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“When you have confidence, you can have a lot of fun. And when you have fun, you can do amazing things.” ~ Joe Namath, Super Bowl III Winning Quarterback
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| Game ** = Pick cannot be edited, picks deadline has past. | Away Team | Home Team | Ranking [?] (Your goal is to get the most points.) | Game Date / Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Green Bay |  Seattle | 9/4/2014 7:30 PM* | |||
| 2 | 9/7/2014 12:00 PM* | |||||
| 3 | New England | 9/7/2014 12:00 PM* | ||||
| 4 | Tennessee |  Kansas City | 9/7/2014 12:00 PM* | |||
| 5 | Washington | 9/7/2014 12:00 PM* | ||||
| 6 | Buffalo | 9/7/2014 12:00 PM* | ||||
| 7 | Oakland |  New York J | 9/7/2014 12:00 PM* | |||
| 8 | Cleveland | 9/7/2014 12:00 PM* | ||||
| 9 | 9/7/2014 12:00 PM* | |||||
| 10 | New Orleans |  Atlanta | 9/7/2014 12:00 PM* | |||
| 11 | 9/7/2014 12:00 PM* | |||||
| 12 | Carolina |  Tampa Bay | 9/7/2014 3:25 PM* | |||
| 13 | San Francisco |  Dallas | 9/7/2014 3:25 PM* | |||
| 14 | Indianapolis |  Denver | 9/7/2014 7:30 PM* | |||
| 15 | New York G |  Detroit | 9/8/2014 6:10 PM* | |||
| 16 | San Diego | 9/8/2014 9:20 PM* | ||||
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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. Enhance your season and support your team with the challenge below. Try it, you'll love it. Good Luck.
By HUB ARKUSH
So what did we learn from the Bears' all-important third preseason game against the defending Super Bowl champion Seahawks in Seattle? If in fact the Bears are a legitimate playoff threat for 2014, then the Seahawks are ready to defend their Super Bowl title.
What was very unclear is whether or not the Bears are actually a contender.
The difference in class between Seattle and the Bears was obvious from the opening snap. The defending champs are younger, more athletic and a lot faster than the Bears.
We probably should have realized that going in but seeing it unfold in real time and in living color was a bit unsettling at the very least.
This would be a good spot to point out that even the third preseason game is nothing more than a meaningless exhibition.
The Bears can and I suspect will get better than they were versus the Seahawks. But the matchup of the Bears 1's against Seattle’s 1's was a lot more of a mismatch than I expected.
If you’re looking for measures of concern, the defense was a lot more disappointing than the offense, basically picking up right where it left off last year.
The Bears “D” gave up yards in chunks in the first half and was equally inept versus the run or the pass.
Of particular concern was the play of Charles “Peanut” Tillman and Lance Briggs. While neither was the worst player on the field, both looked stale and slow.
It’s possible that as 30-somethings it is taking them a bit longer to play their way into shape. But it’s at least equally likely that, as aging defenders, they’re in the best shape they’re going to be in all year and it could only get worse from here.
Shea McClellin has made no progress whatsoever. I focused on him exclusively on Seattle’s first two touchdown drives and he appears to be the opposite of instinctive and on several occasions, including specifically Marshawn Lynch’s 7-yard touchdown on the Seahawks' opening drive. On that play, McClellin was incapable of changing direction.
Jon Bostic struggled almost as badly in pass coverage in the nickel and Lamarr Houston and Jeremiah Ratliff offered little comfort they’ll be any more effective versus the run than the Bears' defensive front was last year.
Willie Young was a bright spot and it was interesting to watch Mel Tucker rotate his rookie tackles, Ego Ferguson and Will Sutton, in as a tandem with the first-team defense.
Ferguson actually made a couple of plays.
The offense wasn’t a whole lot better than the defense but, in all fairness, the Seattle “D” offers a much stiffer test than their offense does.
What I found most puzzling is whether or not coach Marc Trestman has decided to rest his ground game until midseason or so, or if he’s just that confident in it that he’s leaving it on the bench until the Bills come to town in a few weeks.
Jay Cutler wasn’t horrible, but he wasn't the "new Jay" either. The Jeremy Lane interception at the end of the first half brought back more than a few bad memories.
It’s hard to say too much about the rest of the offense. As I’ve already alluded to, Matt Forte just wasn’t given a chance and while Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery each had a costly drop, they both also had a couple of nice moments.
Two encouraging developments were the play of rookie punter Patrick O’Donnell and wide receiver Josh Morgan.
Morgan did enough to secure at least the number four wide out spot and should probably be number three right now, and O’Donnell actually outran All Pro safety Earl Thomas to make a touchdown saving tackle on a punt return.
That said it’s impossible to make a glass half full argument about this one.
The Bears come home from Seattle having raised far more questions than they answered.
Palmer among 12 players released.
By Larry Mayer
It appears that the Bears will enter the season with
In three preseason games, Clausen has completed 24 of 37 passes for 280 yards with two touchdowns, one interception and a 94.4 passer rating, while Palmer has connected on 21 of 30 passes for 225 yards with 1 TD, 1 interception and an 88.9 rating.
Palmer originally signed with the Bears last Aug. 16 and played the first half of the preseason finale against the Browns, completing 11 of 17 passes for 111 yards with one TD and a 102.8 rating.
Palmer was cut before the start of the regular season, but he was re-signed Oct. 28 after Cutler suffered a groin injury in a Week 7 loss to the Redskins. Palmer then spent the final nine weeks of the season on the Bears’ 53-man roster, but he did not appear in a game.
The Bears also released 11 other players Sunday as they began the process of reaching the NFL’s 75-man roster limit, including veteran safety Adrian Wilson and defensive tackle Nate Collins.
