CS&T/AllsportsAmerica Monday Sports News Update, 02/09/2015.

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Sports Quote of the Day:

"Happiness does not come from doing easy work but from the afterglow of satisfaction that comes after the achievement of a difficult task that demanded our best.” ~ Theodore Isaac Rubin, Psychiatrist and Author 

Trending: This weekend we lost to great sports icons, Dean Smith, NCAA Basketball Coach from the University of North Carolina and Billy Casper, Prolific PGA Tour Winner. Their goals were to develop and promote the ideals of responsibility, hard work, sportsmanship, teamwork and fellowship within a safe and positive environment and to become role models by demonstrating the spirit of competition, discipline and fair play. They strived to make sure that everyone they touched, participants, parents and fans enjoyed a positive experience. They will both be tremendously missed. See further update information in the Golf and College Basketball sections below.

How 'bout them Chicago Blackhawks? Coyotes-Blackhawks Preview.

By TOM CASTRO (STATS Senior Editor)

   Vs.  

The Chicago Blackhawks appear to have put their recent struggles behind them with a convincing end to their Frozen on Ice road trip.

Playing their first home game since facing Arizona on Jan. 20, the Blackhawks open an eight-game homestand that will keep them at the United Center for more than two weeks when they again welcome the Coyotes on Monday night.

Chicago (33-18-2) won two straight to close its seven-game trek, the last six of which came as a result of Disney's Frozen on Ice occupying the United Center. The Blackhawks, who also played at Pittsburgh in their final game before the All-Star break Jan. 21, had dropped three of four prior to the last two victories but went 4-3-0 on the road stretch.

''I don't think I've ever been on any team that had eight straight home games,'' coach Joel Quenneville said. ''It should be fun.''

Sunday's opponent only added to the positive feelings, as Marian Hossa's power-play goal broke a third-period tie before he added an empty-netter in a 4-2 victory over St. Louis. Chicago, which was hardly in a hostile arena with thousands of red-clad Blackhawks fans in the crowd, pulled to within four points of the Blues for the second playoff berth in the Central Division.

''When you come to this building, it always feels like playoffs,'' Hossa said. ''We have lots of fans so they make it a great atmosphere for us.

''It's a big rivalry and a huge two points.''

Five of the seven opponents on this upcoming homestand are from the Eastern Conference, against which Chicago is 11-5-1 on the season and 6-1-0 at the United Center.

The Blackhawks also didn't have much trouble against the Coyotes (19-27-7) in the first meeting of the season Jan. 20, with the home team cruising to a 6-1 victory after recording 51 shots and outshooting Arizona 20-9 in the first period. Andrew Shaw scored twice and Patrick Kane had a goal and assist for the Blackhawks, who also got 35 saves from backup Antti Raanta.

The Blackhawks have scored at least five goals five times during a 5-1-1 stretch in the series, although the Coyotes took the latest meeting in Chicago 2-0 last Feb. 7 behind Mike Smith's 30 saves.

Smith, also in net Jan. 20, stopped 23 shots Saturday but Arizona managed one goal for the second straight game and lost 3-1 to Detroit to give it back-to-back defeats. Smith has allowed two or fewer goals in four of his last five starts.

Defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson's 16th goal, his fourth in six games, allowed Arizona to avoid being shut out for the eighth time this season, but Martin Erat missed a penalty shot midway through the third period that would have tied it at 1.

"We played good and everyone battled hard, but it's hard to be happy about that right now," Ekman-Larsson told the team's official website. "We created a lot of power-play chances but they didn't go in for us. We just need to keep working hard and playing that way."

Chicago didn't score much during its road swing, totaling 15 non-shootout goals in the seven games. Jonathan Toews has two goals in his last 19 games, while Patrick Sharp has one in 12.

Corey Crawford, however, has helped the Blackhawks overcome that by going 3-1-0 with a 1.73 goals-against average in his last four, and he's expected to start opposite Smith on Monday.

Smith has posted a 4.16 GAA in his last seven starts in this series.

Hossa gets go-ahead goal, Blackhawks edge Blues 4-2.

By R.B. FALLSTROM (AP Sports Writer)

A little more than a minute into the critical power play, the Chicago Blackhawks dispensed with setting up shop on offense and went for the quick hit.

