketball -- just without the hand-wringing from NBA executives on how something must be done. How does this one major injury in the history of American international play prove that it’s a big, scary risk while the many college ball injuries aren't used as an indictment against that particular system?
NBA teams aren't technically linked financially to college players like the Indiana Pacers are to George, but injuries at the NCAA level can be just as devastating to pro franchises. Say you have a top pick in a year when the top prospect (say, Nerlens Noel) shreds his knee. There are few (and sometimes no) franchise guys in a draft, and now you're either incurring the risk of selecting an injured talent or casting your lot with a more dubious talent (say, most of the players drafted before Noel). The Pacers will probably be without George's services for a season. Missing on a high draft pick might haunt a team for a decade.
Injuries in college aren't just a threat to specific NBA teams and owners, either. Apart from the obviously negative impact on the afflicted player, they're an economic threat to players in general. The players' association loses incredible amounts of basketball related income (BRI) if the next LeBron James suffers something career derailing for whichever one-and-done mill.
And yet, there's little concern over how the NBA might be hurt by loaning out its talent to a game with different rules, part-time refs and medical oversight that runs the gamut. Even though the NBA's most famous stars (James, Kobe Bryant) reached that echelon without any help from college basketball, there's a pervading notion that the college game is a necessary component of the pro game, that this is a mutually beneficial relationship. Former commissioner David Stern even went so far as to help the college game with an age limit that keeps generational talents battling the likes of Alcorn State. Current commissioner Adam Silver isn't satisfied with that arrangement and lists raising said age limit as his "top priority."
The NBA just loves supporting college basketball, and it's not as if it faces opposition from owners and executives in the way it does for supporting these month-long FIBA jaunts. Yes, a month, unlike the college system that's a season unto itself, one that actually runs parallel to the NBA's season.
It's often said that NCAA hoops is the NBA's "free farm system," but what kind of free farm system competes financially with the sport it feeds into? The cost of "free" is a postseason that's more popular than yours and runs smack-dab in the middle of your season. College football shows deference to the NFL product by being a Saturday event, leaving Sunday to the pros. College basketball runs on a "Whenever we please, NBA be damned," schedule. In fact, the NBA avoids holding its games during college basketball's championship tournament.
When you step back from warm associations with March Madness and curmudgeonly coaches in sweater vests, it seems as if the NBA just gives prized talent away to an ungrateful competitor. It's a competitor that hasn't proved it can develop talent for the NBA, either. The more time a player spends in college, the less likely he is to prosper as a pro.
Given the enumerated headaches the NBA gets in return for helping college basketball, it's a wonder there's pushback within the league against players helping out FIBA in their free time. Sure, the NBA can't wholly monetize international competition. It can't monetize the college game, either. Sure, there's a risk of NBA stars getting hurt playing in FIBA competition. There's a risk major draft picks get hurt playing domestically for colleges. At least the rare FIBA tournament helps spread awareness around the world about the NBA’s product. College basketball serves primarily as an advertisement for watching more regularly programmed college basketball.
So why is the NBA establishment content with college and uneasy with FIBA? It might have something to do with just how many people in the NBA establishment are college basketball fans. The NCAA fan demo skews older and wealthier than NBA fandom, matching up well with the demographics of those who actually run the NBA. There are many positive, nostalgic associations with the college game among pro basketball's power brokers. The FIBA World Cup just doesn't have that kind of emotional pull. College ball is familiar, playfully tribal. FIBA is quite literally foreign. Perhaps that difference is why one kind of basketball inspires fondness and the other evokes fear.
Where does Team USA stand without an exhausted Kevin Durant, now and in the future?
By Eric Freeman
On Thursday, Team USA lost another major star in advance of the FIBA World Cup of Basketball when Oklahoma City Thunder forward and reigning NBA MVP Kevin Durant withdrew from the tournament because of physical and emotional exhaustion. After the recent losses of Blake Griffin (possibly because of a back injury) and Paul George (because of one of the ugliest sports injuries ever seen), Durant's withdrawal leaves the heavy favorites to win gold in FIBA's premier non-Olympics tournament with a clearly diminished roster and new worries. Does Team USA still figure to be a dominant squad when the World Cup begins on Aug. 30 in Spain? And does Durant's withdrawal signal a new reality for Team USA as American-born NBA superstars consider the benefits and risks of representing their country on the world stage?
It is certain that Team USA will miss Durant in the World Cup, especially given that Spain, their main competition, can depend on some amount of homecourt advantage. While the MVP and four-time scoring champ regularly dominates in any environment, he's especially difficult to stop in international play because of the shorter FIBA 3-point line and a style of play that makes him even more of a matchup nightmare than usual. He was MVP of this tournament in 2010, breaking several national scoring records in the process, and led the 2012 Olympic gold medalists in scoring with 19.5 ppg, including a game-high 30 in the final vs. Spain. This Team USA roster figured to depend on several new faces and various players needing to prove themselves (for various reasons), but they knew they could depend on Durant serving as a primary scoring option. That fail-safe no longer exists.
That's not to say that Team USA is without options. In fact, it's arguable the team is now more interesting, if also not quite so imposing. Point guard Derrick Rose has been extremely impressive in his first action since the knee injury that ended his 2013-14 season after only 10 games. He now figures to become the team's de facto leader, which should at least provide a fascinating test of his readiness for the full NBA season. Elsewhere, players such as James Harden and Stephen Curry should take on larger scoring loads. Durant is irreplaceable, but the remaining pool of 15 players luckily features enough players to give Team USA the most scoring options of any team in the tournament by a wide margin. It'll take a committee of stars, though, because no one guy can make up for such a fantastic talent.
Stylistically, Team USA should make up for Durant's absence by relying on their big men more than in any of the last three gold-winning major tournaments under Mike Krzyzewski. Under Coach K, Team USA has thrived with its overwhelming athletic advantage, often employing small lineups with NBA small forwards like Durant, Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James at the "four" position, or even sometimes as centers. With Durant out, the team has no obvious replacement for that role. Instead, Coach K will likely give even more minutes to 21-year-old All-Star Anthony Davis, a fantastic two-way player who Durant himself said is ready to make a leap to MVP-caliber play. Davis could make a major statement in Spain by taking on a larger scoring load and stands as perhaps the player most worth watching on this roster. Apart from Davis, though, Team USA will call on interior players like DeMarcus Cousins, now likely a lock to make the roster, to step up. Guys like Andre Drummond and Mason Plumlee may not do much more than rebound, defend and catch alley-oops, but they also should see more playing time in the event they make the World Cup roster.
This team simply has too much talent not to remain the favorite in Spain — it might take several more marquee injuries or withdrawals to change that status. The more difficult question to answer concerns whether Durant's decision not to play, coming on the heels of so many other players opting not to play in the World Cup and the potentially foreboding injury to George, signals that more players will opt against playing in international tournaments now and in the future. With Team USA now entrenched as perennial favorites after several high-profile disappointments in the middle of the '00s, it's possible that many players won't consider their participation necessary. Furthermore, NBA franchises could put pressure on more players not to play due to fears of another George-like catastrophe.
