CS&T/AllsportsAmerica Friday Sports News Update and What's Your Take? 01/09/2015.

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How 'bout them Chicago Blackhawks? Bickell scores 2 goals, Blackhawks hold off Wild 4-2.

AP - Sports

Bryan Bickell scored twice in the third period, Corey Crawford made a season-high 42 saves and the Chicago Blackhawks held on to beat the heavy-hearted Minnesota Wild 4-2 on Thursday night.

Patrick Sharp and Patrick Kane also scored for Chicago, which has won four of six. The Blackhawks entered the night two points behind Nashville atop the Central Division.

Jason Zucker and Jason Pominville scored for Minnesota, which has lost nine of 11.

The Wild played its second straight game without left wing Zach Parise. His father, former Minnesota North Star J.P. Parise, died Wednesday night after battling lung cancer.

Zach Parise, who missed Tuesday's game to be with his family, has been designated as a non-roster player to give him time to grieve. A moment of silence was held before the game and Wild players wore ''11'' decals on their helmets.

But Minnesota needed more than Parise.

With Darcy Kuemper, who has started 27 of the Wild's 39 games, out at least a week with lower-body injury, Niklas Backstrom - entering the game 60th in the league with an .896 save percentage - got the call in goal. He made 15 saves.

Backstrom might have been able to get a save on Chicago's first goal barely 5 minutes into the game. Sharp gathered a loose puck low in the left circle, cut to the net and tucked the puck behind the Wild goaltender. It marked the first time in seven games that Chicago scored the game's first goal.

Backstrom had almost no chance when Kane made it 2-0 with a power-play goal late in the period, converting from below the right circle before Backstrom could scurry back across the crease.

Minnesota's slow start came one day after coach Mike Yeo laced an expletive-filled tirade at his team during an uninspired practice before breaking his stick over the boards and leaving the ice.

The team's effort improved dramatically in the second period as the Wild controlled play, outshot Chicago 19-5, and scored the period's lone goal at 1:03.

With Minnesota keeping sustained pressure in the offensive zone, Mikko Koivu sent a pass along the boards behind the goal to Pominville who passed to Zucker in the slot. Zucker's one-timer beat Crawford high for his team-leading 15th goal.

NOTES: The teams meet again Sunday in Chicago. ... The Blackhawks are 14-1-0 when leading after one period; 14-0-0 when leading after two. ... Minnesota D Marco Scandella missed the game with an upper-body injury sustained Tuesday against San Jose. ... Wild F Jordan Schroeder, D Jonathan Blum and G John Curry were recalled from AHL Iowa. ... Chicago LW Daniel Carcillo returned. He was a healthy scratch the past two games.

Blackhawks Convention passes go on sale Jan. 12.

CSN Staff  
                                      

There's still plenty of hockey to be played this season, but fans can start planning ahead for the Blackhawks' biggest offseason event.

The team announced that weekend passes for the eighth annual Blackhawks Convention will go on sale Jan. 12 at 10 a.m. and will be made available through both Ticketmaster and at chicagoblackhawks.com.

The Convention — which is the first of its kind in the NHL and has sold out each of its last seven years — will be held July 17-19 at the Hilton Chicago on 720 S. Michigan Ave.

The event will feature both current and former Blackhawks and include autograph photo sessions, panels, exhibits and interactive games. Blackhawks coaches and executives are also expected to be in attendance.

Just Another Chicago Bulls Session… Bulls-Wizards Preview. Let's Go Bulls!!!!! 

By TAYLOR BECHTOLD (STATS Writer)

The comparisons are natural between the Chicago Bulls' Derrick Rose and Washington Wizards' John Wall since both were top overall draft picks who played one year in college under John Calipari.

Neither star point guard has been at his best lately, with Rose trying to shake his way out of a historic cold stretch.

Rose hopes to get back on track while remaining unbeaten in his head-to-head matchups with Wall as the visiting Bulls look to avoid their first back-to-back defeats in seven weeks Friday night.

Rose, who played one year at Memphis before going No. 1 to Chicago in 2008, is mired in one of the worst shooting slumps in league history. The 2011 MVP is shooting 25.5 percent from the field over his last six games.

At 28 for 110, he has the most shots over a six-game span with a field-goal percentage under 26.0 percent since 1983-84.

Rose missed 12 of 15 shots in a seven-point effort in a 97-77 home loss to Utah on Wednesday. The Bulls (25-11) finished with a season-low point total on 33.3 percent shooting after coming in averaging 103.1 points.

"We just wasn't making any shots; I know I wasn't making any shots,'' Rose said. ''Losing the way we did, it hurt.''

With his club looking to avoid losing two in a row for the first time since Nov. 20-21, coach Tom Thibodeau is focused on the big picture since Rose has been hurt for much of the past three seasons.

''When you get away from that competition for 2 1/2 years, it doesn't come back in a week," Thibodeau said. "You have to compete in practice, you have to compete getting yourself ready and you have to keep going.''

Rose will try to find a groove against a Washington team that has allowed 88.0 points on 42.9 percent shooting in consecutive wins after giving up 108.0 per game and a 53.5 field-goal percentage over a three-game skid.

The three-time All-Star had 25 points on 10-of-17 shooting in a 99-91 win at Washington on Dec. 23. He's averaged 26.2 points in his last nine games against the Wizards (24-11), though he's missed several other meetings due to injury - including last season's first-round playoff defeat.

Wall, who played one year at Kentucky before going No. 1 to the Wizards in 2010, finished with 18 points and nine assists in last month's meeting. He's averaged 21.7 points over his last six regular-season games against the Bulls.

The 2014 All-Star, who currently has the most All-Star votes among Eastern Conference guards, has cooled off with 14.0 points and 9.6 assists per game in his last seven after averaging 18.9 and 11.3 over his previous nine.

The Wizards, who are 14-2 when Wall scores at least 18 this season, have dropped all five matchups when he and Rose have been healthy enough to play.

"It's kind of a statement game when we play these type of teams," Wall said. "Compared to last year in the playoffs, we know they've had an edge and wanted to see their team completely healthy."

Washington's Paul Pierce is expected to return after resting in Wednesday's 101-91 home win over New York, while Chicago's Mike Dunleavy is questionable after missing the past three games with a right ankle injury.

Bulls suffer worst loss of the year to Jazz 97-77. 

By Mark Strotman

Bulls players Jimmy Butler, from left, Pau Gasol, Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson sit on the bench in the final minutes of the game against the Jazz. (Photo/John J. Kim, Chicago Tribune)

The Bulls had won six straight against Western Conference opponents, with wins over contenders in Portland, Memphis and Houston in the process. They had also won nine of their last 10 games at the United Center. Those two stretches should have made Wednesday night’s home contest against the Utah Jazz an afterthought.

The opposite proved to be the case, however, as Tom Thibodeau’s group suffered their worst loss of the year, falling 97-77.

The Bulls had averaged nearly 110 points per game in their last six meetings against Western Conference foes, all wins, but produced their worst offensive outing of the year against one of the least efficient defensive teams in the league. Both the points and the field goal percentage (33.3%) were season lows for Tom Thibodeau's group.

Derrick Rose’s massive shooting slump continued, as the former MVP went just 3-for-15 and is now mired in a 31-for-122 (25.4%) slump over his last six-plus games. Leading scorer Jimmy Butler was limited to 16 quiet points in 34 minutes and Pau Gasol, after scoring 56 points in his last two outings, was outplayed by Utah center Rudy Gobert, who limited the Spaniard to 13 points on 5-for-13 shooting.