Marian Hossa made it count on a one-timer from the slot midway through the third period for the go-ahead goal in a 4-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Sunday.
 

''I just tried to finish it,'' Hossa said. ''That was a set play and I'm glad it worked.'' 

Hossa clinched it with an empty-netter for the Blackhawks, who regained their footing at the end of a 4-3 trip with victories over St. Louis and Winnipeg the last three days. Now, they'll be settling in for eight in a row at home that begins against the Coyotes on Monday night.
 

''I don't think I've ever been on any team that had eight straight home games,'' coach Joel Quenneville said. ''It should be fun.''
 

Bryan Bickell had a goal and assisted on the go-ahead score for Chicago, which also got a goal from Marcus Kruger.  

''I thought it was a pretty good effort all the way around,'' defenseman Duncan Keith said. ''Obviously, they've got a lot of hard-working players, and it's a tough game every time we play these guys.''

Vladimir Tarasenko and David Backes had a goal apiece for St. Louis, which never led and has lost two straight since a franchise-record 13-game point streak. The Blues are 20-5-2 at home.
 

''I thought in the third period we looked tired,'' coach Ken Hitchcock said. ''I think a lot of it was us having to come back. The whole game we had to mount a comeback.''

But the showing was a big improvement from the last game, a 7-1 loss at Columbus on Friday.

''We looked like our old selves again,'' Elliott said. ''I thought we stuck to our guns and really wanted to do the little things right for each other.''

Standing room attendance of 19,657 was the Blues' 11th sellout and included thousands of red-clad Blackhawks fans.

''When you come to this building, it always feels like playoffs,'' Hossa said. ''We have lots of fans so they make it a great atmosphere for us.

''It's a big rivalry and a huge two points.''

Hossa's 11th and 12th goals were his first points in six games. Jay Bouwmeester was off for hooking, preventing a breakaway by Brad Richards, when Hossa whistled a shot past Elliott at 11:19 for a 3-2 lead.

There were only five penalties overall, with the Blackhawks getting two power plays and the Blues one.

Tarasenko tied it at 2 on a breakaway early in the second, getting Corey Crawford to commit with a couple of forehand fakes and then slipping the puck into the net for his team-leading 28th goal and fourth in five games.

The Blackhawks briefly led 2-1 after Bickell pounced on a rebound in the slot and beat Elliott at 11:25 of the second. The Blues answered 1:28 later when Backes scored his 18th goal on a rebound while Crawford was occupied by a fallen T.J. Oshie in the crease.

Kruger's fifth goal on a 2-on-1 break opened the scoring at 4:38 of the first. It was his first point in 20 games and first goal in 28 games since Dec. 3 against the Blues at home.

Notes: Daniel Carcillo earned his 100th career assist on Kruger's goal. ... Tarasenko has four goals in five games. ... Blues coach Ken Hitchcock has 691 career wins and needs one to tie Dick Irwin for fourth on the career list. ... The Blackhawks lead the season series 2-1. ... Crawford is 12-2-0-3 against St. Louis. ... Blues F Paul Stastny was just 6-13 on faceoffs.

Blackhawks salute Joel Quenneville's latest milestone.

By Tracey Myers

Marcus Kruger didn’t have a lot of penalty killing experience when coach Joel Quenneville approached him about it entering the lockout-laden 2012-13 season.

It was a chance for the young Swedish forward to get more playing time, to play a bigger role with the team. It worked, as he and former Blackhawks forward Michael Frolik became a huge part of the team’s top-ranked penalty kill and, ultimately, their second Stanley Cup run.

“He trusted us and gave us a lot of opportunities. We just tried to play the way he wanted us to play and we got better in that area,” Kruger said. “It means a lot getting that confidence and we got a chance. Even if we let in a goal, we got out there again. We gained confidence after that.”

Quenneville’s made a lot of the right decisions these past few years and it has led to a lot of victories; and on Friday night he collected the 300th of his Blackhawks coaching career. Quenneville has now won 300 games or more with two different teams. It’s fitting that he’ll be going for victory No. 301 with the Blackhawks on Sunday against the St. Louis Blues, with whom he won 341 regular- and postseason games as their head coach.

But Quenneville’s thoughts are rarely on his own achievements. That was evident again following the Blackhawks’ 2-1 overtime victory over the Winnipeg Jets that gave him the latest milestone. Still, he’s grateful for where he’s been and, especially, for where he is now.