Or maybe such concerns of a mass exodus are overblown, because this FIBA tournament has rarely been a priority for American basketball players. Apart from 2006, when the national team needed a strong showing to save its reputation (and naturally finished third after a shocking semifinal loss to Greece), the NBA's top stars have almost always opted to pass on playing in non-Olympic years. When Durant dominated competition in 2010, it was in large part because 2008 gold medalists like LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, and Dwyane Wade made themselves unavailable. In fact, Durant was playing in his first major international tournament and had to prove himself just as Davis and others do now. The only surprise, really, is that Durant took so long to withdraw from consideration. Reigning MVPs who already own Olympic gold medals usually make this call well in advance of the tournament.
Coach K and Jerry Colangelo have attempted to sell Team USA participation as a matter of patriotic duty and pride, but the squad's makeup has increasingly followed the pre-2006 trends that supposedly led to so many failures on the biggest stages in international hoops. While similar losses have yet to come, it's possible that we will see more when play tips off in Spain later this month. Unless the tournament becomes the sort of soccer-aping behemoth FIBA clearly wants, basketball fans should get used to seeing the World Cup as a sort of vetting period for Olympic teams, with up-and-coming talents getting a taste of international play in preparation for greater glory two years later.
This turn of events may seem terrible for anyone who expects Team USA to win in perpetuity, but it's a perfectly reasonable approach for a nation with an abundance of elite basketball players. Team USA only really faces serious competition in the Olympics and World Cup, which means that it's virtually impossible to vet players' readiness for these tournaments outside of these two events. As long as Americans continue to consider the Olympics to be the preeminent international tournament — which should be for at least another generation, given the continued prominence of the 1992 Dream Team — it makes sense to give players like Davis leading roles in the World Cup. This plan could lead to the occasional loss, but it also figures to keep Team USA at its strongest when the country and players want to win most.
Cubs: Javier Baez becomes Wrigley Field’s marquee attraction.
By Patrick Mooney
Javier Baez is now Wrigley Field’s marquee attraction.
Baez again became a trending topic on Twitter after blasting two home runs during Thursday’s 6-2 win over the Colorado Rockies, the end of a road trip the Cubs may remember as a turning point for The Plan.
Baez doesn’t know what the scene will be like at Clark and Addison on Friday afternoon when his name’s announced and he steps into the box to face Tampa Bay Rays right-hander Chris Archer. But Cubs fans will be waiting for him.
“I hope so,” Baez said.
Baez became the first Cub since at least 1914 to have a multi-homer game in his third career game. One stayed inside the left-field foul pole, the other bounced into the right-center field bullpen. Combine that with the game-winning bomb in his big-league debut – a 12th-inning shot on Tuesday night – and he’s outperformed the hype coming out of Triple-A Iowa.
That wasn’t just a media creation or the hopes of a desperate, frustrated fan base. The Cubs have put the kids front and center in all their business plans, marketing campaigns and PR spins.
You can be skeptical of a 49-64 team and wonder how the Cubs are going to find pitching and question when they’re going to spend like a big-market franchise again. Just don’t miss a Baez at-bat, because you never know what’s going to happen.
President of baseball operations Theo Epstein will try to shield Baez from the spotlight, but it’s too late for that now.
“It’s not a one-man show,” Epstein said. “We have a couple 24-year-old All-Stars in the big leagues already (with Anthony Rizzo and Starlin Castro). (Arismendy) Alcantara has come up and made a really nice first impression.
“He’s still someone who’s really exciting to watch, and there may be others behind Javy. For now, it’s a moment where there’s going to be a bit of a fishbowl around (Javy). We’ll help him get through that.”
By the way, Kyle Hendricks went eight innings at Coors Field in his fifth big-league start. The 24-year-old right-hander gave up two runs in the mile-high altitude, showing why he could be a big part of the future. That actually raised his ERA to 2.10.
“When (Baez) does things like he did today, it’s hard not to (think about the future),” said Hendricks, who played with him in the minors. “Everyone in the dugout’s obviously feeling it. There’s a lot of energy with the young guys.
“It didn’t surprise me too much, because I’ve seen it for a couple years. He always thrives on the big stage, every time we had a big game. He’s obviously really fun to watch. I’m glad he’s up here. He deserves it.”
A huge game on getaway day erased the 1-for-11 start, but that’s why the Cubs finally pulled the trigger on the Baez decision, knowing he’d struggle initially and wanting him to see what it takes up here.
“This is baseball,” Epstein said. “It’s something that a lot of prospects have to deal with. Look at Anthony Rizzo, where he was sort of written off after a tough couple months as a 21-year-old. I think Anthony’s jersey was the top-selling Padre jersey the day he was promoted from Triple-A for the first time. It can create unrealistic expectations if you don’t try to set realistic expectations.”
Good luck with that.
“No matter how many ABs I miss, I’m just going to keep doing my thing,” Baez said after he went 3-for-4 with four RBI. “I haven’t been nervous or anything. I’ve been slowing the game down and thinking about the situation.”
After a long wait, Adam Dunn took a plan with him to mound.
By Dan Hayes
In the midst of Tuesday night’s blowout, Robin Ventura only needed to look Adam Dunn’s way and nod, knowing the slugger would understand his long-awaited chance to pitch was around the corner.
When the moment arrived, Dunn looked and acted the part, even snapping his glove after his second pitch, believing plate umpire Chris Conroy had squeezed him.
Though he expected to be nervous, Dunn said he wasn’t when he made his pro pitching debut for the final inning of a 16-0 loss to the Texas Rangers.
Dunn had few regrets after he allowed a run on two hits and said he avoided throwing harder on purpose. His repertoire of pitches sat between 78-83 mph throughout his 22-pitch stanza, though Dunn said he could have thrown much harder.
“I never looked at the radar gun,” Dunn said. “If that’s 83, I got 10 more in there.
“The slower the better. If I go out there and throw 88 miles an hour, 90 miles an hour — a lot of people do that. And not a lot of people are humming it up near 80.”
Dunn, whose 457 home runs are the most in major league history by a pitcher making his debut — one more than Jimmie Foxx had when he made his on Aug. 6, 1939 — has long begged Ventura for a chance to pitch.
He was one of several players who offered to throw when Leury Garcia took the mound on April 16 against the Boston Red Sox. Even so, Ventura thought the “eye contact in about the sixth or seventh” to inform Dunn he would pitch caught the slugger by surprise.
“I think he was a little shocked when I walked up to him and said, ‘Tonight’s your night,’” Ventura said. “He was probably a little shocked. He went inside. He was working on it inside. I don’t know if anybody’s gone from being on deck to pitching as a first time.”
Dunn threw in the batting cage in between innings to prepare. Once on the mound, Dunn only needed six warm-up tosses before he was ready to go. But backup catcher Adrian Nieto said Dunn gave him explicit instructions for Conroy.
“He told me to tell the umpire ‘To open it up a little bit,’” Nieto said. “And ‘Stick everything for me.’”
“You try to keep it professional because it’s still a game. But I think everybody had a good kick out of it, especially the way the game unfolded.”
Though it was all in good fun and Ventura thinks the light moment sent his team home in a much better mood than had they lost by 15 runs, Nieto said Dunn has some skills.
“Actually it wasn’t bad,” Nieto said. “He actually had some sink to his sinker and a pretty decent cutter. I was wiggling my finger for a sinker and he threw it. It’s not a bad pitch.”