Rose and the Bulls seemingly found most of the looks they wanted and only committed five turnovers in the first half. But the inside presence of Gobert, starting in place of the injured Enes Kanter, limited Chicago to just 9-for-26 shooting in the painted area. Gobert blocked four shots in the first half and finished with five rejections.

Things didn’t get better in the second, when after scoring six of the first eight points of the period, they managed only 10 points in the final nine minutes. Taj Gibson was a saving grace for the sluggish Bulls, scoring 10 points in 17 first-half minutes. He finished with 15.

It was a sluggish half for the Jazz, too, as Quinn Snyder’s group shot just 36 percent as a team and took only a 36-32 lead into the break, led by Gordon Hayward's 10 points. But their slump, unlike the Bulls’, didn’t last into the second half.

After the Jazz had pushed their lead to 12, their largest lead of the evening to that point, Rose and the Bulls finally showed some signs of line. Out of a timeout he drove and kicked out to an open Gasol for 3. Rose then twice attacked the hoop and finished with layups, and a Butler steal-and-slam capped off a 9-0 run in just 75 seconds to bring the Bulls within three, 49-46, midway through the period.

But the Jazz, who had surprisingly won four of their last six road games, showed resolve to close the period. Derrick Favors battled foul trouble in the first quarter but scored 12 points in the third period, including seven after the Bulls’ surge to get back in the game. Favors finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds and two steals in 32 minutes.

And a usually stout Bulls group, who entered Wednesday with the second best fourth-quarter scoring margin in the NBA (+2.7) showed little fight in the final period. The Jazz scored 16 of the first 19 points of the period, led by Trevor Booker’s seven points. The lead blossomed to as many as 26, with the Bulls managing just 17 points in the final period after averaging better than 29 points per fourth quarter at home.

The Detroit Pistons Spent $26 Million To Get Rid Of Their Highest-Paid Player — And Now They're On Fire. What's Your Take?

By William Scott Davis

The Detroit Pistons shocked the NBA world in late December by announcing they were cutting Josh Smith, their highest-paid player.

Detroit signed Smith to a four-year, $54 million deal in 2013 , hoping he could form an All-Star trio with their other big men, Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond.
 

After getting off to a 5-23 start, the Pistons were so desperate to get rid of Smith that they cut him, even though they'd still have the pay the remaining $26 million on his contract.
 

The Pistons lessened the blow by using the "stretch provision," which extends the remainder of Smith's contract over five years, making the Pistons pay about $5.4 million each season instead of $26 million at once.
 

Regardless of the payment plan, cutting a highly paid player who wasn't injured or in some sort of legal trouble was unprecedented. Many took it as a sign that new coach Stan Van Gundy wanted to jump-start the rebuilding process.

Since the move, the Pistons have been on fire. They're 6-0. They've won more games in the two weeks since cutting Smith than they did in the first two moths of the season.

Tuesday night they pulled off an 18-point comeback against the San Antonio Spurs, capped off by a game-winning floater from Brandon Jennings.

The entire Pistons team seems rejuvenated.

Prior to cutting Smith, the Pistons ranked 28th in the NBA in offensive rating, scoring 97.6 points per 100 possessions, and 24th in defensive rating, giving up 105.8 points per 100 possessions.

In the six games since cutting Smith, the Pistons are 3rd in the NBA in offensive rating, scoring 112.3 points per 100 possessions, and 2nd in defensive rating, giving up only 94.1 points per 100 possessions.

In total net rating, that's a 26-point swing.

Jennings has been on a hot streak, posting averages of 20 points, 47.8% shooting from the field, and 5.8 assists per game. Prior to cutting Smith, Jennings was shooting 36.8% from the field.

Part of Jennings' breakout has been an increase in spacing. When they played together, he and Smith had a -9.3 net rating, mainly because neither player is a respectable threat from the three-point line. Without Smith, the Pistons are playing more "stretch four" players like Jonas Jerebko and Anthony Tolliver and spacing out their offense.

The Pistons' frontcourt has improved as well. When Smith was on the court with either Monroe or Drummond, both duos had negative net ratings. When all three were together on the court, they had a -3.3 net rating. However, Monroe and Drummond together have a +4.7 net rating, proving Smith just wasn't a good fit with either player.

 

Some of this isn't Smith's fault, as Tim Cato of SB Nation argues. The Pistons were steadily improving on offense leading up to Smith's departure, and they've gotten a huge boost from their biggest offseason signing, Jodie Meeks, as he's returned to health. Since Meeks' return on December 12, the Pistons are ninth in the NBA in offensive rating, meaning the spacing he provides was already having an effect on the offense.
 

The Pistons have also had a weaker schedule. Wins over the Cavaliers and Spurs were impressive, but their other four victories were over the Pacers, Magic, Knicks, and Kings, so they haven't faced many world-beaters. 

Good health and a lighter schedule have benefitted Detroit, but there's no doubting the Pistons seem to have made an addition-by-subtraction move by cutting Smith.

Chicago Sports & Travel, Inc./AllsportsAmerica Take: We would love for the Bears' owners and front office management to read this article. The Bears are in a similar situation as the Pistons. They will have an easier schedule this year because of their losing record and it is evident that this team needs a fresh start. The opportunity will never be better than now. New GM, new coaches and some needed new players. There's a lot of distrust here, the fans feel letdown by some of the players, some of the players feelings are mixed and shaken after reading many of the newspaper articles and social media comments about them. Hidden agendas all the way around and the only way to move forward is to completely clean house and start fresh. A written plan with timeline benchmarks will get the Bears to the much desired Super Bowl and help win the Lombardi Trophy. Now the real question is, "How much do the Bears' owners desire it and how much are they willing to pay for it?

The Blackhawks were once the scourge on the NHL, they put their management team together, drafted some great young players and look at them now. Two Stanley Cups and looking for more. The Cubs followed suit, they've drafted some great young talent, went out and paid the price to get a terrific manager and are now bringing in a mixture of veteran talent; I can see the 106 year drought will soon be a memory. The Bulls were in the same boat, now they have a dynamic coach, some very good drafted young talent and a mixture of gamely veterans. Can a NBA championship soon be in their future? We can't forget the White Sox, They're wheeling and dealing like you can't imagine. They're all in too. All of Chicago's professional sports teams are in the race to see who will be the first to win a championship for the city of Chicago and their fans. So why should the Bears be left out?

The time is now. Chicago is a Bears town, take a stand, make a plan and move forward. 

Now that you know how we feel, we'd love to know what you think, what's your take? 

Please post your thoughts in the comment section at the bottom of this blog. Marion P. Jelks, Chicago Sports & Travel, Inc./AllsportsAmerica blog editor.

 

Bear Down Chicago Bears!!!!! Bears strike fast for GM with Ryan Pace. 

By John Mullin
                                                  

Chicago Bears GM Designate Ryan Pace

When Bears Chairman George McCaskey and President Ted Phillips set forth the parameters of their search for a new general manager and head coach, the word “urgency” was prominent in the discussion. The Bears acted with exactly that on Thursday with the hiring of former New Orleans director of player personnel Ryan Pace to serve as the franchise’s sixth GM and clearly to take an active role in the hiring of the successor to ousted head coach Marc Trestman.

In the process they again tapped into the New Orleans pipeline that sent them left tackle Jermon Bushrod, who was drafted while Pace was a key member of the Saints personnel operations, and Aaron Kromer, fired this month as offensive coordinator.

Following a screening process by consultant and former NFL GM Ernie Accorsi, the Bears chose Pace after interviews with four candidates this week: Lake Dawson (Tennessee Titans) and Brian Gaine (Houston Texans) on Tuesday, Chris Ballard (Kansas City Chiefs) and Pace on Wednesday.