Wilson, 34, signed with the Bears on June 23. He was voted to five Pro Bowls during 12 seasons with the Arizona Cardinals from 2001-12, but missed all of last season with a leg injury after joining the New England Patriots.
Collins appeared in 14 games with two starts for the Bears the past two seasons, recording 25 tackles and one sack. He played in the first five contests last year before suffering a torn ACL last Oct. 6 in a loss to the New Orleans Saints.
During the offseason, the Bears addressed the defensive tackle position by re-signing
The Bears also waived second-year running back Michael Ford, who appeared in 12 games as a rookie last season after earning a roster spot as an undrafted free agent. Coach Marc Trestman acknowledged last week that Ford was behind
Other players waived Saturday included cornerbacks Derricus Purdy and Peyton Thompson, guard/center Dylan Gandy, tackle Joe Long, and receivers Greg Herd and Kofi Hughes. In addition, the contracts of return specialist Darius Reynaud and linebacker Jordan Senn were terminated.
The Bears must trim three more players by 3 p.m. Tuesday to reach the NFL’s mandatory 75-man roster limit. Teams must then reach the 53-man limit by 5 p.m. Saturday.
How 'bout them Chicago Blackhawks? Hockey News: Blackhawks logo best in the NHL.
CSN Staff
The Blackhawks' sweater has long had the reputation as being one of the best in the league, so it wasn't all that surprising when The Hockey News had Chicago topping its list of the best logos in the NHL.
"The vibrant color combination and the respectful way it honors a WWI battalion and a Native American chief sets this logo apart from the rest," The Hockey News' article read. "If we handed out the Three Stars of these logo rankings, the Blackhawks logo would be one, two and three."
But here's where it gets interesting. The Hockey News went on to name the top seven in the league, and the Coyotes came in next on the list:
2. Arizona Coyotes
3. St. Louis Blues
4. Detroit Red Wings
5. Buffalo Sabres
6. Dallas Stars
7. Boston Bruins
Do you agree with these rankings? If not, which teams would you like to see in there instead?
Blackhawks' Teravainen working diligently.
Teravainen arrived in Chicago just prior to the Hawks’ Prospect Camp in mid-July and has set up shop there in an effort to gain strength and size to aid his bid for a roster spot for the 2014-15 NHL season. Under Goodman’s tutelage, Teravainen has been working out five days a week (“he says what to do and I do it”) to increase body mass which will help combat the rigors of playing in the NHL.
By all accounts, Teravainen has the skills to play in the league but needs to add bulk to withstand an often punishing sport. So far, so good as after being listed at 169 pounds following last season during which he appeared in three games with the Hawks and at 176 at the start of Prospect Camp, the 5-foot-11-inch Teravainen said he is now around 180. More important, the forward said he is stronger than ever before.
“I feel really good,” Teravainen said. “I feel a lot bigger right now than when I came here six weeks ago and that’s good.”
Teravainen said there is no target weight for him to attain, just so “my body feels good and I’m stronger is all that matters. It helps with everything, my skating, my battling in the corners and on my faceoffs.”
Along with other Hawks prospects such as Stephen Johns, Adam Clendening and Ryan Hartman, Teravainen has also been skating two or three times a week and is ramping that up with training camp less than a month away.
The question remains as to whether any of those players breaks through to the NHL in ’14-15, but Teravainen believes he’s ready.
“My goal is to play in the NHL this season, of course,” he said. “I know that’s a hard thing because there are so many good guys playing. I go to training camp and I try to make the team and that’s my biggest goal. I just need to be good every day and when I get my chance I need to play well.”
Many have penciled Teravainen in as the Hawks’ No. 2 center of the future, but the 19-year-old said he is not limiting his prospects to playing in the middle.
“I don’t know what number center I’m going to be or a winger,” Teravainen said. “If you’re a really good player there’s always a spot for you. I just live day by day and I’ll go to the camp and I’ll play wherever they put me.”
As far as adapting to living in North America off the ice, Teravainen is getting out quite a bit—on the links.
“The golf courses are pretty nice,” he said. “I go out on them a lot with the guys I work out with: Johns, Clendening, Hartman. We have intense golf games.”
Teravainen took a brief pause from the workouts and golf course to participate in this weekend’s Rookie Showcase with 32 of other top NHL rookies and prospects. The players had their pictures taken by Upper Deck for use in upcoming trading card and memorabilia launches.
It will result in Teravainen’s first NHL trading card.
“It’s pretty cool to get my own card,” he said.
Just another Chicago Bulls Session… U.S. takes extra big on final roster.
By John Schuhmann
Just a few hours after a 112-86 victory over Puerto Rico at Madison Square Garden on Friday and six days before it needed to, the U.S. National Team finalized its roster for the FIBA World Cup in Spain.
In a bit of a surprise, two players – DeMar DeRozan and Andre Drummond – who didn’t play on Friday made the final roster. Drummond is the fourth center on the team, while DeRozan made the cut over Chandler Parsons and Kyle Korver. He offers more playmaking and explosive scoring ability than the other two.
In addition to Korver and Parsons, Damian Lillard and Gordon Hayward did not make the 12-man roster.
Coach Mike Krzyzewski and USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo had previously indicated that they might take more than 12 when the team flew to the Canary Islands on Saturday afternoon, because some of the final decisions were proving to be difficult. But Krzyzewski made it clear after Friday’s game that they decided not to take any extras, for two reasons.
First, because it’s “really difficult,” according to Krzyzewski, for a player to travel abroad and eventually get sent home early. Second, with just one exhibition game remaining (Tuesday against Slovenia), it’s time for this team to finalize its rotation and everybody’s roles.
“Now that we’re down to 12,” Krzyzewski said, “we can get a little bit more precise with things.”