It’s not a great pitch, either.
Ventura joked that Dunn — who previously called himself the second best quarterback in Chicago behind Jay Cutler — believes he has strikeout stuff and “he doesn’t.”
Asked about Conroy’s strike zone, Dunn had no doubt he was squeezed, that his second pitch would have been called had he been at the plate. But Dunn was grateful for the chance to pitch, his first since his junior year of high school.
“I always wanted to get out there and see how hard it is,” Dunn said. “I know how hard it is on the other side. I wanted to see how hard it is on that side. It’s fun. It’s something different.”
Unusual was all Dunn hoped to be, hence the slower velocity. After all, the appearance was three years in the making and Dunn knew exactly how he wanted to handle himself on the mound. He even shook off Nieto twice and went to a third pitch that the rookie identified as a cut-fastball, though Dunn had no idea what to call it.
“I was just holding the ball and spinning it one way or the other,” Dunn said. “That’s what I told Robin: I’m not going to go out there to see how hard I can throw. I just want to throw strikes and more importantly try to break somebody’s bat.”
Baseball Hall of Fame plans traveling exhibit.
Associated Press
The National Baseball Hall of Fame is teaming with IMAX, Major League Baseball and other partners for a national traveling exhibit featuring historical artifacts from the Cooperstown museum and state-of-the-art interactive digital media.
The announcement made Wednesday in New York says the tour will visit major league cities and spring training sites starting in the spring of 2016.
In addition to IMAX and MLB Advanced Media, the Hall of Fame is partnering on the project with Boston Red Sox Chairman Tom Werner and Creative Artists Agency, a leading entertainment and sports agency.
Plans call for the exhibit to visit all 30 major league cities within the first three years, followed by three years of repeat visits to cities of high demand and large markets with minor league teams.
Golf: I got a club for that… Westwood in three-way tie for lead, Tiger toils.
By Mark Lamport-Stokes
Lee Westwood stormed into a share of the PGA Championship lead with five birdies in his last six holes on Thursday as four-times winner Tiger Woods ended the opening round a distant nine shots off the pace.
Englishman Westwood, long regarded as one of the best players in the game who has yet to clinch a major title, fired a six-under-par 65 on a calm, muggy day at Valhalla Golf Club to finish joint top with Americans Kevin Chappell and Ryan Palmer.
British Open champion Rory McIlroy, the pre-tournament favourite who is bidding for a third consecutive victory on the PGA Tour, was lurking ominously just one off the pace after opening with an eight-birdie 66 in the year's final major.
"I played well, hit a lot fairways, putted nicely," former world number one Westwood told reporters after racking up a total of nine birdies, one bogey and a double.
"I gave myself a lot of chances. All in all, there were no real weaknesses out there. I hit a lot of quality iron shots, and it felt like 65 was a fair enough score for the way I played."
Sprint Cup: Hendrick's faith in Dale Jr. paying off.
By Ed Hinton | ESPN.com
Of course Dale Earnhardt Jr. heard it, and read it, from the Junior haters -- and even thought it himself: Maybe Rick Hendrick ought to fire him.
Six years, four of them with goose eggs in the wins column, the best two with a single win in each.
"He had every right in the world to replace me with another driver and nobody would have said a thing about it," Earnhardt told reporters at Pocono on Sunday after sweeping the triangular track's Cup races this season and running his wins total to three.
As of now, he's the top seed in the Chase, where in other years at this point in the season it was iffy whether he'd make NASCAR's playoffs at all -- and even then would have been viewed as a nominal entry, not a real contender.
Haters ridiculed him and his 88 team as the weakest link in the four-car Hendrick Motorsports armada.
Now he and the 88 are the strongest.
That became evident when he seized the lead with 14 laps to go Sunday and then held off Kevin Harvick on a late restart.
As for Earnhardt's teammates, the erstwhile flagship 48 team of Jimmie Johnson limped home a miserable 39th after getting itself into tire trouble yet again. Johnson tacked that one onto finishes of 42nd, 42nd and 14th in his previous three races.
Jeff Gordon, who led a race-high 63 laps, wound up sixth. Kasey Kahne finished 10th and didn't lead a single lap.
Hendrick wasn't there Sunday, but Earnhardt, on his phone from Victory Lane, "told him thanks for believing in me and making my life better," Earnhardt said.
For years, "We weren't running good enough and it would have made perfect sense to everybody if he had went that route [firing Junior]," Earnhardt said.
"But he stuck with me and said, 'We're going to make it right. We're going to make it right.'
"And he put me with Steve [Letarte]," the crew chief who sat beside Earnhardt Sunday at the winners' interview, and who has turned Earnhardt's outlook and career around.
"It was touch-and-go there for a while," Earnhardt said of the early period of his pairing with Letarte, "but we have worked, we have done some good things together and we have continued to get better and we finally are realizing that potential and doing the things on the racetrack that we dreamed about when we first started working together."
So, all told, Rick Hendrick, the man so reverently called "Mr. Hendrick" by all of his employees for his kindnesses to them, "has helped me become a better person," Earnhardt said, "put me around people that influence me to be a better person, so I just want him to know that I appreciate it."
National Guard to pull out of NASCAR and IndyCar.
By JENNA FRYER (AP Auto Racing Writer)
The National Guard said Wednesday it will end its sponsorship of NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. and IndyCar's Graham Rahal, but it is not clear when that goes into effect.
Hendrick Motorsports said in a statement it has a contract through 2015. ''We have not been approached by the guard about potential changes and plan to honor our current agreement,'' the team said.
Bobby Rahal, co-owner of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, said in a statement he learned of the guard's decision on Wednesday. He called it disappointing news ''given the significant incremental brand exposure we have worked to produce for the National Guard in our first season together, including various off-track marketing and advertising programs focused on supporting the mission set forth.''
The guard said in a statement posted on its web site it spent $32 million on its NASCAR sponsorship and $12 million on its IndyCar sponsorship this year, and noted that ''sports sponsorships have played an important role in helping the guard build strong brand awareness.'' But, the guard statement said its sponsorship contracts in NASCAR and IndyCar ''are set to expire at the end of the current season,'' which contradicts the Hendrick claim.
''Significantly constrained resources and the likelihood of further reductions in the future call for more innovative and cost-effective ways of doing business,'' Maj. Gen. Judd H. Lyons, acting director of the Army National Guard, said in the statement.
Military funding has come under increased scrutiny in Congress as Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo, has called the sponsorship ''wasting a bunch of money on a very expensive sports sponsorship.''
The guard said in its statement that motorsports is not the only marketing arena to suffer under reduced budgets.
''Since 2012, the Army Guard has reduced sports sponsorships from six - including professional fishing and motorcycle racing - to just the NASCAR and IndyCar sponsorships,'' the statement said. ''In fiscal year 2015, the Army Guard's marketing budget is expected to be about half of what it was just three years ago in fiscal year 2012.''
The guard has been with Earnhardt since 2008, when he joined Hendrick Motorsports. NASCAR's most popular driver has won three races this year - including Sunday at Pocono when the guard was on the No. 88 and his uniform as his primary sponsor - and is second in the Sprint Cup standings.