An interview was set for Thursday with Arizona Cardinals defensive coordinator Todd Bowles. The Bears already have held first interviews with Denver Broncos offensive coordinator Adam Gase and Seattle Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn.

But the process moves to a higher level with the hiring of Pace, whose thoughts and ideas on a head coach were part of his interview/evaluation process.

Pace, 37, represents a step outside of certain molds within the NFL. Instead of opting for a long-time NFL fixture, the Bears have gone for someone believed to be a star in the making. He was brought to the Saints by then-head coach Jim Haslett in 2001, starting as a scouting assistant, then becoming an area scout two years later. Pace stayed on after Haslett was dismissed in 2005 and was highly regarded by fellow Eastern Illinois University product Sean Payton, who succeeded Haslett as Saints coach. Pace played collegiately as a defensive end at EIU (1995-99), serving as team captain as a senior, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in marketing.

Pace has been considered the top football evaluator on the staff of general manager Mickey Loomis. He spent six seasons as the Saints’ director of pro scouting before being promoted in 2012 as director of player personnel. In that role, Pace helped manage the team’s college and pro scouting operations including all facets of scouting and evaluation of college and pro prospects along with New Orleans’ roster.

He also helped the Saints prepare for the NFL Draft following the regular season by assisting in the evaluation of top college prospects.

During that time he evaluated free agents and collegiate players entering the NFL Draft as well as scouted upcoming opponents. He joined the Saints in 2001 supporting the coordination of all game day, training camp and stadium operations.

Over Pace’s 13 seasons in the New Orleans personnel department (2002-14), the Saints compiled a 115-93 (.553) record. Since 2006, the Saints reached the playoffs five times, won three division titles, played in two NFC Championship games (2006 and 2009) and won the franchise’s first Super Bowl title (Super Bowl XLIV). The Saints pro scouting department helped build a Super Bowl club by using all avenues at their disposal: signing free agents QB Drew Brees, FB Heath Evans, LB Scott Fujita, CB Randall Gay, C Jonathan Goodwin, CB Jabari Greer and DE Anthony Hargrove and trading for LB Jonathan Vilma and TE Jeremy Shockey. Pace has also worked to acquire players such as RB Darren Sproles, G Ben Grubbs, NT Brodrick Bunkley, LBs David Hawthorne and Curtis Lofton, while also acquiring S Rafael Bush off waivers. Over the past two seasons the Saints draft classes have included current regular starters LT Terron Armstead (2013, third round), WRs Brandin Cooks (2014, first round) and Kenny Stills (2013, fifth round) and S Kenny Vaccaro (2013, first round). 

In 2008, he was selected by the club to attend the NFL’s Stanford Business School’s Executive Education Program for Managers. He was a part of the franchise in 2005 while the club dealt with immense adversity having to guide itself through several moves in base operations in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Pace and his wife, Stephanie, have a daughter, Cardyn.

The Bears will introduce Pace in a press conference at Halas Hall on Friday morning at 11 a.m on Comcast SportsNet.

'Worst to first' turnaround for Bears shouldn’t be laughed at.  

By John Mullin
                                          

The search for a Bears general manager should be concluded by Friday, with the Bears widely expected to bring former scout and pro personnel director Chris Ballard back from Kansas City to effectively head up all football operations at Halas Hall. Then will come the coach hire.

With both come expectations, good and considerably less than good. After expectations were crushed last season, believing anything positive can come out of the Bears will be beyond difficult for a jilted fan base.

But expectations should be at two levels:

One is that the Bears will be better under Coach X than they were under coach Marc Trestman. Neill Armstrong and Lovie Smith failed to at least match the win total of the coaches they succeeded (Jack Pardee, Dick Jauron) but had their teams in the playoffs in year two of their tenures, Armstrong with Mike Phipps as his quarterback, Smith with Kyle Orton as his.

Which brings around the second expectation: that a major turnaround – “worst to first,” to use Ted Phillips’s words – can actually happen.

The NFL changes, but Coach X will start with more at quarterback than those two did, even with the conundrum that is Jay Cutler. And there is more where the “talent” issue is concerned, because that is the issue ultimately.

Cutler went into last season with the caveat “no excuses” because of the overall opinion that the offense finally had enough firepower around him to win. Martellus Bennett and Matt Forte played to their seeds and Alshon Jeffery caught 85 passes for 1,133 yards and 10 touchdowns. Has any of that talent parcel gone away?

None of that makes the offense good then or going forward. But none of the offense, from Cutler on down, was maximized by a Trestman coaching philosophy that was rooted in the three-down passing world of the CFL, Trestman believing only in “sprinkling” (his word) runs in among his throwing.

Trestman effectively made the whole less than the sum of the parts.

Forte is going on 30 but even without Brandon Marshall, who will need to convince the organization that he is about winning and not about Brandon Marshall, it is simply difficult to imagine the offense being as bad as it was in 2014.

The Bears still have myriad concerns on defense and special teams. But anyone who doesn’t believe the right coach and even moderate upgrades of talent, which are supposed to happen every draft, hasn’t been paying attention.

MLB Hall of Fame 2015: 3 Players Who Got Robbed.

By Jason Alsher

It’s not easy to make it to Cooperstown.

There’s no set path that one must follow in order to be guaranteed a place in Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame. Numbers definitely matter, but they aren’t everything. Sometimes a player’s legacy and the mark he’s left on the game of baseball cannot be quantified into statistics, which makes this a tricky process. The rules that govern the election process are firm, but to get the necessary votes for induction is an entirely different animal.
 
Therefore, to be enshrined in this heralded hall is a special accomplishment. On Tuesday, the inductees of the 2015 Hall of Fame class were announced, and the Baseball Writers’ Association of America deemed four ballplayers worthy of being included in this year’s class — this is a high number for one year, as it hasn’t happened since 1955. However, it is impossible to argue with the selection of Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz, and Craig Biggio.

In Johnson (the Big Unit) and Martinez, you have two of the most dominant pitchers the sport has ever seen. Smoltz was a member of the Atlanta Braves and their highly respected pitching staff that owned the ’90s; Biggio was a reliable player and one of the best second basemen of all time. Three first-ballot pitchers and a third-ballot second baseman, all worthy of the hall. They got it right with these guys. However, while you can’t argue with the ones who got in, you can question those who did not. So we shall.

Let’s take a look at the players who were left off the list, but in our opinion, should be heading to Cooperstown. All statistics are courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com

1. Tim Raines

• 2015 Hall of Fame breakdown: 302 votes, 55%

The consensus among pundits is that Tim Raines was more than just his numbers on the stats sheet. Sure, he has a career batting average of .294, 170 home runs, and 980 runs batted in — those stats aren’t eye-popping. But the left fielder was an absolute terror on the base path. In his 23-year pro career, Raines amassed 808 stolen bases and led the MLB in that category from 1981 to 1984. He was also consistently in the MVP conversation and led the National League with a .334 batting average in 1986. This contact hitter, with 2,605 to his name, deserved his moment. This case has been made by others, as well. See here.

2. Jeff Bagwell

• 2015 Hall of Fame breakdown: 306 votes, 55.7%

The Houston Astros first baseman, with his insane power, was a nightmare for opposing pitchers. For 15 seasons, this guy was feared whenever he stepped up to the plate. One never knew when Jeff Bagwell was going to crush the ball. He spent the entirety of his professional career playing with the Astros, where he hit 449 career home runs, totaled 1,529 runs batted in, and unanimously captured the 1994 National League MVP.