DeRozan and Drummond join guards Stephen Curry, Kyrie Irving, and Derrick Rose; wings James Harden and Klay Thompson; forwards Kenneth Faried and Rudy Gay; and bigs DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis and Mason Plumlee.
The starting lineup – Irving, Curry, Harden, Faried and Davis – seems to be set, with Irving having replaced Rose for the two exhibition games this week.
Rose is going to Spain, though. If Irving is the starter, Rose will be one of the first players off the bench, along with Thompson (backing up Curry and Harden) and Gay (backing up Faried).
There was no need to see how Rose felt after his second exhibition game. He got four days of rest after last Saturday’s win over Brazil, but Krzyzewski has clearly seen and heard enough.
“I feel very confident about Derrick,” Krzyzewski said. “I think Derrick feels very confident.”
It remains to be seen how many of the USA’s nine potential games Rose will play at the World Cup. It’s safe to assume that it’s less than nine, especially with the five pool-play games in the first six days.
“If he needs a day off,” Chicago Bulls head coach and USA assistant Tom Thibodeau said of Rose on Friday, “he’ll get a day off.”
And Krzyzewski is fine with that. As the U.S. tries to win its fourth straight gold medal in international competition, it will also be trying to get Rose back into top basketball shape.
“These guys want to play with him,” Krzyzewski said. “Part of getting back is to be around a group of peers, who want you to be really good.
“That’s what we’ve seen over the years. That’s where the brotherhood develops. That’s one of the cool things about what’s happened over the last nine years. We think that can happen again and hopefully, that will help Derrick as he gets ready to keep participating in this, but also for the NBA season. I think it’s a huge, huge help for him.”
So the U.S. will have just one full-time point guard – Irving – on the roster, with Curry starting at shooting guard and Rose unlikely to play every game. That could be some extra burden on the Cavs’ All-Star, but the USA’s best talent is still in the backcourt and the staff clearly wanted extra depth up front, with Cousins, Drummond and Plumlee backing up Davis, who could see some time at power forward.
The need for three backup centers is a bit puzzling, especially since Davis will likely rank first or second on the team in minutes played. Two of three back-ups will certainly have limited roles.
But the U.S. may have its sights set on the frontline of Spain, which features Marc Gasol, Pau Gasol and Serge Ibaka. The hosts are the clear favorites to reach the gold medal game from the other side of the bracket, though they’ll have a tougher road than the Americans.
The U.S. got a tough 20 minutes on Friday, as Puerto Rico took a five-point lead in the first quarter and hung within two until Thompson beat the halftime buzzer with a pull-up 3-pointer. Veteran guards Carlos Arroyo and J.J. Barea were able to take advantage of the USA’s aggressiveness on the perimeter to push Puerto Rico to 47 points on just 40 first-half possessions.
The U.S. tightened up its rotation and its defense in the second half, using a 14-2 run to take control.
“We tried to do too much trapping [in the first half], and they’re just too good,” Krzyzewski said. “Second half, I thought we played really, really well.”
Still, the U.S. will need Tuesday’s exhibition game against Slovenia (2 p.m. ET, ESPN2) and all five pool play games in Bilbao to sharpen up for single-elimination action in Barcelona and Madrid. With the roster set, the focus can go from choosing a team to winning another gold.
“There’s still,” Krzyzewski said, “a lot to do.”
Jackie Robinson West falls 8-4 in Little League final. (Second in the world, first in the United States of America).
Jackie Robinson West 2014 United States World Series Champions (Photo/Williamsport Little League World Series)
No all-African-American team ever has won the world title. Former Cub Lloyd McClendon and his 1971 Gary, Ind., team finished second to a team from Taiwan, falling 12-3. In 1980, Gary Sheffield and Derek Bell led a team from Tampa to second, losing 4-3 to Taiwan. Bell returned with Tampa in 1981, a 4-2 loss to another team from Taiwan.
Jackie Robinson did its best to become the first in the sixth inning, when it scored three runs to chants of “USA, USA.”
“We’ve always had questions of baseball in the intercity and how to get more African-American kids playing baseball,” said Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard earlier this week, before JRW met a team from Philadelphia in a United States semifinal. “I think this proves it’s working.”
Seoul, South Korea was working Sunday, too.
The Asia-Pacific region champs scored single runs in the first, third and fourth innings before a four-run sixth inning, punctuated by Hae Chan Choi’s home run and a two-run single from Jin Woo Jeon, made it 8-1.
Jae Yeong Hwang doubled in Dong Wan Sin to open the scoring in the first. Choi scored in the third on a fielder’s choice and Jun Ha Yoo singled home Ji Ho Park in the fourth. Sin added a home run to left in the fifth to make it 4-1.
Jackie Robinson West pulled within 2-1 after DJ Butler and Ed Howard led off the inning with the team’s first hits. Butler scored on a shot to shortstop that resulted in a fielder’s choice.
Seoul National (5-0) won its Little League-record third title. It defeated Japan 12-3 in the international final Saturday.Jackie Robinson West (5-2) won four elimination games to the final. It defeated the West regional champion from Las Vegas 7-5 Saturday in the United States final.
Little League CEO: We'll consider compensating players in future.
By Jeff Passan
Philadelphia pitcher Mo'ne Davis, center from left, waits to take the field with her teammates for a United States semi-final baseball game against Las Vegas at the Little League World Series tournament in South Williamsport, Pa., Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2014. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
If Steve Keener truly wants to run a progressive organization like he says, sooner than later the CEO of Little League Baseball will do what he suggested to Yahoo Sports could be possible in the future: give back some of the $76 million in television rights fees the organization is reaping over the next eight years to the kids whose names, images and likenesses fill up flat screens every summer.
After years of staunch opposition to the idea, Keener's consideration comes on the heels of the historic O'Bannon v. NCAA ruling that could have far-reaching effects on amateur athletes everywhere. In the future, if you're like Mo'ne, you may get some money.