Rahal only landed the guard this season after a prolonged battle with Panther Racing, which had the sponsorship in IndyCar from 2008 through 2013. Although the sponsorship was originally awarded to RLL late last year, Panther owner John Barnes appealed and the review dragged on for months.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office eventually denied Panther's appeal and RLL said in February the guard would be the primary sponsor for Rahal's No. 15 Honda.
Panther Racing has since filed suit against RLL, IndyCar and Document Packaging Brokers, an Alabama-based company known as Docupak that is involved in administering the guard sponsorship agreements. Panther alleges it lost sponsorship valued at $17.2 million a year because of bid-rigging and other improprieties.
Rusty Wallace inducted into Hall.
Associated Press
Former NASCAR driver Rusty Wallace was one of seven men inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America on Wednesday.
"I think my years in NASCAR were some of the best years NASCAR ever had," Wallace said. "Places were mobbed out and sold out and I was winning a lot of races. People say, 'You drove at a time when NASCAR was at its peak.' "
Wallace made his debut on the top circuit in 1980 in a Roger Penske-owned car and joined the series full-time in 1984. His first victories came in 1986 with Raymond Beadle's Blue Max Racing team and he won the 1989 Sprint Cup championship after holding off Dale Earnhardt.
Wallace moved to Penske's team in 1991 and ran the final 15 years of his career for the car owner, who presented him for induction Wednesday.
"He's been an incredible mentor," Wallace said. "I never had any car dealerships and I ran it by him for some advice and now I have seven of them,"
Wallace finished his career with 55 wins -- 37 with Penske -- and was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2013. Five of those victories came at Michigan International Speedway, once owned by Penske.
His former car owner was happy to introduce Wallace on Wednesday.
"What he's done for this sport and our team, we wouldn't have what we have today without him," Penske said. "He was one of the first drivers to really understand what it meant to keep a sponsor. Miller got in back then and is still involved today. He was a driver, a technician, a marketer and a good friend."
Arie Luyendyk, who began racing on the IndyCar circuit in 1985 and won the Indianapolis 500 in 1990 and '97, also was inducted. The Dutch-born driver's winning average speed of 187.433 in his first Indy victory -- at a time when Penske entries dominated at Indy -- stood as a race record until 2013.
Like Wallace, he also looks back on his career as a golden time of the sport.
"What I liked about the older days at Indy was you had different cars and different engines and not all the tight and close racing you see today," he said. "It was about having the best tire, car, engine -- a lot of things had to come together.
"It's not like today where everyone has the same car."
Drag racer and car owner Beadle had a heart attack last month in Texas. His son, Ryan, accepted the honor on his behalf.
The remaining members of the class -- Ole Bardahl, founder of the Bardahl Oil Company that has sponsored entries in a variety of motorsports; IMSA founder John Bishop; three-time American Motorcyclist Association grand national champion Ricky Graham; and NASCAR pioneer Marshall Teague -- are dead.
Teague's widow, Mitzi, died Saturday at age 90. His daughter, Patty Teeters, came to Detroit on Wednesday to acknowledge her father's induction.
The Hall of Fame, based in a suburb northwest of Detroit, will move to Daytona Beach, Florida, in January 2016.
Landon Donovan says he'll retire after season.
By GREG BEACHAM (AP Sports Writer)
A year after Landon Donovan returned to soccer, he realized he had lost his passion for the sport again. This time, the best player in American history decided to walk away for good.
Donovan is the top goal-scorer in MLS history and the top scorer in U.S. national team history, excelling as a forward and a midfielder. He was even named the most valuable player of his 14th MLS All-Star game on Wednesday night in Portland, scoring a goal in the All-Stars' 2-1 win over Bayern Munich, only to make his stunning retirement announcement the next day.
Rusty Wallace inducted into Hall.
Associated Press
Former NASCAR driver Rusty Wallace was one of seven men inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America on Wednesday.
"I think my years in NASCAR were some of the best years NASCAR ever had," Wallace said. "Places were mobbed out and sold out and I was winning a lot of races. People say, 'You drove at a time when NASCAR was at its peak.' "
Wallace made his debut on the top circuit in 1980 in a Roger Penske-owned car and joined the series full-time in 1984. His first victories came in 1986 with Raymond Beadle's Blue Max Racing team and he won the 1989 Sprint Cup championship after holding off Dale Earnhardt.
Wallace moved to Penske's team in 1991 and ran the final 15 years of his career for the car owner, who presented him for induction Wednesday.
"He's been an incredible mentor," Wallace said. "I never had any car dealerships and I ran it by him for some advice and now I have seven of them,"
Wallace finished his career with 55 wins -- 37 with Penske -- and was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2013. Five of those victories came at Michigan International Speedway, once owned by Penske.
His former car owner was happy to introduce Wallace on Wednesday.
"What he's done for this sport and our team, we wouldn't have what we have today without him," Penske said. "He was one of the first drivers to really understand what it meant to keep a sponsor. Miller got in back then and is still involved today. He was a driver, a technician, a marketer and a good friend."
Arie Luyendyk, who began racing on the IndyCar circuit in 1985 and won the Indianapolis 500 in 1990 and '97, also was inducted. The Dutch-born driver's winning average speed of 187.433 in his first Indy victory -- at a time when Penske entries dominated at Indy -- stood as a race record until 2013.
Like Wallace, he also looks back on his career as a golden time of the sport.
"What I liked about the older days at Indy was you had different cars and different engines and not all the tight and close racing you see today," he said. "It was about having the best tire, car, engine -- a lot of things had to come together.
"It's not like today where everyone has the same car."
Drag racer and car owner Beadle had a heart attack last month in Texas. His son, Ryan, accepted the honor on his behalf.
The remaining members of the class -- Ole Bardahl, founder of the Bardahl Oil Company that has sponsored entries in a variety of motorsports; IMSA founder John Bishop; three-time American Motorcyclist Association grand national champion Ricky Graham; and NASCAR pioneer Marshall Teague -- are dead.
Teague's widow, Mitzi, died Saturday at age 90. His daughter, Patty Teeters, came to Detroit on Wednesday to acknowledge her father's induction.
The Hall of Fame, based in a suburb northwest of Detroit, will move to Daytona Beach, Florida, in January 2016.
Landon Donovan says he'll retire after season.
By GREG BEACHAM (AP Sports Writer)
A year after Landon Donovan returned to soccer, he realized he had lost his passion for the sport again. This time, the best player in American history decided to walk away for good.
The 32-year-old Donovan announced Thursday he will retire from professional soccer at the end of the MLS season, wrapping up the most prolific career in the league's history with one last run at a championship with the LA Galaxy.
''I think for the last few years, I haven't had the same passion that I had previously in my career,'' Donovan said at the Galaxy's stadium. ''To some extent, I had felt obligated to keep playing. ... It's time to enjoy the rest of the season, and there would be no better way than to go out as a champion, so that's what I want to do.''Donovan is the top goal-scorer in MLS history and the top scorer in U.S. national team history, excelling as a forward and a midfielder. He was even named the most valuable player of his 14th MLS All-Star game on Wednesday night in Portland, scoring a goal in the All-Stars' 2-1 win over Bayern Munich, only to make his stunning retirement announcement the next day.