“Fortunate,” he said. “Very fortunate to have had great players and working with great players as well. It’s been a fun process and I’m definitely enjoying it.”

Yes, Quenneville’s been blessed with a fantastic roster the last few years, one that includes some of the NHL’s best forwards and defensemen. Still, not all line and defensive combinations work. It’s about figuring out who plays best with whom – the “line blender,” as we’ve come to call it – and whose talent is best played out where.

There are some ideas that didn’t work out well – please see the Patrick Kane or Brandon Saad experiments at center. But his dice rolls have worked more often than not, hence the great records and two Stanley Cups.

“He has a great feel for the game and his players. He tries to put us in the best positions as individuals to help the team and succeed,” Patrick Sharp said. “Not a lot has changed. He still has the same passion, same intensity for every game, whether it’s preseason or playoffs and that’s what makes it fun to play for him.”

And when some Blackhawks first started playing for him, they weren’t as surprised by all those line changes as you’d think.

“It’s pretty common,” Sharp said. “[Former Blackhawks coach] Denis Savard had the same philosophy, a lot of shortening the bench, moving players around, changing positions. So nothing out of the ordinary.”

The job has its tough decisions, too. If a player has a bad shift, especially one on which a goal is allowed, that player sometimes sits. Defenseman David Rundblad experienced that on Friday night. Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook Andrew Shaw, they’ve all sat a shift or several if Quenneville wasn’t happy with their play. Bryan Bickell, who was a healthy scratch several times last season when he was struggling, said Quenneville talks with players about it all.

“There’s more talk during the good than the bad but over the courses of any career you have ups and downs. He can get the best of you and help you get through the worst,” Bickell said. “He’s helped me through my career and I’m just having a blast playing for him.”

Someday, Quenneville will look back on all of his coaching accomplishments, all the victories and those Cups. Right now, however, it will have to wait. He’s a bit busy.

“At the end of the day I’m just enjoying it while we can right now. Things happen quickly in our business and change quickly as well,” he said. “I’m sure there’ll be plenty of time at the end to recapture and look back. Right now you’re only thinking and focusing on what’s ahead of you and that’s trying to win tomorrow.”

Brandon Saad nets game-winner in OT as Blackhawks outlast Jets. (Friday night's game, 02/06/2015).

By Tracey Myers

The cheer was expected from the Blackhawks bench as Patrick Kane scored his second-period goal. There were probably some exhales, too, given that was the team’s first score in more than two games.

And with about two minutes remaining in overtime, the Blackhawks were probably doing a little of both.

Kane scored the tying goal at the time and Brandon Saad had the game-winner in overtime as the Blackhawks beat the Winnipeg Jets 2-1 on Friday night. It was the Blackhawks’ second victory on this Ice Show trip. It was also their first victory this season over the Jets, who beat them all three times in Chicago. The Blackhawks, who wrap up the trip in St. Louis on Sunday, remain in third place in the Central Division.

Corey Crawford looked good in stopping 20 of 21 shots for the victory. 

There was a bit of tension entering this one for the Blackhawks. Not only were they facing a Jets team that’s frustrated them all season but they were also blanked in their previous two contests against Minnesota and San Jose. This one didn’t start off so well, either, with Mark Scheifele giving the Jets a 1-0 lead about four minutes into the game.

Then, the Blackhawks broke their scoring drought. Patrick Kane took a Brad Richards pass, broke free and backhanded one past Michael Hutchinson to tie it 1-1. The goal ended the Blackhawks’ goal-less skid at 149 minutes, 25 seconds.

“There weren’t too many chances each way,” Kane said. “You obviously saw the shot totals and it was a pretty physical game. It was tough to generate. We were OK [down] 1-0 coming in after the first and thought we could play better. But it was nice to get that first one, especially when you haven’t scored in a couple of games.”

There was, indeed, a sense of relief on the bench.

“Nice play all around, nice finish,” said Joel Quenneville, who earned his 300th victory behind the Blackhawks’ bench tonight. “Kaner was dangerous. He made several plays tonight that are characteristic of how he’s been all year; very dangerous. But certainly when you start thinking of not scoring after seven periods, we’re on the road in a tough building and we haven’t had success scoring against this team all year, it was much needed.”