Also, when it comes to a statistical category that is highly regarded in today’s game, WAR (Wins Above Replacement), Bagwell represented an invaluable member of his team, having led all National League position players in 1994 and 1999. Last year, Bagwell’s fourth year on the ballot, he garnered 54.3% of the necessary 75% needed for induction. He fell short again in year five, but odds increased in 2015. Looks like he’s trending up. Here’s to Bagwell in 2016.

3. Mike Piazza

• 2015 Hall of Fame breakdown: 384 votes, 69.9%

At 384 votes, Mike Piazza fell just 28 short of the required 412 votes needed to get into the Hall of Fame this year. He was right there. However, there are some who believe, based on pure numbers, that Piazza should've already punched his ticket to Cooperstown. Considered by many to be the best hitting catcher in the history of Major League Baseball, the former Los Angeles Dodger and New York Met (among other teams) has 427 career homers, a .308 lifetime batting average, 10 Silver Slugger awards, and 12 All-Star Game appearances.

However, there is a cloud of controversy that continues to hang over Piazza’s head. And one very important question remains: Did he cheat? This appears to be the last hurdle preventing Piazza’s inclusion into the MLB Hall of Fame.

But it seems things might be moving in the right direction for Piazza, as his percentage of votes has increased over the last two years. In 2013, he had 57.8% of the votes, last year he accumulated 62.2%, and this year he received 69.9%. Perhaps 2016 is the year he finally gets over the hump.

Adam Eaton: 'The talent is there' for White Sox.

By Dan Hayes

They made a modest improvement on offense last season and Adam Eaton thinks there’s more room for growth ahead for the White Sox.

After they added Melky Cabrera, Adam LaRoche and Emilio Bonifacio, Eaton said earlier this week the White Sox are confident in the group they will take to spring training when camp breaks late next month.

With newcomers Eaton and Jose Abreu on board in 2014, the White Sox scored 62 more runs than they had the previous season. This season has more potential as the White Sox attempt to improve upon an offense that scored 4.07 runs per game, which ranked eighth in the American League last season.

“The talent is there and I’m very blessed to hopefully hit in front of those guys,” Eaton said earlier this week at minicamp in Glendale, Ariz. “A lot of talent and it’s going to be my job to get on base for them and help the team roll, stir the drink a little bit.”

Two seasons ago, the White Sox offense produced at nightmarish levels when they failed to score 600 runs in a full season for the first time since 1980.

Eaton and Abreu helped revitalize the offseason last season as the leadoff man reached base at .362 clip and the All-Star first baseman smacked a club-rookie record 36 home runs.

General manager Rick Hahn and executive vice president Kenny Williams saw the potential of the two newcomers and added more weapons. Cabrera brings a .339 career on-base percentage while LaRoche has at least 10 seasons in which he has hit 20 home runs, including 26 last season while playing in a park that hurts left-handed hitters.

Throw in the additions of starting pitcher Jeff Samardzija, closer David Robertson and reliever Zach Duke and Eaton said he feels good about the team’s prospects. White Sox pitchers and catchers report to camp and hold their first workout on Feb. 20 while position players do the same on Feb. 24.

“Lot of excitement, lot of buzz going around,” Eaton said. “As a player, very excited. It shows a lot confidence with the players to get the type of talent to come in. Rick Hahn is putting us in a good position to win. Of course we’ve still got to play the games and go out there and throw the gloves out there. Running into spring training we’re very excited about it.”

Golf: I got a club for that; Kapalua a test unlike any other on the PGA Tour.

By DOUG FERGUSON                                   

Sang-Moon Bae of South Korea plays a shot during a practice round prior to the Hyundai Tournament of Champions at Plantation Course at Kapalua Golf Club on January 7, 2015 in Lahaina, Hawaii (AFP Photo/Andy Lyons)

The reward for winning on the PGA Tour is a trip to the west tip of Maui for the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, where the course was built on the side of a mountain, overlooks the ocean and evokes a response from players that is different from other weeks.

"My first reaction was, 'Do we get a cart for the week?'" Canadian Open champion Tim Clark said.

 

J.B. Holmes can spend all day looking out at the Pacific, where he can see the occasional breach of a humpback whale and the island of Molokai appearing to be close enough to swim there. The Plantation Course at Kapalua is on an amazing piece of property.

Perhaps even more amazing is that they play golf on it.

"You wouldn't walk out onto it and say, 'We should put a golf course here.' But they did a good job," Holmes said. "It's a fun course to play."
 

Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw created this golf course, which looks like a beast because of the expansive fairways cut through canyons, the stunning drops (and rises) in elevation and enormous greens that are difficult to gauge because of the grain.
 

Hideki Matsuyama of Japan is still working on his English, though he had the right word when he smiled and said, "Big."
 

Looks can be deceiving, however. Zach Johnson, a pea shooter in this era of power, won last year at 19-under 273. Steve Stricker won and was runner-up the next year. Geoff Ogilvy won twice in a row and attributed it to his chipping.
 

One thing is clear — it might be the most interesting course on the PGA Tour.
 

The Tournament of Champions gets started on Friday when the 34-man field of PGA Tour winners — making this the most difficult tournament to get in — stick a tee in the ground and look some 500 yards out and 600 feet down to the first green.
 

"Off the first tee, I was like, 'Whoa,' because of the views. It's just way different than I imagined watching on TV," Russell Henley said. "The undulation is unlike anything I had seen anywhere else. The thing about it is it looks downhill, but it's even more downhill than it looks."
 

There are 12 players who are playing Kapalua for the first time. In the 16 years the Tournament of Champions has been held at the Plantation, only David Duval (1999), Sergio Garcia (2002) and Daniel Chopra (2008) won on their first try.
 

"I was intimidated," Zach Johnson said of his first trip. "Not necessarily because of the yardage, though — because of the greens. They're just so hard to putt. They're big. They're undulating. A flat putt is pretty slow. The ones down grain are super fast. ... It's just hard. You're going to hit a lot of fairways. You're going to hit a lot of greens. And you're going to miss a lot of putts."
 

Robert Streb, who won the McGladrey Classic last year to qualify for his trip to Kapalua, was reminded quickly that he's not in Kanas anymore. At least he has been watching this tournament on TV for years, and he knew what to expect in terms of vast changes in elevation and endless views of the Pacific.
 

"It's really pretty. And it's really big," he said. "They said the fairways are wide, and they are. They said it's usually windy, and it is."
 

Perhaps its greatest appeal is the width of the fairways — nearly 80 yards on some holes — which is good for the ego when players are coming off their short winter break and are trying to shake off some rust. The greens take experience, but with a Friday start, there is plenty of time to get used to them.
 

Ogilvy, perhaps the most astute among players when it comes to golf course architecture, recalls his first reaction to the Plantation Course.
 

"I thought it was ridiculous that we played golf on a piece of land like this," he said. "It was just absurd. From the 17th tee to the first green, what is that, 1,000 feet? You think 10 (tee) at Augusta to the 11th green, that's not even half of 17 here. I though the course was cool to not have a scorecard in your hand. Nobody plays really well their first time, I don't think. It's pretty extreme.
 

"It takes a bit of getting used to," he said.
 

Now, Ogilvy can't think of a better place to be — mainly because he gets to play.
 

Tiger needs 'reps' like Phoenix to get into major shape.

By Rex Hoggard                                                      
                                                        

Tiger Woods

It’s less surprising that Tiger Woods will reportedly return to the zoo known as the Waste Management Phoenix Open for the first time since 2001 than it is that he hasn’t added more starts to his schedule.