''All I could think is that if everyone only knew,'' Donovan said with a grin.
Donovan, a five-time MLS champion with the Galaxy and the San Jose Earthquakes, made his retirement announcement on the same stage where he agreed to a multiyear contract extension with the Galaxy just a year ago, pronouncing himself revitalized after an extended sabbatical.
He took several months off following the Galaxy's second straight MLS Cup title alongside now-retired David Beckham in December 2012. Donovan traveled extensively during his time off, and he plans to see even more of the world after his career ends this fall.
''It gets me excited thinking about it,'' Donovan said. ''For 16 years, almost every decision I've made, every hour of every day, has revolved around, 'How is this going to prepare me for tomorrow's training session or tomorrow's game?' Just having the freedom to do whatever you want is exciting, and I'm looking forward to that.''
Donovan has been a key component of MLS' impressive growth during his 14 years in the top North American league. After he struggled for playing time at Bayer Leverkusen as a teenager, he chose to pursue a pro career in his native California instead of Europe, adding a marquee attraction to the then-struggling league.
''There is no doubt that Major League Soccer would not be what it is today without Landon Donovan,'' MLS Commissioner Don Garber said. ''His decision to join MLS in 2001 was a statement to the entire soccer community, at the most crucial time in our history, that MLS could be a league of choice for the best American players. Landon is to MLS what Michael Jordan was to the NBA, Wayne Gretzky was to the NHL and Tiger Woods was to the PGA Tour: a player whose sporting accomplishments and popularity transformed their respective leagues and set a new standard for how the game would be played.''
Donovan said his decision wasn't spurred by his omission from his fourth U.S. World Cup team this summer. He was surprised and disappointed by coach Jurgen Klinsmann's decision, feeling he had done enough in training camp to warrant inclusion.
''I certainly wasn't going to allow one person's poor choice this summer to affect a decision like this,'' Donovan said.
Donovan is the career U.S. leader with 57 international goals over 156 appearances, and he has scored five World Cup goals, including his famed stoppage-time goal against Algeria four years ago to send the Americans to the second round. He watched the American team in Brazil from afar as a television commentator.
''Quite simply the best player ever to wear the USMNT jersey,'' U.S. Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati posted on his Twitter account.
Donovan has no concrete plans for his long-term future in soccer, but he is eager to work with young players in the Galaxy's academy training program.
''Landon's legacy is secure with the Galaxy,'' said Galaxy President Chris Klein, Donovan's former teammate and roommate. ''So to be able to celebrate that for the rest of the year in terms of how he goes out will be great. When he decides what it is that he wants to do and where he wants to put his heart and energy next, we'll be there to talk about that.''
Donovan has played for the Galaxy since 2005, also going on loan to Everton and Bayern Munich during the Galaxy's offseason. Donovan struggled early in his pro career in Europe, but was popular during his two stints with Everton.
''Congratulations on a great career to (at)landondonovan as he announces he'll retire later this year. Part of EFC fabric,'' Everton tweeted from its official account.
Donovan has four goals and seven assists in 17 games for the Galaxy this season as a midfielder and a forward. He passed Jeff Cunningham for the career MLS goals record shortly after Klinsmann excluded him from the World Cup team.
His absence creates another hole for the LA club, which couldn't manage a third straight MLS title last season in its first year since Beckham's departure. But Donovan's retirement opens up a designated player spot for the Galaxy alongside leading scorer Robbie Keane and U.S. national team defender Omar Gonzalez.
After a lifetime spent in practices and games, Donovan sees his departure as another step in his personal evolution into whatever person he decides to be outside soccer. His decision to leave the Bundesliga for MLS as an unhappy teenager was unpopular, and Donovan knows many fans won't understand his early retirement.
''Sometimes there's a sense of obligation in people's lives, the sense that you have to do something,'' Donovan said. ''I've never lived that way. I have to live the life I want to live, and that's an important thing to go by.''
Bayern Munich Coach Flips Out At MLS All-Stars, Refuses To Shake Hands After The Game.
By Tony Manfred
The MLS All-Star Game ended in ugly fashion on Wednesday when Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola, enraged by a series of fouls on his players, refused to shake hands with MLS All-Star team coach Caleb Porter.
Pep was right to be mad that there were dangerous tackles in what amounted to an exhibition game. But that's hardly Porter's fault, and he didn't exactly take the high road with the handshake snub.
Pep was right to be mad that there were dangerous tackles in what amounted to an exhibition game. But that's hardly Porter's fault, and he didn't exactly take the high road with the handshake snub.
After the game, which MLS won 2-1, Pep said he didn't shake Porter's hand because he "didn't see him."
The video begs to differ. Pep gives him the ol' fingerwag:
Here's how it all started.
Twenty-five minutes later, there was another bad foul, and Pep took his complaints to the fourth official:
No Bayern players were injured, although Bastian Schweinsteiger came out of the game with a bruised ankle. It all ended in a fingerwag.
NCAA adopts new Division I model giving Power 5 autonomy.
By Jon Solomon
As expected Thursday, the NCAA Division I Board of Directors passed a new model giving the five major conferences authority to create some of their own legislation and voting rights for athletes.
By a 16-2 vote, the NCAA adopted the Division I model released to its members last month. Division I board chairman Nathan Hatch, president at Wake Forest, said the vote “marks a significant step into a brighter future for Division I athletics.”
What does all of this mean? Some questions and (attempted) answers:
Q: What does “autonomy” mean for the Power 5 conferences and why is it happening?
It lets the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12 and Big 12 create their own rules — other conferences can adopt them, too, if they want — in certain areas to benefit college athletes. Leaders of the major conferences say they have the resources to provide more to athletes and have tried for years but get blocked by smaller schools. External pressure by lawsuits and Congress has also forced the issue.
Q: Is autonomy a done deal for the Power 5?
Not quite yet. Over the next two months, Division I schools have a chance to veto the new model. At least 75 schools would to vote for an override to require the board to reconsider, and 125 schools are needed to suspend the change until the board meets to reconsider. Many people in college sports believe there won't be enough votes to kill the new model.
There was one new wrinkle added to the model. The board reduced the number of conferences required to sponsor a proposal within the Power 5 from three conferences to one. "Any amendment is subject to approval by a five-conference presidential group before consideration by the full voting group," the NCAA release stated.
Q: How will the Power 5 get legislation passed?
Now comes the heavy lifting. The next step is the five major conferences creating a process for them to introduce and vet their own legislation. The Power 5 will submit their own legislation for consideration by Oct. 1 that could be adopted at the January NCAA convention for 2015-16.
There will be two ways to pass new rules: Get 60 percent of all the votes from 65 school representatives and 15 athletes plus a simple majority from three of the Power 5 conferences; or get 51 percent of the votes and a simple majority from four of the five Power 5 conferences.
Q: Will Power 5 schools disagree among themselves?
A: Yes. There's a perception by some in the public that all 65 Power 5 schools are on the same page with every issue. That's not the case. The issues being discussed contain have vs. have-not elements within the major conferences as well, not just in all of Division I. Still, conference commissioners and presidents can corral 80 like-minded votes easier than trying to change the majority of Division I.
Q: What about NCAA issues that don't fall under autonomy?