Still, getting another one wasn’t easy. The Jets match up well vs. the Blackhawks and once again didn’t allow many good opportunities. Crawford was strong on the other end, denying the Jets including former Blackhawk Dustin Byfuglien, who seemed to be at or near the goal line all night.

“That’s what we’ve come to expect from him,” Kane said of Crawford. “He’s a great goaltender, top-notch in the league and we’re lucky to have him.”

The Blackhawks talked of exacting some revenge on the Jets for all those victories in Chicago. In overtime they got it, as Saad scored on Kane’s rebound with 1:59 remaining in the extra session.

“I had the puck and Kaner was yelling through the middle, so I gave it to him,” Saad said. “He used his speed around the net and I don’t know if he threw it in front or tried to wrap it. Either way the puck found a way to me right in front and it was an easy tap-in.”

“Easy” hasn’t described the Blackhawks recently when it comes to scoring. They knew this one vs. the Jets was going to be a tough one and that they’d have to scrape for every inch, shot and goal. They finally bested Winnipeg this season. They could celebrate that and exhale with the return of goals.

“I wasn’t choosy on who the team was but certainly we were looking for the win,” Quenneville said. “And against a team we had a hard time with all year, it was certainly nice to win.”

Should a goalie ever win the Hart Trophy? (Trending Topics)

By Ryan Lambert

It's getting to that point in the season when awards are being discussed more and more heavily. With fewer than 30 games left on the schedule for most teams, now seems as good a time as any. 

Most people have pretty much already decided on who's going to get what awards in their minds. Giordano for Norris, Rinne for Vezina, etc. A few are still up in the air though, including the most important — or rather “Most Valuable” — one: The Hart.

The concept of who deserves to win the Hart Trophy has always been a weird one. It is, generally, treated in the way that the Norris or Vezina is: An award granted to the best forward in the league. And typically, “best” means “highest-scoring.” Which is fine. Scoring the most points is generally the best way to provide the most value to your team. Not always, but usually.

The last time a non-forward won it was 2002, when Jose Theodore took home both this award and the Vezina as the best goaltender in the league, whose .931 save percentage basically dragged a mediocre Habs team screaming into the playoffs.

Chris Pronger won it three years earlier, and Dominik Hasek took it home twice in 1997 and '98. Before that, you have to go all the way back to Bobby Orr to find a non-forward who wins this award. Orr won it three times running, the last of which came in 1972.

So yeah, seven Harts out of 44 since 1970 have gone to non-forwards, and it was only an even remotely frequent event prior to the conclusion of World War II (defensemen and goaltenders won 10 of the first 21 Harts awarded). This is rather safely a forwards' award.

Now the question of whether that's right or fair is a different matter entirely, and one that's once again rearing its head because, as with Theodore 13 years ago, it's looking like a Montreal netminder is probably going to win this award.

And it's hard to argue that Carey Price hasn't been the guy most valuable to his team this season. The Habs are a mess. Like most teams coached by Michel Therrien, they have the puck less often than their opponents (48.6 percent in score-adjusted corsi, 22nd in the league entering last night's games), and they allow the sixth-most shot attempts per 60 minutes at even strength in the league.

 

Their offense is solidly middle of the pack in terms of goalscoring at evens, and worse than that on the power play. They don't have much in the way of depth up front, and they're using Sergei Gonchar's ghost as a top-four defenseman.

This is a team with a lot of problems, and all of them are solved by Price.

His save percentage is second in the league at 5-on-5, checking in at a ludicrously high .941 (Rinne's .944 is better but he's played fewer games). When Montreal is killing a penalty, Price has been there too, with a fifth-among-starters .887. And given how bad the rest of the Habs generally are, his work is unassailably spectacular in all the ways you'd expect it to be from a franchise netminder. Only eight goaltenders have appeared in more games, and only seven have played more minutes.

The Habs lean on him heavily, and to great effect. As of this writing, the Canadiens are second in their conference, just two points back of that exceptional Tampa team, and with two games in hand. Their 32 wins is tied for second in the league, as well.

Let's put it another way: Given how much rubber Price is seeing — fifth in shots faced at 1,198 prior to last night's games— and the fact that only one other player in the league is north of .930, we can safely assume that just about any other goalie on the planet would look so much worse behind this exact same team. 