After years of staunch opposition to the idea, Keener's consideration comes on the heels of the historic O'Bannon v. NCAA ruling that could have far-reaching effects on amateur athletes everywhere. In the future, if you're like Mo'ne, you may get some money.
"I've always felt we need to be as progressive an organization as we can," Keener told Yahoo Sports. "We don't know what's coming. If at some point in time that would be deemed to be appropriate, we'll consider it. At the moment, I don't see the necessity and don't think we should be compensating kids right now.
"Whether at some point down the road any funds could be put aside to help them with college I don't know. Down the road that's something we might take a look at even if it's feasible."
Doing so would right a wrong decades in the making. Little League has grown into a business with more than $80 million in assets and nearly $25 million in revenue, and every August it runs out a fresh batch of kids in hopes of captivating the country. Mo'ne Davis, the 13-year-old from South Philadelphia, did just that, and the last game she pitched drew a higher rating for ESPN than any MLB game since April 2007, according to Sports Media Watch.
For this, Davis received transportation to Williamsport, Pa., lodging, meals and a uniform. Her Taney Little League team gets to keep its equipment. And that's it. As Mo'ne Davis juices ratings and gives Little League a recognizable name and memory against which to sell corporate sponsorships next year and those thereafter, she sees not a penny of it. Instead, she gets something else to cherish."The experience we're providing them," Keener said.
Here is where Keener lapses back into antiquated thoughts and public-relations drivel. The experience is wonderful. It is great. It is far from commensurate with what the kids provide, almost belittling considering ESPN sees the event worth nearly $10 million a year because of those who play in it.
As the kids enjoyed their experiences, Keener made $430,844 in salary and benefits between October 2012 and September 2013, according to tax records. Over the last decade, his compensation package nearly has doubled from the $228,869 he made in 2005, a number far closer to that of other nonprofit CEOs. An analysis by the Nonprofit Times showed CEOs for similarly sized organizations to Little League, which operated last year with a $23.5 million budget, averaged $184,926 in pay. In its most recent study, Charity Navigator said the median salary of a large-sized nonprofit CEO in the Mid-Atlantic area was $267,724.
Keener, whose salary is set by Little League's board, was one of seven employees with six-figure compensation packages, according to Little League's 2012 tax filings. Little League is technically a charity, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, though perhaps more accurately it is a business wearing charity clothes. True charities take everything offered them. Little League paid a Connecticut company called SJX Partners $472,062 last year for a "corporate sponsor search," according to its tax filings. Charities don't spend nearly half a million dollars so a company can find which multinational is willing to pay the most to be the exclusive whatever-it-may-be of the Little League World Series. Businesses do.
Know what else businesses do? Pay their labor. And during the two weeks of the World Series, the kids playing the games are just that: the stars of the show, the alluring unknowns, the raison d'être of the event.
Every day, Disney talent scouts comb the world for the next 13-year-old they can manufacture into a star. Even though plenty of teenage girls would do a TV show for free, Disney knows the industry doesn't work that way. So the kids get paid, often quite handsomely.
Somehow sports never got the memo and abided by the romantic, if entirely misguided, idea of amateurism, as though value for a talent exists only at a certain age. Disney owns ESPN. If only it applied the same standards to its uniformed stars as it does those who sing, dance and act.
There is a market for a girl like Mo'ne Davis, a big one that would love to pay her lots of money because she compounds her talent with a combination of personality and wonderment that enthralls people. The specter of the NCAA ruling her ineligible half a decade down the road dissuades her from cashing in now, and it's a policy behind which Keener hides as well.
"We wouldn't want to do anything that would jeopardize any of these kids' future eligibility," he said. "We're always cautious that we're not going to do anything the NCAA would deem as compensation."
During the O'Bannon case, the NCAA attorneys brought up Little League during questioning, asking the former UCLA basketball star whether he believed the kids should be paid. He said yes. O'Bannon later backtracked, regretting his words. He shouldn't have. Right now, Little League hands out $8,000 total in scholarships to five girls and five boys who played baseball or softball. Surely it could afford a $1,000 educational grant for all of the players with $2,500 each going to those who play in the finals and a $10,000 bonus for the MVP of the final game. The total cost of that would be $276,000 – or less than Little League paid for a "computer consultant" last year, according to its tax records.
As the NCAA's stranglehold on college athletics crumbles, the next few years will test Keener's commitment to progressiveness. Right now, he is a highly paid CEO whose organization is taking in more money than it ever has and using it to lower league affiliation fees, from $18 to $16 to $13 next year. And while that does impact the 7,500 leagues around the country Little League oversees – in the same way a major college football program subsidizes non-revenue sports – it ignores the next Mo'ne Davis.
"Little League Baseball is a public trust," Keener said, "and we should justify what we're doing."
Considering his salary, the country-club membership that comes with his job and the years of dismissing the pleas of playing for pay, Keener doesn't fit the profile of the CEO likely to put his money where his mouth is. Then again, the right side of history is sitting here, waiting for him, hoping he's the first to grab the reins. All it takes for Steve Keener to ensure Little League stay a pubic trust is the great sense of fairness and a check with a few zeroes at the end, each loop more than deserved.
MLB.tv blackout restrictions could be eased starting next season.
MLB.tv blackout restrictions could be eased starting next season.
Golf: I got a club for that… Mahan comes up with timely victory at The Barclays.
By DOUG FERGUSON (AP Golf Writer)
Hunter Mahan holds up the trophy after winning at The Barclays golf tournament Sunday, Aug. 24, 2014, in Paramus, N.J. Mahan won the tournament with a 14 under-par 270. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
About the only thing that went wrong for Hunter Mahan at The Barclays was when the trophy broke. All he had to show for perhaps the biggest win of his career was a large wreath of roses.