Some issues, such as transfer eligibility rules, enforcement and scholarships limits, remain governed by both the Power 5 and the rest of Division I. For those issues, there's weighted voting by a new body called the Council, which becomes the primary legislative arm and largely includes athletic directors, who felt left out of the old system. The Council -- which in "inside baseball" lingo is the old NCAA Leadership and Legislative councils -- consists of 32 conference representatives, four conference commissioners, two athletes and two faculty.
The weighted voting breakdown: 37.5 percent for the Power 5 conferences; 18.8 percent for the five remaining FBS conferences; 37.5 percent for the FCS and non-Division I football conferences; 3.1 percent for college athletes; and 3.1 percent for faculty athletic representatives. It's the first time athletes have a vote. Some Division I members were upset there's weighted voting on issues deemed to be of equal concern to all NCAA schools, but they didn't have much leverage in these negotiations. The smaller schools needed to keep the Power 5 happy because they're subsidized in large part by the NCAA Tournament, which generates billions of dollars largely from the Power 5 schools' market power.
The proposed model of how it could work. (NCAA.org)
Q: What issues will the Power 5 tackle on their own?
The first big one is a cost of attendance stipend to cover the gap between an athletic scholarship and what financial aid offices determine to be the actual cost of attending college. Other topics could include medical coverage for athletes, time demands on athletes, allowing schools to pay for athletes' families to attend games, loosening the rules on contact between athletes and agents, and putting in dead periods when athletes can't officially workout at their school.
Q: Does the Division I board change?
Yes. In the old 18-person model, there were 11 FBS presidents and seven FCS presidents on the board. The new 24-person model has 10 FBS presidents, five FCS presidents, five Division I presidents at schools without football, one athlete, one athletic director, one faculty athletics representative and one senior women's representative.
Q: Will new rules create further separation between the haves and have-nots?
It's quite possible. The Power 5 schools will be able to offer benefits to recruits that other schools may feel like they can't afford. But even many of the so-called have-nots acknowledge there's already a significant competitive gap and the best recruits tend to choose those schools anyway. Some critics of the model have complained the Power 5 schools were the ones who led the NCAA down this path by commercializing college sports for so many years.
Q: What's the timeline for changes to happen based off this new model?
Change is slow to occur in bureaucracies and the NCAA is no different. The NCAA says it's moving toward full implantation of the new model by mid-2015. In January 2015, the Power 5 representatives will conduct a business session on autonomy. The new Division I board and Council members start their terms in September 2015. The deadline for all proposals under the new structure is Sept. 1, 2015, and the Council casts its first votes in April 2016.
In a new twist, NCAA rules will now only be adopted in April, not April and January. If a rule change is defeated, it can't be considered again for at least two years.
Q: Will any of this stop the external pressures facing the NCAA?
Not likely. Even some critics of college sports acknowledge the new model seems to be a step in the right direction for the NCAA, although the devil is in the details and legal threats and Congressional scrutiny won't stop.
U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) issued a statement Thursday saying the NCAA's new model may warrant Congressional review from the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which he is a member.
“The NCAA should be responsible for promoting fair competition among its participating institutions and their student athletes,” Hatch said. “I am concerned that today's actions could create an uneven playing field that may prevent some institutions from being able to compete fairly with other schools that have superior resources to pay for student athletes. I also worry about how this decision will affect a school's Title IX requirements and whether this consolidation of power will restrict competition and warrant antitrust scrutiny.”
Ramogi Huma, executive director of the National College Players Association, said in a statement that autonomy is "not necessarily altruistic." Huma said many of the reforms being discussed could already have been done, such as improving medical coverage and extending scholarships for degree completion. "The autonomy has a lot to do with the fact that players have backed them into a corner as well as the money that the power conferences don't want to share with the other Division I colleges," Huma said.
The battles aren't over. Still, it's a significant day for the NCAA by changing its model.
Plurality of Power Five coaches want exclusive Power Five schedules.
By Tom Fornelli | College Football Writer
After a harsh tackle by Seattle's Ozzie Alonso in the 65th minute, Pep went after Porter:
(ESPN)
Porter had no idea what was going on:
(ESPN)
No Bayern players were injured, although Bastian Schweinsteiger came out of the game with a bruised ankle. It all ended in a fingerwag.
NCAA adopts new Division I model giving Power 5 autonomy.
By Jon Solomon
As expected Thursday, the NCAA Division I Board of Directors passed a new model giving the five major conferences authority to create some of their own legislation and voting rights for athletes.
By a 16-2 vote, the NCAA adopted the Division I model released to its members last month. Division I board chairman Nathan Hatch, president at Wake Forest, said the vote “marks a significant step into a brighter future for Division I athletics.”
What does all of this mean? Some questions and (attempted) answers:
Q: What does “autonomy” mean for the Power 5 conferences and why is it happening?
It lets the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12 and Big 12 create their own rules — other conferences can adopt them, too, if they want — in certain areas to benefit college athletes. Leaders of the major conferences say they have the resources to provide more to athletes and have tried for years but get blocked by smaller schools. External pressure by lawsuits and Congress has also forced the issue.
Q: Is autonomy a done deal for the Power 5?
Not quite yet. Over the next two months, Division I schools have a chance to veto the new model. At least 75 schools would to vote for an override to require the board to reconsider, and 125 schools are needed to suspend the change until the board meets to reconsider. Many people in college sports believe there won't be enough votes to kill the new model.
There was one new wrinkle added to the model. The board reduced the number of conferences required to sponsor a proposal within the Power 5 from three conferences to one. "Any amendment is subject to approval by a five-conference presidential group before consideration by the full voting group," the NCAA release stated.
Q: How will the Power 5 get legislation passed?
Now comes the heavy lifting. The next step is the five major conferences creating a process for them to introduce and vet their own legislation. The Power 5 will submit their own legislation for consideration by Oct. 1 that could be adopted at the January NCAA convention for 2015-16.
There will be two ways to pass new rules: Get 60 percent of all the votes from 65 school representatives and 15 athletes plus a simple majority from three of the Power 5 conferences; or get 51 percent of the votes and a simple majority from four of the five Power 5 conferences.
Q: Will Power 5 schools disagree among themselves?
A: Yes. There's a perception by some in the public that all 65 Power 5 schools are on the same page with every issue. That's not the case. The issues being discussed contain have vs. have-not elements within the major conferences as well, not just in all of Division I. Still, conference commissioners and presidents can corral 80 like-minded votes easier than trying to change the majority of Division I.
Q: What about NCAA issues that don't fall under autonomy?
Some issues, such as transfer eligibility rules, enforcement and scholarships limits, remain governed by both the Power 5 and the rest of Division I. For those issues, there's weighted voting by a new body called the Council, which becomes the primary legislative arm and largely includes athletic directors, who felt left out of the old system. The Council -- which in "inside baseball" lingo is the old NCAA Leadership and Legislative councils -- consists of 32 conference representatives, four conference commissioners, two athletes and two faculty.