For instance, the league-average save percentage this year is .913, down a single thousandth of a point. If Carey Price were merely league-average, he would have allowed an additional 22 goals this season. Given that we also know that roughly even three goals or so of differential equals one point in the standings, we can safely say Price has saved his team roughly seven points above an average netminder playing the same minutes. Losing seven points would have them out of the playoffs in the East right now, rather than the two-seed.

And so people are understandably banging the drum for Price to win the Hart. Again, it makes total sense. No single outfield player is going to have that kind of impact for their club; they don't play enough minutes and they neither save nor score enough goals to make up seven points in the standings.

If you want to get bogged down in trying to figure out point shares, by all means go for it, but know this: 1) It's extremely rare for someone who is not a goaltender to lead the league in this category; only Alex Ovechkin has done it in the salary cap era, and 2) it's not a particularly well-put-together stat yet. 

 

Unlike WAR in baseball, where you can basically quantify everything a player contributes into a single number — which you can then, in theory, use to determine who is the most valuable player in the league with relative ease — no such statistic in hockey exists yet. But even more so than a starting pitcher in baseball, who delivers immense value even when he only plays every fifth day, a starting goaltender — and particularly an elite one like Price — is very likely to play as much 75-80 percent of your season.

Let's say there's a hypothetical forward who can put up assist numbers like Crosby, score goals like Ovechkin, and defend like Bergeron. That's about 50 goals and 70 assists for every 82 games he plays, based on career averages, but also getting nails-tough zone starts against the best competition in the game. And he would have done so despite being by far the best forward on the planet, approaching Gretzky/Lemieux levels of dominance relative to his peers.

Likewise, suppose there's a theoretical defenseman who eats minutes like Ryan Suter, puts up possession numbers like Zdeno Chara, scores like Erik Karlsson, and defends like Mark Giordano (actually, that's just describing Nicklas Lidstrom, but I digress). He'd rightly be seen as the overwhelming Norris winner in any year he can do that.

Most seasons, that forward's points share would probably surpass those of the best goalies in the league. That defenseman might finish fifth or so in point shares. Again, it's not a perfect stat, but that's illustrative of just how good you'd have to be as a skater to even get consideration in terms of value delivered to your team via individual contribution to goal differential.

Part of the reason for that is they don't play nearly as many minutes. Even the most-used defenseman in the league only plays 30 minutes a night or so, and forwards might sometimes check in around 25 for the season. Goalies play the full 60. But also, goaltending is the ultimate arbiter of whether a team is or isn't good. The Jets have missed the playoffs for years, despite being of roughly that quality, because they relied on a poor goaltender who cost them more games than he won them. You hear all the time that goalies can “steal games,” and basically every night, Price is doing just that.

But the issue is that if you start awarding goalies like Price the Hart because they are putting up big numbers, then the Hart should go to a goalie every year. Even if you add in the qualification that they need to play for mediocre-or-worse teams, Semyon Varlamov should have won the Hart last season, and Henrik Lundqvist in the lockout year, and Mike Smith in 2012, and Ryan Miller in 2010, and you can basically go on like this for a while. That doesn't necessarily mean the Vezina winner should win it every year, but it's not far off, either.

Put another way: The best goalie in the league is, far more often than not, the most valuable player in the league. This isn't a particularly arguable point. Were trophies awarded with this in mind, it would be the rare forward to break through the monotony of another goaltender Hart win, rather than the other way around. 

And if you want to make the argument that this, then, should really be an award for goalies and then the occasional forward, and almost never a defenseman, then I don't really disagree with you. But the issue is that this isn't nor has it really ever been how the award was given out. In one sense, it shouldn't really take the kind of Herculean effort Price, or Theodore, or Hasek have turned in under relatively modern hockey circumstances to earn a Hart trophy nod. In another, giving them that kind of recognition, while warranted, isn't exactly fair to all the other goalies who might have had even better seasons in the past and didn't merit consideration because their teams would have won plenty of games without them (this is of course the “Tim Thomas” category). 

 What I guess I'm saying is that I view the Vezina largely as the “most valuable goalie” award because putting players and goaltenders in the same category is comparing apples to way more valuable oranges. The Norris should be viewed in the same way for defensemen.

So yes, Carey Price is the most valuable player in the league this year. But great goalies almost always are.

Just Another Chicago Bulls Session…  Bulls pull off late game heroics to top Magic 98-97. 