''Am I supposed to put this on, Kentucky Derby style?'' he said.
That would have been fitting. The closing stretch was exactly what he needed Sunday.
Mahan pulled away with three straight birdies, sealing the victory with a 20-foot putt down the slope on the par-5 17th. That allowed him a bogey from the trees on the final hole for a 6-under 65 and a two-shot victory in the opening FedEx Cup playoff event.
He already has two World Golf Championships. Considering the timing, The Barclays felt bigger.
Mahan had gone 48 tournaments and nearly 30 months since his last victory. The only player to never miss a FedEx Cup playoff event, he wanted to keep alive his streak of reaching the Tour Championship every year since this series began in 2007. And he wanted to state his case for a captain's pick for the Ryder Cup team.
This performance will be hard for U.S. captain Tom Watson to ignore.
''To get a win in an event like this, and the timing that it was, it feels unbelievable,'' Mahan said.
''This game is all about winning,'' he said. ''You can have a great year and if you don't win, it just feels like you missed out on something. So to get a win, and do it in a tournament like this in this kind of fashion with a 65 on Sunday, feels great.''
On a day when six players had at least a share of the lead, Mahan found a way to make it look like a comfortable win at Ridgewood.
He rolled in a 10-foot birdie putt to take the outright lead on the par-3 15th, hit wedge to 3 feet for a birdie on the 16th and then rolled in a 20-foot birdie on the par-5 17th. That stretched his lead to three shots going to the final hole when Cameron Tringale bogeyed the 18th.
Mahan tried to make it a little more exciting that he needed it to be. He drove into the trees on the right, pitched back to the fairway, pulled his approach into the rough and kept the outcome in doubt until he made the 8-foot bogey putt.
Jason Day, who shared the 54-hole lead with Jim Furyk, would have needed to hole out from the rough on the 18th to force a playoff and he missed the green. Day closed with a 68 and shared second place with Stuart Appleby (65) and Tringale, who celebrated his 27th birthday with a 66.
Furyk now has failed to win the last eight times he has held at least a share of the lead going into the final round. He was in the mix until missing the fairway on the 14th and taking bogey, and he wound up with a 70 to finish in eighth place, four shots behind.
Mahan posed with the crystal trophy with his wife and 1-year-old daughter who flew in to surprise him. He wanted one more picture with David Finn, his biggest fan and a popular figure in these parts. Finn is in a wheelchair with a disorder affecting his limbs and leaving him unable to speak.
Mahan got up to leave, picked up the trophy by its top and the bottom mysteriously broke off.
That can be replaced. The victory was one Mahan won't soon forget.
''There's really never a bad time to play good golf,'' he said. ''And this is a really, really good time to play good golf.''
Tringale began the week with questions about disqualifying himself from the PGA Championship several days after the final major ended. He said he had doubts about whether he whiffed a tap-in for bogey and thus signed for a wrong score. He said he wanted a clear conscience.
''Didn't expect it to be this clear,'' Tringale said with a smile.
This was the best finish of his career, and it paid off handsomely. Tringale, who was No. 61 in the standings, moved all the way up to No. 10 and is virtually certain of being in the Tour Championship, which puts him in the majors next year - including his first trip to the Masters.
The top 100 players in the FedEx Cup standings advance to the second playoff event next week outside Boston. Seven players outside the top 100 at the start of the week qualified for the Deutsche Bank Championship, including Morgan Hoffmann at No. 124. Hoffman, who grew up minutes away from Ridgewood, played with Mahan and had a 69 to tie for ninth.
Geoff Ogilvy earned the 100th spot, only it wasn't in his hands. Ogilvy missed the cut, and his chances came down to Brendon Todd, who made a 15-foot par putt on the last hole. If Todd had missed the putt, Troy Merritt would have been at No. 100 by about a half-point.
Mahan finished at 14-under 270 and earned $1.44 million. He moved to No. 1 in the FedEx Cup standings, assured of being among the top five players at East Lake with the best shot at capturing the $10 million bonus.
British Open and PGA champion Rory McIlroy, going after his fourth straight victory, closed with a 70 and tied for 22nd.
Joey Logano charges to victory in Night Race at Bristol.
By Jeff Owens
Joey Logano (AP Photo)
At times this year, Joey Logano has looked like a championship contender.
At times, he has not.
But Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway, Logano sent a message that he's for real.
"We can win the thing," Logano said after holding off teammate Brad Keselowski for his sixth career victory and his first at Bristol.
Logano charged to the front on a late restart and took the lead from Matt Kenseth with 45 laps remaining. He held off Keselowski for his third win of the season. Keselowski made a hard charge in the final turn, but could not catch his teammate.
"What a year we're having," said Logano, who has finished in the top six in five straight races. "It's been so much fun and the past six or seven races have been unbelievable. We've been running up front and it's been so much fun."
Logano joined four other drivers with three wins this season — Keselowski, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson.
Keselowski finished second, followed by Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Carl Edwards.
Team Penske drivers swept all three races at Bristol this week. Keselowski won the truck race on Thursday and Ryan Blaney won the Nationwide Series race on Friday night.
Jamie McMurray led a race-high 148 laps and looked like he had the car to beat until a caution flag on Lap 431. But while McMurray, Logano and the rest of the leaders pitted, Kenseth stayed on the track to inherit the lead.
He could not hold off Logano, however, who charged from sixth on the restart. He caught Kenseth with 51 laps remaining, and finally got around him on Lap 455.
Kenseth, who has not won a race this year after winning seven last season, gambled on trying to hold off Logano at the end.
"I just knew that new tires and what our car would do in traffic, I just knew that clean air was going to be worth more than new tires," Kenseth said of not pitting during the final caution period. "Maybe we could have got tires and beat those guys, we'll never know, but on restarts I just had such a hard time and I knew clean air would cover up a lot of problems.