Golf.com reported on Wednesday that Woods seems likely to add the Arizona stop to his dance card later this month, but after missing the majority of last season with various injuries the alternative would be nearly six months of competitive inactivity since his last meaningful start at August’s PGA Championship (with apologies to the Hero World Challenge, an 18-man field during the Challenge Season is closer to a rehab start than it is Game 1 of the World Series).

Woods has always embraced a less-is-more mentality when it comes to his schedule, a tactic that has served him well through 79 Tour victories and 14 majors, but now is not the time for ball counts and competitive convalescence.

Although Woods’ manager told GolfChannel.com that “nothing [is] committed yet” regarding his potential start at the Waste Management, because of a reworked Tour schedule this year that moved the WGC-Match Play out of the West Coast swing Woods would have had just four starts before the Masters in April if he maintains his traditional lineup.

Under normal circumstances that might not be a glaring concern, but the former world No. 1 managed just seven Tour starts last year because of injury and made it to Sunday on just three occasions.

Consider that prior to his four victorious trips down Magnolia Lane (2005, 2002, 2001 and 1997) Woods averaged 6.75 starts in the run up to the year’s first major and he has historically played his best golf during the dog days of summer.

Nor does it seem like a coincidence that just three times since 2008, the last year he won a major championship, he played more than 12 events in a season.

In fact, just once in his career has he won a major after fewer than six starts, and that was at the ’08 U.S. Open when he was sidelined with knee and leg injuries and needed a Herculean effort to claim Grand Slam No. 14.

The point is, when Woods speaks of reps it’s not the sun-splashed range sessions in South Florida that he’s talking about. The only way to properly prepare is to bend a mold that, although has been successful in the past, no longer dovetails with his competitive needs.

Woods hinted at as much in December when he said his schedule this year would probably be, “slightly different ... I’ll have a pretty full schedule next year.”

Maybe the outdoor cocktail party at TPC Scottsdale, where Woods has finished in the top 5 twice in his three starts, isn’t the perfect fit, but given the alternative of playing the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am (where weather hasn’t historically been ideal) or the Northern Trust Open (which would require he play four events in five weeks) it was his best option.

While it may not be a popular option at PGA Tour headquarters, there will be time to rest after the PGA Championship in August.

In simplest terms, if trading a start in the fall, say at The Barclays, for a week or two in the spring adds up to success at Augusta National or St. Andrews so be it. After all, it wasn’t Jack Nicklaus’ FedEx Cup record hanging on the wall when Woods was growing up.

Golf - Barbara Nicklaus wins USGA award.

AFP
                                                                        

This September 23, 2005 file photo shows international team captain Gary Player(L) of South Africa as he speaks with Barbara Nicklaus, wife of USA team captain Jack Nicklaus at the 5th green during Four-ball match play at the 2005 Presidents Cup at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Virginia. Barbara Nicklaus, the wife of 18-time major champion Jack Nicklaus for nearly 55 years, was named on January 7, 2015 as the 2015 Bob Jones Award winner by the US Golf Association. The award, presented annually since 1955, pays tribute to someone who demonstrates spirit, character and respect for the sport and she follows her husband Jack, the 1975 winner, in taking the honor. Past women's winners have included LPGA pioneer Babe Didrikson Zaharias in 1957 and Sweden's Annika Sorenstam in 2012. Other recipients included Arnold Palmer in 1971, Ben Hogan in 1976, actors Bing Crosby and Bob Hope in 1978 and the late Payne Stewart last year. (AFP Photo/Jeff Haynes)

Barbara Nicklaus, the wife of 18-time major champion Jack Nicklaus for nearly 55 years, was named Wednesday as the 2015 Bob Jones Award winner by the US Golf Association.

The award, presented annually since 1955, pays tribute to someone who demonstrates spirit, character and respect for the sport and she follows her husband Jack, the 1975 winner, in taking the honor.

She will receive the trophy in a June ceremony at this year's US Open at Chambers Bay near Seattle for her work with youth-related charitable causes.

NASCAR: Brian France talks possibility of mid-week races, road race in Chase. 

By Chris Estrada

NASCAR Chairman Bill France (Photo/Getty Images)

The new Chase for the Sprint Cup format had a nice start in 2014, but NASCAR still has to figure out other ways to augment its current fan base with newer ones.

A concept that has been repeatedly batted around for some time now is mid-week races, particularly during the summer months where NASCAR would face less TV competition from other sports.

In the past, drivers such as Jeff Gordon, Brad Keselowski, and Ryan Newman have championed the idea.

But NASCAR Chairman Brian France didn’t seem too keen on it during his Tuesday appearance on Motor Racing Network’s NASCAR Live radio show.

“One challenge that we have, among others, is the current events that we have – no one wants to give any of those up, so start with that,” France said when asked about the subject by host Eli Gold.

“The other challenge that we would have is we don’t have home teams…What we rely on are 80 to 100,000 – and even more – people to make a weekend out of something, drive on average 200-plus miles, often stay more than two days, and bring their families.

“When you start doing that in mid-week with school and everything else – even in the summer – those kind of opportunities to draw people to these big speedways becomes more difficult.”

And while the aforementioned new Chase format has provided a jolt to NASCAR’s post-season, a common complaint about the Chase remains that its current 10-track lineup could use a shakeup.

Five of the 10 tracks are 1.5-mile, intermediate ovals that already dominate the Cup landscape, and they include Homestead-Miami Speedway, which hosts the season finale.

A road race in the run to the championship could provide some more spice, especially considering how good NASCAR’s product on the twisty tracks has become.

But France indicated that perhaps we shouldn’t be holding our breath on that, either.

“We’re not opposed to it, but from a calendar standpoint, there’s only two [Sprint Cup road course] venues of course, and both of them like their dates for different reasons,” he said. “So, [it’s] unlikely to see that happening, only because of, really, how the dates fall.”

Sonoma Raceway in California hosts Sprint Cup in late June, while Watkins Glen International in New York State has its Cup weekend in early August.

NASCAR: 'What the (blank)?' --- Danica Patrick opens up in new Q&A.

By Jerry Bonkowski

NASCAR Driver Danica Patrick (Photo/AP)

One day after future Hall of Famer Derek Jeter retired from the New York Yankees last October, he began the next phase of his life by debuting a new web site.

The premise was simple: a site about athletes, written and edited by athletes. And Jeter named it, appropriately enough, “ThePlayersTribune.com”.

One of the first “senior editors” Jeter “hired” was NASCAR star Danica Patrick.

Three months after her first column for TPT (where she talked about her relationship with fellow driver and love interest Ricky Stenhouse Jr.), Patrick is back with a new feature called “What the (Blank?)” – a fill-in-the-blanks kind of Q&A.

As TPT stated, “Just like on the first day of elementary school, we asked our athletes to answer 10 questions about themselves so you could get to know them better. Next up is Danica Patrick.”

It’s pretty clear Danica had fun with this little exercise.

We thought we’d give you some highlights, particularly as she let her hair down in a couple of answers, so to speak (her answers are in italic quotes):

* I am the best “hair model” on my team.

* My biggest nightmare is “split ends and failing at anything.”

* “California” is my favorite road city.

* If my entire team participated in a Royal Rumble, the last (wo)man standing would be “I really think me.”

Those are just appetizers. There’s six more questions and Danica’s answers.

Click here to check out the rest.

MLS expands playoffs, adds 2 teams in 20th season

AP - Sports

Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber launches the league's new logo during a press conference in New York. Garber said Tuesday, Dec 2, 2014, the league is not performing as hoped financially with the league and its franchises still losing more than $100 million combined annually. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

Major League Soccer is adding two teams to its playoffs, realigning the conferences and welcoming two new franchises.

The league announced the schedule for its 20th regular season Wednesday, with the opener March 6 as Chicago visits the champion Los Angeles Galaxy.