The weighted voting breakdown: 37.5 percent for the Power 5 conferences; 18.8 percent for the five remaining FBS conferences; 37.5 percent for the FCS and non-Division I football conferences; 3.1 percent for college athletes; and 3.1 percent for faculty athletic representatives. It's the first time athletes have a vote. Some Division I members were upset there's weighted voting on issues deemed to be of equal concern to all NCAA schools, but they didn't have much leverage in these negotiations. The smaller schools needed to keep the Power 5 happy because they're subsidized in large part by the NCAA Tournament, which generates billions of dollars largely from the Power 5 schools' market power.
The proposed model of how it could work. (NCAA.org)
Q: What issues will the Power 5 tackle on their own?
The first big one is a cost of attendance stipend to cover the gap between an athletic scholarship and what financial aid offices determine to be the actual cost of attending college. Other topics could include medical coverage for athletes, time demands on athletes, allowing schools to pay for athletes' families to attend games, loosening the rules on contact between athletes and agents, and putting in dead periods when athletes can't officially workout at their school.
Q: Does the Division I board change?
Yes. In the old 18-person model, there were 11 FBS presidents and seven FCS presidents on the board. The new 24-person model has 10 FBS presidents, five FCS presidents, five Division I presidents at schools without football, one athlete, one athletic director, one faculty athletics representative and one senior women's representative.
Q: Will new rules create further separation between the haves and have-nots?
It's quite possible. The Power 5 schools will be able to offer benefits to recruits that other schools may feel like they can't afford. But even many of the so-called have-nots acknowledge there's already a significant competitive gap and the best recruits tend to choose those schools anyway. Some critics of the model have complained the Power 5 schools were the ones who led the NCAA down this path by commercializing college sports for so many years.
Q: What's the timeline for changes to happen based off this new model?
Change is slow to occur in bureaucracies and the NCAA is no different. The NCAA says it's moving toward full implantation of the new model by mid-2015. In January 2015, the Power 5 representatives will conduct a business session on autonomy. The new Division I board and Council members start their terms in September 2015. The deadline for all proposals under the new structure is Sept. 1, 2015, and the Council casts its first votes in April 2016.
In a new twist, NCAA rules will now only be adopted in April, not April and January. If a rule change is defeated, it can't be considered again for at least two years.
Q: Will any of this stop the external pressures facing the NCAA?
Not likely. Even some critics of college sports acknowledge the new model seems to be a step in the right direction for the NCAA, although the devil is in the details and legal threats and Congressional scrutiny won't stop.
U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) issued a statement Thursday saying the NCAA's new model may warrant Congressional review from the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which he is a member.
“The NCAA should be responsible for promoting fair competition among its participating institutions and their student athletes,” Hatch said. “I am concerned that today's actions could create an uneven playing field that may prevent some institutions from being able to compete fairly with other schools that have superior resources to pay for student athletes. I also worry about how this decision will affect a school's Title IX requirements and whether this consolidation of power will restrict competition and warrant antitrust scrutiny.”
Ramogi Huma, executive director of the National College Players Association, said in a statement that autonomy is "not necessarily altruistic." Huma said many of the reforms being discussed could already have been done, such as improving medical coverage and extending scholarships for degree completion. "The autonomy has a lot to do with the fact that players have backed them into a corner as well as the money that the power conferences don't want to share with the other Division I colleges," Huma said.
The battles aren't over. Still, it's a significant day for the NCAA by changing its model.
Plurality of Power Five coaches want exclusive Power Five schedules.
Alabama's Nick Saban is in favor of Power Five schools only playing one another. (USATSI)
With the establishment of the College Football Playoff the Power Five conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC) seemingly separated themselves from the rest of the pack even further than they already had been. Those same conferences are now seeking autonomy over themselves, and you have to wonder if college football will ever reach a point in which schools from the five major conferences only play other schools from the same conferences.
My guess is that we're a long way from seeing that happen, if it ever happens, but according to a recent poll by ESPN.com's Brett McMurphy, a plurality of the coaches in the five power conferences are for the idea.
McMurphy polled all 65 coaches from the schools (as well as Notre Dame) and 30 of the coaches (46%) favored an exclusively Power Five schedule. That's compared to 23 coaches (35%) who were opposed to the idea and 12 coaches (18.5%) that were undecided.
Not surprisingly given his comments in the past, Alabama's Nick Saban was in favor of the idea. In fact, seven of the 14 coaches in the SEC were for the idea (Saban, Will Muschamp, Mark Stoops, Les Miles, Dan Mullen, Hugh Freeze and Butch Jones) while only five were against and two (Gus Malzahn and Kevin Sumlin) were undecided.
The conference that is most in favor of the idea seems to be the Big 12, as six of the league's ten coaches (that's 60% for you math wizards) were for the idea, and 40% were against with no undecided votes. Outside of pure math, though, you could argue that it's the Pac-12 who supports the idea the most. Seven of the 12 coaches in the Pac-12 voted in favor, while only Arizona's Rich Rodriguez voted against it. Sonny Dykes, Mike MacIntyre, Kyle Whittingham and Mike Leach were all undecided.
The results are interesting to look at, as are some of the choices the coaches made (considering Baylor's non-conference schedules I was surprised to see Art Briles is in favor of the idea) and the reasons the coaches voted the way they did.
Guys like Saban are in favor of the idea because he says that it would be more interesting to the fans, while Rich Rodriguez points out that there are some teams in the other conferences that are better than some in the major conferences.
Then there was Kansas State's Bill Snyder who brought up the point that with the exclusive schedule schools wouldn't be able to schedule seven home games a season, and those seven (or eight) home games a year are important to the economies of the college towns those games are being played in.
As I said earlier, if this scheduling plan were ever going to be enforced, it wouldn't be happening for a long time, and I have to believe the odds of it happening aren't very good. Of course, you could have said the very same things about college football adopting a playoff 15 years ago as well.
You never know.
A look at the best and worst of next season’s holiday tournaments.
By Jeff Eisenberg
On Tuesday and Wednesday, ESPN revealed the draws for most of next season's premier holiday tournaments. Now that the matchups are set, here's some initial thoughts, from the best and worst draws, to the most intriguing tournament, to the most appealing potential title game:
Most difficult draw: Missouri (Maui Invitational)
The departure of high-scoring guards Jabari Brown and Jordan Clarkson diminished Missouri's hopes for a special season, but the Tigers still probably aren't the weakest non-Chaminade team in the field. Therefore they cannot be thrilled about drawing tournament favorite and likely preseason top-three Arizona in the quarterfinals of the Maui Invitational. The intrigue will remain high in the next round for a Missouri team with five scholarship freshmen and four sophomores. The Tigers will either draw onetime Big 12 foe Kansas State or a Purdue team coached by former Missouri coaching target Matt Painter.
Most favorable draw: Washington (Wooden Legacy)
Either Lorenzo Romar called in a favor or Wooden Legacy organizers have a more favorable opinion of next year's Washington team than I do. How else would you explain the Huskies drawing the weakest quarterfinal opponent, San Jose State, which went 1-17 in the Mountain West last season? Or landing in the opposite side of the bracket as the other two strongest teams in the tournament, Conference USA favorite UTEP and Big East contender Xavier? Washington boasts a strong backcourt led by point guard Nigel Williams-Goss and wing Andrew Andrews. If Robert Upshaw and Jernard Jarreau can provide consistent interior play, there's no reason the Huskies shouldn't blow through San Jose State, get past Western Michigan or Long Beach State and at least make an appearance in the title game.