"We missed it a little bit. I wanted to win that thing in the worst way, but I just couldn't hold them off."
Logano, who led 76 laps, had been battling McMurray for the lead when the caution flag came out. He would not be denied on the final restart.
"On the restart, when we were sixth with tires, I said we have to capitalize right now, so I went as hard as I could," Logano said. "I raced the 20 really hard and got everybody that I could."
Keselowski, who was seventh on the final restart, also made a late charge, but could not catch his teammate.
"He ran a great race," he said of Logano. "We were really strong in that midsection and about three-quarters of the race, we had a bad run and Joey and a couple of other guys got by us. We got it a little better for that last run, and we were about equal to Joey, he just had a little track position on me."
Keselowski hung it out on the last lap and closed on Logano in the final turn, but could not make the pass.
"It just wouldn't stick on that last lap, but boy I wanted it to," he said. "(But) a Penske 1-2 is something to be proud of."
The race featured two big crashes. The first one took out Kyle Busch and Clint Bowyer when Brian Vickers and Aric Almirola crashed in front of them.
Then, on Lap 161, Kevin Harvick drifted up the track and hit Denny Hamlin during a battle for the lead . The contact sent Hamlin spinning across the track and slamming into the inside wall. Dale Earnhardt Jr. also was collected in the crash.
Hamlin was not happy with Harvick, and flung his HANS device at him after climbing from his car. Harvick took the blame for the crash .
"He thinks he knows everything, and probably thought he knew everything again," Hamlin said. "I just wish I had some kind of car left so I could show him the favor back.
"We're not even halfway, we're racing for the lead. It was a misjudgment. He's a good driver, he knows better. He just made a mistake."
Hamlin finished 40th and Earnhardt 39th.
Logano, who won at Texas and Richmond earlier this year, had finished third in two of his past three races. He led the most laps at Michigan last week, but lost the lead to Jeff Gordon on a late restart.
He wasn't sure he could win Saturday night, but crew chief Todd Gordon convinced him he could.
"I wasn't sure when I woke up this morning if we were a winning car or not but Todd Gordon, he's a good salesman," Logano said. "He pretty much sold me into thinking we had a winning car. We made some small adjustments on it all night and got our third win of the year."
And to Logano, it was a big one.
"This is like one of the three biggest races of the year," he said. "To have this in the record book with your name on it is really cool."
Jeff Gordon, who led 17 laps early, finished 16th but maintained the points lead. He leads Earnhardt by 27 points, followed by Keselowski, Logano and Kenseth.
Premier League Highlights: Tottenham 4-0 QPR, Spurs onslaught ruins Redknapp’s return to White Hart Lane.
By NBC Sports
Despite the opponent being just a newly-promoted side, Tottenham fans will be buzzing after a thorough performance by their side in the season’s home-opener.
Mauricio Pochettino’s debut at White Hart Lane was a powerful one, as Spurs comprehensively overwhelmed Queens Park Rangers with a 4-0 win.
Belgian winger Nacer Chadli picked up a brace, and defender Eric Dier bagged his second goal in two games as Spurs collected three points in much more attractive fashion than last weekend.
It started from the get-go, and the home side put on a number of incisive counter-attacks.
Naleb Bentaleb was at the heart of a few, and paired with Erik Lamela to get Emmanuel Adebayor a free header in the opening 10 minutes.
The first goal came just minutes later, when Bentaleb sprung Adebayor down the left flank, and the striker lofted a beautiful ball over the center backs for Chadli on a tight angle. Chadli took on QPR goalkeeper Robert Green by himself, and found the back of the net one-on-one.
QPR had an opportunity to draw level, as a long ball from deep in their own half found Matt Phillips bursting forward behind the Spurs defense. Phillips cut back well but he scooped the shot over the bar. It would be the last time QPR would have a sniff at goal all half, as Spurs poured it on.
The onslaught began in the 24th minute, as set-piece threat Christian Eriksen cannoned a spectacular free-kick off the underside of the bar, but it rocketed off the woodwork and did not cross the line, and the chance disappeared with no follow-up.
Spurs got a second quite surprisingly after , as defender Eric Dier picked up his second goal of the season with a powerful header off a corner on the half-hour mark. He charged up front an unsuspecting position and thundered his head against the ball.
The goal means Dier is the first defender to score in two games to open a season in Premier League history.
Chadli got his second and his team’s third thanks to fantastic build-up play from Lamela, who zigzagged down the left flank before floating the ball across the box to Chadli lurking at the far post. Already with a goal to his name, the Belgian crashed his header into the back of the net.
Spurs kept pushing, hardly allowing QPR a touch all the way to the halftime break. The second 45 saw much more possession for the visitors with Spurs sitting back, but it still led to few chances.
Spurs chose to play on the counter with Lamela the main man, and again looked much more incisive against an undisciplined high line.
The home side added to their flood when Emmanuel Adebayor Cooly finished a one-time feed from Danny Rose after the hour mark, and QPR will have plenty of man-marking work to do in training this week.
There was little else in the match, as Spurs decided they were happy with their haul. The points send Spurs home still with the maximum total after two matches, and their margin of victory sends them top of the table on goal difference.
Meanwhile, Redknapp and QPR still have nothing to show for their time in the Premier League so far, and haven’t looked very good doing so.
Player dies after hit by rock at Algerian game.
By AOMAR OUALI and GERALD IMRAY (Associated Press)
A player died of a head injury after being hit by a rock apparently thrown by his own fans at a top-flight league game in Algeria and a police investigation will be opened into his death, the Confederation of African Football and the player's club said Sunday.