Joining the league are Orlando City FC and New York City FC, who will face off at the Citrus Bowl for their debut game on March 8. NYCFC will play its home games at Yankee Stadium.

With the addition of those two franchises, MLS has moved the Houston Dynamo and Sporting Kansas City to the Western Conference, creating two 10-team conferences.

Each team will play 34 games during the regular season: a home-and-home series against each club from the other conference; at least two matches against each opponent within the conference; and six additional intra-conference games.

This year, 12 teams will qualify for the MLS Cup playoffs: the sixth-place team in both conferences will make the postseason.

Conference semifinals will be played during the weekends of Oct. 31-Nov. 1 and Nov. 7-8. Following a FIFA break from Nov. 9-17, the conference playoffs will continue on Nov. 21-22 and close Nov. 28-29. All of that matches will be a two-game aggregate goal series, with away goals serving as the tiebreaker.

MLS Cup will be hosted by the finalist with the better regular-season record; the date has not been set.

One longtime MLS member, San Jose, will unveil its new home, Avaya Stadium, on March 22 against Chicago.

MLS also has added flex scheduling and a ''Decision Day'' to the TV lineup.

The final week of games within each conference will kick off at the same time on ''Decision Day.'' East games will be played at 5 p.m. ET, while West games will begin at 7 p.m. on Oct. 25.

MLS will allow its network partners to flex starting times for the previous week in October. That should place meaningful games on network television.

Chelsea manager Mourinho charged with misconduct.

AFP

Jose Mourinho was charged with misconduct by the Football Association on Thursday after the Chelsea manager made a series of controversial comments about match officials.

Mourinho claimed there is a "clear campaign by "people, pundits, commentators and coaches from other teams" against Chelsea and labelled the booking of Cesc Fabregas for diving in a 1-1 draw at Southampton on December 28 as a "scandal".

"It is alleged his remarks constitute improper conduct in that they allege and/or imply bias on the part of a referee or referees and/or bring the game into disrepute," a statement issued by the FA read.

Mourinho, who does not view officials as being part of any campaign against Chelsea but fears they may have been influenced by it, has until 1800 GMT on January 13 to respond to the charge.

Chelsea had been at the centre of a debate over diving when Mourinho made the comments.

Diego Costa and Willian were booked for simulation against Hull on December 13, prompting Steve Bruce to describe a Gary Cahill dive as being "like something out of Swan Lake".

The west London club faced renewed scrutiny on Boxing Day when Branislav Ivanovic appeared to take a tumble against West Ham, the type of incident Mourinho believes is being unjustly scrutinised to Chelsea's detriment.

Asked if recent incidents involving Cahill and Ivanovic had been influential, Mourinho said: "Of course. That's a campaign, that's a clear campaign.

"People, pundits, commentators, coaches from other teams - they react with Chelsea in a way they don't react to other teams.

"They put lots of pressure on the referee and the referee makes a mistake like this."

The FA also reviewed comments made by Mourinho on December 19, three days before the victory in Stoke, in which he spoke about the need for a "good, experienced referee". Neil Swarbrick oversaw the match.

"Having sought Mourinho's observations on this matter, the FA has decided not to bring a disciplinary charge and has instead issued a formal warning," the FA statement read.

"The FA prohibit participants from making any pre-match media comments including comments of a positive nature concerning the appointed match officials for a particular fixture."

College Football Playoff wants to be ubiquitous sports brand.

By RALPH D. RUSSO (AP College Football Writer)

College Football Playoff Executive Director Bill Hancock poses with the College Football Playoff National Championship Trophy in Irving, Texas.The College Football Playoff is a blank slate and those who created it have tried to steer clear of clutter in the hope of creating the next ubiquitous sports brand. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)

The Super Bowl did not start as the Super Bowl. The NCAA men's basketball tournament eventually came to be known as March Madness, and its semifinals as the Final Four. Now, even the most casual sports fans know exactly what they are.

The College Football Playoff is a blank slate and those who created it have tried to steer clear of clutter in the hope of creating the next ubiquitous sports brand.

''We did want a simple and descriptive name rather than a cutesy name,'' said Bill Hancock, the executive director of the College Football Playoff. ''We did know that (the brand) would grow organically.''

When the name of college football's first playoff at the sport's highest level was unveiled in 2013, it seemed a little too simple to some people.

One tweet aimed at the event's executive director by sports writer Mike Finger of the San Antonio Express-News and Houston Chronicle summed up the reaction: ''I bet Bill Hancock's dog is named Dog.''

Jokes aside, the plan was smart, said Joe Favorito, a veteran sports media consultant and professor at Columbia University.

''You don't want to create something that's artificial when you don't have to,'' he said.

Favorito said a name can limit a brand's long-term value, especially when it comes to the possibility of having a title sponsor.

''In the world we live in now, it's much easier to take your time and find if there is a brand that can be ingrained into the name ... as opposed to putting something else on it,'' Favorito said. ''Once you put something else on it, and call it the College Super Bowl or something along those lines, it immediately loses brand value. If I'm them, I would keep it as vanilla as possible and see if a brand comes along in a few years that is at the right price point.''

Favorito said the stadium where the first College Football Playoff national championship game will be played Monday night between Oregon and Ohio State is a good example of how patience can pay off when it comes to title sponsors and branding.

AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, opened in 2009 as Dallas Cowboys Stadium and not until 2013 did Cowboys owner Jerry Jones sell the naming rights for a reported $17 to $19 million per year, though the terms of the deal have never been made public.

AT&T is the presenting sponsor of Monday's game, not the title sponsor, which means the company name comes after rather before the name of the game.

Ultimately, College Football Playoff might just be a placeholder. What we now know as the Super Bowl was called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game until a sports writer came up with the catchier name and it stuck. The names Final Four and March Madness also originated from coverage of the NCAA basketball tournament and were so good that organizers latched on to them and made them their own.

The conference commissioners who put together the four-team playoff to replace the Bowl Championship Series, which was designed to create a No. 1 vs. No. 2 national championship game, hired Premier Sports Management in Overland Park, Kansas, to help name the new system.

Their instructions: Stay away from the words 'final' and 'four' and the letters B, C, and S.

The legacy of the BCS will always be a strange one. In some ways it helped popularize college football and make it more of a national sport, but many fans grew to despise the BCS during its 16-year run and view it as an obstacle to something bigger and better.

''We explored the possibility of changing the name of the BCS and people in the branding world said 'Don't you even consider doing that,''' said Hancock, who was BCS executive director from 2009-13. ''Because the brand was so well-known.
 

Although it wasn't extremely popular, they said 'Do not change it.' That brand has a great identity.''

Along with a new name came a new trophy and logo. The BCS seems long gone, but the CFP is still working with the bowls. Under the BCS the bowls had a hard time maintaining their identity. The system was confusing, and that hurts a brand, Favorito said.

The early returns from the first College Football Playoff look promising for the six bowls that will take turns hosting semifinals over the next 12 years. Last week's semifinals were played in the Sugar Bowl and Rose Bowl in their traditional New Year's Day time slots and those brands were prominently on display.

''Having the rose (logo) at midfield was huge and working it out with the CFP and with ESPN was a very high priority for us,'' said Rose Bowl CEO Kevin Ash, whose game matched Oregon and Florida State.

Sugar Bowl CEO Paul Hoolahan said the Ohio State-Alabama game in New Orleans ''was indistinguishable from any Sugar Bowl.''

The games drew massive television audiences for ESPN, with Ohio State-Alabama setting a cable record for viewers with 28.271 million.