Most appealing potential title game, part I: Wisconsin-North Carolina (Battle 4 Atlantis)
This tournament is so ridiculously stacked that any combination of Florida, Wisconsin, North Carolina, UCLA or Oklahoma would probably make this list, but a showdown between the Badgers and Tar Heels might be the most appealing option. Both teams will begin the season in the top 10 in the polls, both have All-American candidates in Marcus Paige, Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker and then there's the history element. Folks at Wisconsin still haven't forgotten the jab Roy Williams took at Dick Bennett's deliberate style the year after Michigan State beat the Badgers at the 2000 Final Four in an ugly game that was 19-17 at halftime. Ex-Wisconsin athletic director Pat Richter tore into Williams three years ago in a radio interview, insisting Williams is afraid to come to Wisconsin in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge because "he's afraid the people are going to boo him."
Most appealing potential title game, part II: Kansas-Michigan State (Orlando Classic)
If the Orlando Classic were a novel, there's a good chance most of us would skip ahead to the ending. Yes, revamped Tennessee and Marquette could provide some intrigue and yes, Rhode Island is talented enough to put a scare into someone, but Kansas and Michigan State are the class of this field. Should both advance to the title game it would be a fun heavyweight showdown, albeit not a rare one since both have met at the Champion's Classic of late. Kansas boasts a top-five team highlighted by returners Wayne Selden and Perry Ellis and freshmen Cliff Alexander and Kelly Oubre, but the Jayhawks have questions at point guard. Michigan State lost standouts Gary Harris, Keith Appling and Adreian Payne from last year's Elite Eight team, but the Branden Dawson-led Spartans have enough returning talent to avoid a rebuilding season.
Most appealing potential title game, part III: Arizona-San Diego State (Maui Invitational)
The title of Best in the West has often been on the line when these two regional powers have met in recent years. Arizona won in the title game of the Diamondhead Classic two years ago when Nick Johnson came from nowhere to swat away Chase Tapley's game-winning layup attempt. The Wildcats won a close game at San Diego State last November and came from behind to squeak past the Aztecs in the Sweet 16 last March despite a horrific shooting night from Johnson. The revenge factor would surely be motivating for San Diego State should the Aztecs see the Wildcats once more. Arizona will again have a Final Four-caliber roster, while San Diego State adds an elite recruiting class but must find a way to replace the scoring and leadership of do-it-all star Xavier Thames.
Best opening-round game nobody will see: Florida-Georgetown (Battle 4 Atlantis)
To watch one of the best opening-round holiday tournament games, you'll either have to fly to the Bahamas and buy a ticket or find a channel you may not have even heard of before. Half the opening-round games at the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament are on something called AXS TV including this quarterfinal gem between the Gators and Hoyas. The matchup would certainly be worth watching if you can find a cable package that offers it, however, because the Gators have top 10 talent and the Hoyas have one of the Big East's premier guards in D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera. Florida will be the favorite, but an upset is certainly possible since the young Gators will be getting used to new roles after losing senior standouts Patric Young, Scottie Wilbekin and Casey Prather from last year's Final Four team.
Best opening-round game everyone will see: UCLA-Oklahoma (Battle 4 Atlantis)
With all due respect to Arizona-Missouri or BYU-San Diego State in Maui, the can't-miss quarterfinal of this year's holiday tournaments is between the Bruins and Sooners. The Bruins lost first-round draft picks Kyle Anderson, Jordan Adams and Zach LaVine from last year's Pac-12 tournament champion and Sweet 16 team, but they replenished their roster with a frontcourt-heavy recruiting class highlighted by McDonald's All-Americans Kevon Looney and Thomas Welsch. Those kids will be tested immediately by an experienced Oklahoma team that brings back four starters from an NCAA tournament team including leading scorer Buddy Hield and leading rebounder Ryan Spangler.
Most appealing tournament: Battle 4 Atlantis
With three potential preseason top 10 teams, five potential preseason top 25 teams and seven potential NCAA tournament contenders, the Battle 4 Atlantis is more loaded than any other tournament this year. Outside of the Champion's Classic doubleheader, there's no November and December college basketball event that is more must-see. But since I've spent so much time highlighting Atlantis and Maui already, it's worth noting that there's one other event that rivals both in quality. The Legend's Classic featuring Villanova, VCU, Michigan and Oregon has three teams capable of not only making the NCAA tournament but also doing some damage once they arrive. Oregon would be the fourth were it not for all the attrition it endured during a disastrous offseason.
Least appealing tournament: Charleston Classic
You can be forgiven for finding better things to do with your time this November than watching this year's Charleston Classic. An event that has boasted its share of marquee teams in years past lacks much name recognition this season. On one side of the draw is Akron-USC and Drexel-Miami — and believe it or not that's clearly the more compelling half of the bracket. The other side features Penn State-Charlotte and South Carolina-Cornell. Miami ought to be the class of this tournament thanks to the arrival of transfers Angel Rodriguez and Sheldon McClellan. USC's freshman class should help it take a step forward and Charlotte actually came out of nowhere to win the Puerto Rico Tip-Off last November. Still, this is a field that suggests there may be a few too many preseason tournaments these days because the quality is getting a bit watered down.
On This Date in Sports History: Today is Friday, August 8, 2014.
MemoriesofHistory.com
1900 - In Boston, the first Davis Cup series began. The U.S. team defeated Great Britain three matches to zero.
1903 - Joe McGinnity (New York) pitched two complete games in one day. He won 6-1 and 4-3 over the Brooklyn Dodgers.
1915 - Gawy Gravath (Philadelphia) hit four doubles and brought in eight runs in a game against the Cincinnati Reds.
1920 - Howard Ehmke (Detroit Tigers) set an American League record when he defeated the New York Yankees 1-0 in 1 hour and 13 minutes.
1931 - Bob Burke (Washington Senators) pitched a 5-0 no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox.
1954 - The Brooklyn Dodgers scored 13 runs in the eighth inning to beat the Cincinnati Reds 20-7 at Ebbets Field.
1972 - The New York Yankees signed a 30-year lease with the City of New York which called for Yankee Stadium to be completely modernized in time for the 1976 season.
1973 - Boston Red Sox Orlando Cepeda hit four doubles against the Kansas City Royals.
1982 - Doug DeCinces hit three home runs against the California Angels. He had hit three home runs against Minnesota five days earlier.
1985 - Major League baseball players returned to work after a two-day walkout.
1992 - The "Dream Team" clinched the gold medal at the Barcelona Summer Olympics. The U.S. basketball team beat Croatia 117-85.
1996 - Eddie Murray (Baltimore Orioles) moved into 15th place on the career home run list when he hit his 494th.
1996 - Willie McGee (St. Louis Cardinals) hit his 2,000th major league hit.
1998 - Paul Molitor (Minnesota Twins) stole his 500th career base.
1999 - Wade Boggs got his 3,000th hit of his major league baseball career.
2002 - Major league baseball players and owners agreed to a $100,000 increase in baseball's minimum salary. The minimum was set at $300,000 starting in 2003.
2005 - It was announced that Wayne Gretzky would be the next head coach of the Phoenix Coyotes.
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