Albert Ebosse, a striker from Cameroon, died in the hospital Saturday night after being hit as players left the field following a 2-1 loss for his club, JS Kabylie. Ebosse had scored his side's equalizer from a penalty in Saturday's game before they went on to lose 2-1 at home to USM Alger in the northern city of Tizi Ouzou.
The 24-year-old Ebosse, the leading goal-scorer in the Algerian league last season, was apparently hit by the rock hurled from a section of JS Kabylie supporters angry at their team's loss. Ebosse was struck as players walked off after the game and fans began throwing rocks at them. He was taken to the hospital around 500 meters away from the stadium, where he died.
''We expect exemplary sanctions to be taken against this grave act of violence,'' Issa Hayatou, the president of the African confederation, said in a statement on Sunday.
Algeria's interior ministry ordered that a police investigation be opened into Ebosse's death, JS Kabylie said in a statement on the club's website.
Ebosse ''succumbed to a head injury,'' JS Kabylie said. There were no immediate reports of any other players being hurt.
The president of Algeria's professional league said he was present at the game but left minutes before the incident.
''I am still finding this tragic death hard to grasp because I was at the stadium just minutes before this tragic incident and Albert Ebosse was still running in all senses of the word before my eyes,'' Mahfoud Kerbadj said.
The Algeria Football Federation and the professional league both ordered emergency meetings over Ebosse's death. Officials from JS Kabylie and the match officials were summoned to a special meeting on Monday, league president Kerbadj said, and the stadium where the incident took place was closed until further notice.
Algeria Football Federation President Mohamed Raouraoua said he hoped that ''the perpetrators of this unspeakable act are severely punished.''
Ebosse joined Kabylie last year and became an immediate success, scoring 17 goals last season as his team finished second to USM Alger, the opponents on Sunday, in Algeria's top league. Algiers team USM Alger also offered its condolences.
''JS Kabylie's Cameroonian striker has lost his life after being hit in the head by something launched from the stands,'' USM Alger said. ''This terrible news is saddening for football in our nation and in Cameroon and arrives like a bombshell.''
Ebosse's body was transferred to a military hospital in preparation for it to be flown home to Cameroon, his club said.
Auburn at Alabama highlights Week 14 as playoff field narrows.
By Bill Bender
A weekly breakdown of the games that will shape the path to the College Football Playoff.
MAIN EVENT: Auburn at Alabama
More than 13.5 million people watched the Iron Bowl last season, and it's safe to say almost nobody left disappointed.
Auburn's Chris Davis' walk-off "kick six" ended Alabama's bid for a three-peat national championship in a 34-28 thriller.
It continued a trend in which either Alabama or Auburn has played for the national championship each of the last five years.
It's the Ali-Frazier, college football style. On one side, it's Nick Saban's traditional, no-nonsense formula of running the football and playing defense. On the other, it's the innovative style of Gus Malzahn.
With the nation's most college football-crazy state as the backdrop, the sequel in Tuscaloosa is must-see TV and the highlight of rivalry week.
FROM THE PRESS BOX
Sporting News asked play-by-play announcers Eli Gold (Alabama) and Rod Bramblett (Auburn) if it's possible for the Iron Bowl to get any bigger than last year:
"That's a very good question. I don't know. Ostensibly, I supposed both teams could be 11-0 going into that game and ranked Nos. 1-2 in the country to make it even more impactful. No disrespect, but you have to be a resident of the state of Alabama to truly appreciate it. Rightfully or wrongfully, the Alabama and Auburn teams with no disrespect to anyone else are our major-league franchises. It's what fans live and die for in our state. People talk about the Alabama-Auburn game 365 days a year." -- Gold
"I'm not sure you can top it. You can equal it, and emotions will be running high as always in Tuscaloosa. You know the Alabama fan base; they're going to be lathered up. If things play out like Auburn and Alabama hope they will, I could see a rematch with the same stakes on the line. I think with Gus Malzahn and Nick Saban you have the start of an unprecedented era in Iron Bowl history in terms of what is on the line." -- Bramblett
UNDERCARD: Michigan at Ohio State
The Buckeyes have taken full control of "The Game" by winning nine of the last 10, but the perception of the gap between Urban Meyer's juggernaut and Brady Hoke's hot seat might be misleading.
Ohio State beat Michigan 42-41 last season after the Wolverines opted to go for two in the final minute. The last three games have been decided by a total of 12 points.
"The most recent (Michigan) win was Brady's first year," Ohio State play-by-play announcer Paul Keel said. "Some of the more recent games, last year anyway, have been tight games. There has been more competition the last few years."
Michigan hasn't won in Columbus since 2000.
THREE MORE
Stanford at UCLA (Friday): There are high hopes at UCLA this season, but the Bruins have lost six in a row to the Cardinal, the defending Pac-12 champion. This is a prove-it game in the Rose Bowl.
Florida at Florida State: This used to be the "it" game in college football. Both teams were ranked every year in this showdown from 1990-2003. The last time both teams came in ranked was 2008. The Seminoles are looking to win four of five, though the Gators are the last team to win in Tallahassee.
South Carolina at Clemson: The Gamecocks and Tigers have combined for a 65-14 record the last three seasons. The only games that can do better are LSU-Alabama and Oregon-Stanford. Clemson looks to end the five-game losing streak to South Carolina.
SOCIAL BUZZ
#IronBowl #WDE #RTR
It's going to be hard to top last year's social media bonanza that was the Iron Bowl. According to Forbes, the 2013 Alabama game generated nearly 2 million tweets seen on 9 million unique Twitter accounts. That's on par with the "Breaking Bad" series finale, which generated a unique audience of 9.1 million. If you're going to say something is bigger than Alabama-Auburn, take our advice ...
"Tread lightly."
STAT THAT MATTERS
Why are Michigan-Ohio State and Alabama-Auburn generally recognized as the top two college football rivalries?