The College Football Playoff has elements of both the Super Bowl (it's football) and the Final Four (it's got a bracket). Hancock said that while there will never be another brand like the Super Bowl, college football's championship can create a brand with the best elements of those two sporting events that transcend sports.

''We don't want to be the corporate event the Super Bowl has become,'' Hancock said, ''but we darn sure want there to be CFP championship game parties in small towns all over this country and I think that'll happen.''

So what will the playoff ultimately be called?

Stay tuned.

When asked about Brian Schottenheimer, Steve Spurrier is wonderfully Spurrier.

By Nick Bromberg

New Georgia offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer played under Steve Spurrier when the South Carolina coach was a coach at Florida.

So after news of Schottenheimer's hire spread on Wednesday, the Macon Telegraph reached out to Spurrier and ask the ol' head ball coach what he thought of his former quarterback moving from the same position with the St. Louis Rams to the Georgia Bulldogs.

Spurrier did not disappoint.

From the Telegraph: 

“He’s been an NFL coach. I don’t know why he went to college,” Spurrier said. “Maybe he wanted to go back to college, or maybe it was just a good opportunity for him. That’s an excellent opportunity for any coach. Georgia always has a whole bunch of good players. They probably have been the most consistent team in the East. Well, maybe they haven’t, heck we’ve beat them four out of five years, but overall they have probably been one of the best teams on the Eastern side.” 

Vintage. And you know, maybe Georgia will be the fun team to poke for Spurrier now that Clemson beat the Gamecocks in November. Mentioning five straight wins just doesn't have the cachet it once did after a 35-7 loss.

 

Before being the Rams offensive coordinator, Schottenheimer was the New York Jets offensive coordinator and a QB coach for the San Diego Chargers and Washington Redskins.

NCAA Basketball: How undersized Dayton is winning with all perimeter players.

Jeff Eisenberg

Hours after dismissing the only two scholarship big men on his roster last month because they were caught stealing items from on-campus dorm rooms, Dayton coach Archie Miller called a team meeting to address the rest of his players.

Miller acknowledged doubters would probably discount the Flyers since they no longer had a single player taller than 6-foot-6. Then he urged his team to prove the skeptics wrong and show that size isn't everything. 
 

"A lot of people wanted to bury us right away or to predict a significant drop-off," Miller said. "I challenged each individual player in that team meeting to understand very clearly what the expectation is here and to do what they needed to do to make up for what we lost."
 

Dayton has embraced Miller's no excuses philosophy so far by not allowing its size disadvantage to derail a promising season. The Flyers are 4-0 since jettisoning starting center Devon Scott and top backup Jalen Robinson, sandwiching routs of Boston University and Duquesne around impressive home wins against Ole Miss and Georgia Tech.
 

Those four wins have restored optimism that Dayton (11-2) can reach the NCAA tournament for a second straight season despite having to reinvent itself on the fly. Whereas last year's Flyers advanced all the way to the Elite Eight playing a 11-man rotation featuring four players 6-foot-9 or taller, this year's team goes only six or seven deep and doesn't have a single player with frontcourt experience.
 

"It helps that all the guys they're playing at 6-foot-6 and under are really good," Duquesne coach Jim Ferry said. "It almost feels like they're playing five guards at once. They're playing extremely fast, extremely unselfish and it wasn't just our game when I noticed that. In watching tape leading up to it, they were one of the best teams I've seen all year, and that's including games I've just watched on television.
 

The secret to Dayton's success the past few weeks has been finding ways to exploit its quickness advantage on offense without getting pummeled in the paint or on the glass defensively.
 

When opponents have played man-to-man, Miller has taken advantage of Dayton's superior speed by spreading the floor, identifying the most favorable mismatch and attacking off the dribble. When opponents have gone zone to prevent those mismatches, Miller has a handful of skilled wings he can play in the high post who are capable of either shooting, driving or distributing. The Flyers coach has also encouraged his team to look for transition opportunities whenever possible since their guards are often able to outrun opposing big men down court.
 

Kendall Pollard, a 6-foot-6 wing who replaced Scott in the starting lineup, has averaged 12.8 points and 6.5 rebounds the past four games. Dyshawn Pierre, another 6-foot-6 wing now forced to match up with power forwards and centers, has averaged 14.8 points and 7.3 rebounds during that same stretch.
 

"With them losing their two big guys, in my opinion they've become that much better offensively," said St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt, whose team hosts Dayton on Thursday. "They're a mismatch with Pierre and Pollard taking guys off the dribble, spacing you out and the way they run the court in transition. ... They may be outsized but they play really hard and that overcomes whatever size limitations they have."
 

A lack of depth may eventually catch up with Dayton, but for right now Miller believes his seven-man rotation is fostering good team chemistry. Each of the remaining Flyers are happy with their playing time and are consistently making the extra pass, a philosophy that has helped them shoot 50 percent from the field and 44.8 percent from behind the arc the past four games.
 

Where being at a size disadvantage is the greatest challenge for Dayton is defensively and on the glass. The Flyers have surrendered 39 offensive rebounds in their last three games and have yielded some double-digit scoring nights to opposing big men even though they haven't faced any truly formidable frontcourt players since the dismissal of Scott and Robinson.
 

Those figure to be recurring problems for Dayton even in a guard-oriented league like the Atlantic 10. Pierre and Pollard are still typically matched against players up to five or six inches taller and 40-50 pounds heavier than them, meaning they both have to work very hard to defend the post and hold their own on the offensive glass.
 

"We've really challenged those two guys to not worry about who they're guarding and just be defenders," Miller said. "There are teams out there that play in the NCAA tournament every year with smaller players that just scrap, battle and are nasty.
 

That's what we're trying to do with our team right now. How scrappy can we be? How nasty can we be? We are going to get whacked a little bit on the glass every now and then, but our guys have taken on the challenge."

It's still a little too soon since the dismissals of Scott and Robinson to give an accurate assessment of how good Dayton can be, but early indications are the undersized Flyers shouldn't be dismissed as an Atlantic 10 contender.
 

At the very least, they've taken Miller's message in last month's team meeting to heart and haven't lowered their expectations for this season whatsoever.
 

"I'm not sure surprised is the word I'd use but I'm definitely proud," Miller said. "I'm proud of the way they've handled adversity. They have not budged. They have not moved. To be quite honest with you, they've stuck their chests out a little bit and they keep coming."

The unlikely story of a long-snapping Green Beret with an NFL dream.

By Dan Wetzel
                                                           

Nate Boyer learned how to long snap by watching YouTube videos. (Photo/Getty)

Nate Boyer – Green Beret, Texas Longhorn football player, NFL's most improbable prospect – had just finished fixing a sat-com radio in the rear of an M-ATV, light-armored, mine-resistant vehicle. Now he was scrambling to get back to the relative safety of its cabin.

This was July 2014. This was on a thin ribbon of road on the edge of Tagab, a small village in the Kapisa Province of Afghanistan.

This was war.
 

Boyer was part of the U.S. Army's 3rd Special Forces Group, which he linked up with as a sort-of summer job, leaving major college football where he was Texas' starting long snapper for the field of battle, only to return to the States, and his team, on the eve of preseason camp.
 

His military experience featured missions and days like these: a dozen Americans and 100 Afghan soldiers they'd helped train, running a sweep for Taliban through a collection of mud huts not far from the Pakistani border.
 

Here's one mission that stood out: Boyer's convoy of maybe 25 vehicles had come under gun and mortar fire as it approached a town. Chaos ruled the day. The group was left scanning for muzzle flashes in order to target and return fire. Providing cover for medics charging into dirt fields to aid the injured. Trying to gain perspective amid clouds of smoke, courtesy of something burning behind the village walls. This is what Boyer was long used to, battle hardened via years of deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was 33 years old and long past panicking.
 

On his return from fixing the radio in the back of the vehicle Boyer felt a buzz whiz by his ear, followed immediately by the unmistakable crack of a bullet slamming into the side of an armored vehicle, just inches from his head.

"Sniper fire," Boyer said. "Pretty accurate sniper fire."

He quickly sought cover back behind the rear of the vehicle, where a M240 Bravo machine gun, with a small "chicken plate" that could provide marginal protection in a firefight, waited.

He spent the rest of the afternoon there, firing back at the snipers, hunkering down when AC-130 gunships swept over ahead providing close air support. Mostly he offered assistance for various movements as the Afghan soldiers he'd come to consider brothers, engaged in one of the routine, anonymous, no longer publicized battles for a country.

"Big fight," he said of that afternoon. "Pretty chaotic."

Less than two weeks later, as July turned to August and the football season beckoned back home, he once again turned in his combat helmet, climbed on a commercial flight from Kabul, Afghanistan, connected through Dubai, then Washington, then Atlanta before finally landing in Austin.

The next day he reported for his senior season with the Longhorns.

They issued him a different kind of helmet and pads.

For Nate Boyer, the enduring memory from that day was not that a bullet fired with the sole intention of ending his life came so close to succeeding. Nor was it all the bullets with similar intent he sent back.

This may have been the last time before returning to college football that he was nearly killed but it was hardly the first. Back in 2008, working out of Najaf, Iraq, just days into his first run with the 10th Special Forces Group, an IED took out the vehicle directly in front of his.

As Boyer scrambled in the aftermath to provide security, he smelled what he thought was burning chicken from a barbecue only to see a medic scraping ash off the charred torso of an American soldier.

"First week," he said. "I thought, 'OK, this is real.' "

Near-death experiences were part of the job. So what really resonated with him six years and another theater of war later was when the Afghan captain of that mission took shrapnel to his throat and, despite the efforts of American medics, bled out and died.

Boyer, like the Afghans, had grown to respect and love the captain while training, planning and fighting by his side. He was an honest, dutiful man.

"A great guy," Boyer said. "A strong leader. They all loved him."

The U.S. sent a medevac to take the warrior's body away. As it lifted off, stirring up clouds of dirt in an active battlefield, one Afghan soldier, overcome with grief, ran out, dropped to his knees, looked up toward the helicopter and wept at the demoralizing loss while dust whipped in circles around him.

"One of the most powerful images I ever saw," Boyer said. "That was his leader. Even with the amount of death and loss they experience, even as little as they have there, it really is moving to see how much this means to them, to fight for control of their country.

"They build brotherhoods too."

People join the military for any number of reasons. To see those brotherhoods, to aid those brotherhoods, is why Boyer did.

A decade prior Boyer was drifting through early adulthood. He grew up the son of a veterinarian father and a Ph.D., and environmental engineer mother in the affluent suburbs of San Francisco. He eschewed college, however, because he didn't have direction. He was smart and tested well, but his grades were poor. He barely tried. He found himself repeatedly in trouble. He wasn't good at following the path, any path.

So he worked as a deck hand on a sport fishing boat in San Diego for a while. He trained to be a firefighter before changing his mind. He went to Hollywood and took a shot at acting. He appeared in just one television commercial, for Greyhound.

One day in 2004, moved by a Time magazine account on the horrific genocide in the Darfur region of the Sudan, he decided to go help. He couldn't find a relief organization that would take him though. He had no credentials and those groups have seen too many well meaning people show up amid the suffering, the depravity and the hardship and just quit, begging to fly home.

Undeterred, Boyer decided to go uninvited, assuming someone wouldn't turn him away if he was actually, physically there. He flew to N'Djamena, Chad, which borders the Sudan, and somehow talked his way onto a United Nation's flight that eventually led him to the sprawling Tulum refugee camp.

The Catholic Relief Services put him to work. There, in one of the worst situations on the planet, fleeing into a region everyone else was fleeing out of, Nate Boyer's life changed forever.

"So oppressed it's unbelievable," he said. "You're spending time with orphaned kids. Their fathers are off fighting or already killed. Their mothers have all been raped. I can't even imagine some of it.

"Helping people in a developing country like that, seeing all the things they don't have that we all take for granted," he continued. "I didn't do anything to earn that, I was just born an American. I felt a responsibility to help those that didn't have that choice, that didn't have any choice."

He could have joined up full-time as a relief worker and approached the problem that way. He could have come back to the States and tried to raise money. He could have done a lot of things.

Instead, a high school interest in the military was rekindled. The core of the problem, the most pressing issue he felt, was the need to win the war. It was the war that caused the refugees, the murder, the rape, the hopeless orphans. He was a young man. He could fight.

A week after returning to the States, he enlisted in the Army with the purpose of joining the elite Special Forces.

"It's unconventional warfare," he said of the Special Forces' unique purpose. "We go link up with the indigenous people, we work with them, we train them, we do everything with them and then we go fight with them. That was more appealing to me than just joining the Army.

"I read a lot about it. I wanted to be really hands-on and I wanted to be with those people and understand what was going on, not just politically. What can I do to actually help them?

"Every deployment I ever went on there are struggles and frustrations and you think, 'What am I doing out here, what are we trying to accomplish?' But at the end of the day when you look back on the people you work with, the relationships you build, they become your brothers in arms too, even though they are from another country.

"Big picture-wise, politically, I don't know anything about that," he continued. "I am not a political person. I can't stand politicians for the most part. But I know what we do when we are there as far as the Special Forces go. There is nothing like that, fighting for each other ...

"It's as human as it gets."

On This Date in Sports History: Today is Friday, January 9, 2015.

Memoriesofhistory.com

1918 - The NHL announced a new rule that permitted goaltenders to leave their feet while making a save. Previously a penalty was called if a goalie sat or lay on the ice to stop the puck.

1930 - The Boston Bruins set an NHL record with 14 straight wins.

1952 - Jackie Robinson became the highest paid player in Brooklyn Dodger history.

1954 - Bert Olmstead (Montreal Canadiens) tied an NHL record when he scored 8 points in a game.

1962 - The NFL banned the grabbing of face masks.

1972 - The Los Angeles Lakers ended their 33 game winning streak.

1972 - The 2,000,0000th NBA point was scored.

1973 - The Philadelphia 76ers began a 20 game losing streak.

1977 - Super Bowl XI set a pro attendance record with 103,438. The NBC telecast was viewed by 81.9 million.

1981 - Hockey Hall of Famer, Phil Esposito, announced that he would retire as a hockey player after the New York Rangers-Buffalo Sabres hockey game. The game ended in a tie.

1984 - Pascual Perez (Atlanta Braves) was arrested for cocaine possession in his native Dominican Republic.

1991 - A special committee of Major League Baseball authorities officially banned Pete Rose from being elected into the Hall of Fame.

1997 - Former Los Angeles Kings owner Bruce McNall was sentenced to five years, 10 months in prison and ordered to repay five-million dollars after being convicted more than two years ago on bank fraud and conspiracy charges.

1998 - The "Hockey News" magazine selected Wayne Gretzky as the best NHL player ever.

2004 - Brian Boucher (Phoenix Coyotes) set a new NHL record with his fifth consecutive shutout. The total time of the streak was 325 minutes and 45 seconds.

2005 - Randy Moss (Minnesota Vikings) pretended to pull down his pants and moon the Green Bay Packer crowd during a playoff win. On January 13 the NFL fined Moss $10,000 for the act.

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