Things to tend to even out despite large swings.
Consider Michigan-Ohio State. The Wolverines held a 10-2-1 advantage through the John Cooper years. Ohio State is 11-2 through Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer. Add it up, and the Buckeyes have a 13-12-1 advantage.
In that same stretch, Alabama-Auburn are knotted up at 13-13. Auburn had the longest streak with six straight wins from 2002-07.
REMOTE CONTROLLED
Thanksgiving could've been planned better. TCU-Texas and LSU-Texas A&M are both 7:30 p.m. starts, and they are up against the Seattle at San Francisco NFC championship rematch, which starts at 8:30 p.m. Friday offers Pac-12 intrigue with Stanford at UCLA and Arizona at Arizona State. Nebraska at Iowa also could have Big Ten West Division championship implications. Saturday is choose-your-own adventure with the best rivalry games college football has to offer.
WEEK 14 TOP GAMES
Thursday, Nov. 27
TCU at Texas, 7:30 p.m.
LSU at Texas A&M, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 28
Virginia at Virginia Tech
Nebraska at Iowa
Stanford at UCLA, 3:30 p.m.
Arizona State at Arizona, 4:30 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 29
South Carolina at Clemson
Florida at Florida State
Georgia Tech at Georgia
Baylor vs. Texas Tech (at A&T Stadium)
Michigan at Ohio State
Michigan State at Penn State
Notre Dame at USC
Oregon at Oregon State
Auburn at Alabama
With Big Ten adopting double-bye format for tournament. should coaches worry?
By Mike DeCourcy
If they’ve been listening to their buddy Jim Boeheim at any point in the past decade, it’s possible the head coaches in the Big Ten Conference – at least the ones most likely to encounter high-class problems – might be a bit trepidatious following the release of the 2015 Big Ten Tournament bracket.
Yes, there it is: the dreaded double-bye. It will be in place for the event as it is staged at Chicago's United Center March 11-15.
Most of us crave days off. Many of us don’t get to use all that are allotted to us. When forced to take an extra day off because of his own success, however, Boeheim has responded by griping about it most every year.
In the current decade, Syracuse has had a double-bye in four of the five conference tournaments it has entered. Twice, the Orange won. Twice, the Orange lost.
Before the most recent of these misadventures, in which 'Cuse fell to All-American T.J. Warren and N.C. State – and inadvertently helped the ACC earn an NCAA Tournament bid that might have gone to another league – Boeheim spoke on a conference call about his misgivings regarding the double-bye system:
"It’s always difficult to wait for that double-bye,” Boeheim said. “We found in the Big East that those teams didn’t win at a high percentage even when they’re the heavy favorites to win. I think there’s an advantage to playing a game or two in a tournament and get yourself ready to play.”
Is Boeheim right? Is it harder for double-bye teams to advance?
The sample size isn’t huge.
In the current decade, there have been seven power-conference tournaments conducted with the double-bye format: four in the old Big East, two in the SEC, one in the ACC.
The teams that earned byes into the quarterfinals of these events compiled an 18-10 record in their initial tournament games, which is a .642 winning percentage. Five of the seven champions came from the double-bye group; the other two titles were won by teams that went on to the Final Four.
So how does that .642 percentage compare to other formats?
It represents a smaller sample size, which is problematic, and also is primarily the product of one specific league. However, In 12-team tournaments with single-bye setups, the record was 47-18 for a .723 winning percentage.
But the higher-seeded teams in the ACC were only 9-7 under that format. So the Big East’s numbers in the double-bye system may be as reflective of the depth and balance of the league as any influence of the format itself.
When the SEC was running with 12 teams and a single bye, its higher-seeded teams were 9-3 for a .750 percentage. In two years with double-byes, the higher seeds were 7-1, an .875 percentage. It doesn’t really seem like the format is the issue.
"It's proven in the Big East that statistics are overwhelmingly in favor of the teams that are playing one or two games to have a great chance to win it,” Boeheim said, and the percentages should be the other way because you're playing one of the top seeds."
Actually, the percentages are the other way around. The best teams usually do win.
That should be good news for Bo Ryan, whose Badgers never have finished outside the Big Ten’s top four teams during his tenure as Wisconsin coach – and who are ranked the Sporting News’ No. 3 team in the nation for 2014-15.
Bolt sets new 100m indoors best time of 9.98sec.
AFP
Jamaican sprint superstar Usain Bolt set a new best time of 9.98sec for the rarely run 100m indoors at Warsaw's national football stadium on Saturday.
The Olympic champion and world record holder (9.58s) eclipsed the previous best mark for the distance of 10.05 set by Namibian Frankie Fredericks in 1996.
The Warsaw stadium had its roof closed for the event.
Bolt, in action as preparation for Zurich's Diamond League meeting next week, said: "Above all I wanted to get through this season without any injury as I've suffered enough over the past few years.
"Over the next meetings starting with Zurich I'm hoping to run ever quicker."
Bolt received various gifts after his win over his compatriot Sheldon Mitchell and American Trell Kimmons, among them pictures of his 28th birthday celebrations in Warsaw on Thursday.
Bolt had only run his first 100m of the year in an exhibition race on Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach on August 17 in a time of 10.6sec.
His last competitive individual appearance at the 100m came in Brussels last year while at last month's Commonwealth Games in Glasgow he was part of the victorious Jamaican 4x100m relay team.
Bolt will compete in his final Olympics in Rio in 2016 before calling time on his career in 2017 after the world championships.
On This Date in Sports History: Today is Monday, August 25, 2014.
MemoriesofHistory.com
1946 - Ben Hogan won the PGA in Portland, OR. It was his first major golf title.
1985 - Dwight Gooden became the youngest pitcher to win 20 major league baseball games in a season.
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