By Philip Rossman-Reich

Wins have been hard to come by for the Bulls. Nobody seems to know that more lately than this team, which has had just about everything about them questioned of late – from the job security of the head coach to the defensive principles the team hangs its hat on.

 

The only thing that can change that is winning any way you can like Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau and his team did in a 98-97 victory over the Orlando Magic on Sunday.

 

With the Bulls trailing by six points with 32.6 seconds to go, a win seemed almost impossible. Especially after the Magic won a jump ball on the Bulls end of the floor and seemed poised to take the ball to the other end of the court and at least take some time off the clock.

 

Of course, there was always still a way. 

Jimmy Butler picked up his sixth steal of the game and tried to race down the court for an easy dunk but instead drew a clear path foul against Tobias Harris, an inexplicable blunder for a team up six with so little time left.

 

Butler had something else to be surprised about. His Bulls did accomplish that feat, erasing the six-point deficit and in the one-point win behind that 7-0 run in the final 30 seconds of the game.

 

Derrick Rose followed Butler’s two made free throws with a 3-pointer from the top of the key. Rose and Joakim Noah then forced a backcourt violation against Evan Fournier to give them the ball back with a chance.

 

Rose drove down the baseline and missed a short floater long, but had driven enough defensive attention to him to leave Pau Gasol with an easy tip in.

 

“A win is a win, especially with the way that we have been playing,” Rose said. “We’ll take anything. We had the game in the beginning and we let it slip. Thank God we had a window to win tonight.”

 

The Bulls took the victory, whether it was earned or given up by the young Magic, and asserted their dominance in a win, no matter how it had to come. All wins count the same at the end.

 

Rose finished with 10 points on 4-for-14 shooting. None bigger than the three he had in the fourth and the miss that led to the game-winning dunk. Gasol had 25 points and 15 rebounds and Jimmy Butler added 27 points and six steals.

 

The Bulls seemed destined for another disappointing performance after they raced out to a 32-16 lead after the first quarter. The ball moved crisply around the perimeter as Chicago recorded 11 assists on 13 made field goals in the opening frame. The Bulls defense looked its normal suffocating self too with the Magic shooting 27.3 percent from the floor and committing five turnovers for 10 points.

 

Those things would change as the Bulls succumbed to their own turnover issues, and the Magic returned to their mean some and came back in the game. Chicago ended up with 15 turnovers and gave up 47.0 percent shooting to Orlando.

 

“We’re capable of really good things and we have shown that,” Gasol said. “But we’re also capable of bad performance. That is something that we need to address and reflect on and do better.”

 

By the time the fourth quarter rolled around, it was a tight game once again. The Bulls just had to find a way to scratch out a win.

 

At the end of the day, though, this one goes in the win column. That is all the record book will care to show.

 

“The thing is, if you want to be a good team you are going to have to find different ways to win,” Thibodeau said. “That is what I liked about tonight. Down six with 30 seconds, you have to find a way to win and that’s what we did. We had some good fortune, but we made it go our way.”

Bulls back up Thibodeau's words, rout Pelicans 107-72. (Saturday night's game, 02/07/2015).

By Andrew Lopez

Chicago head coach Tom Thibodeau said before Saturday's game he didn’t understand why everyone was talking about his team’s supposed dip defensively.

He rattled off stat after stat – field-goal percentage defense, rebounding, 3-pointers allowed – and the Bulls’ top-six status in each of those categories.

His team then went out and justified everything he said as the Bulls snapped a three-game losing streak in dominating fashion with a 107-72 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center.

Chicago (31-20) held New Orleans to 37.2 percent shooting, just 23.5 (4-of-17) from 3-point range and a season-low 72 points.

“I thought the tone of the game was set at the beginning,” Thibodeau said. “I thought Kirk Hinrich was terrific. I thought Joakim Noah was a real active power protecting the rim and Jimmy Butler. That got us going. We were able to get the ball up quickly and I thought our guys played very unselfishly.”

Pau Gasol finished with 20 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks, point guard Derrick Rose had 20 points and four assists and small forward Jimmy Butler added 18 points. Reserve forward Tony Snell, a career 31.6 percent shooter from deep, tied a career-high with five 3-pointers and finished with a season-high 19 points.

Pelicans power forward and Chicago native Anthony Davis, coming off of a 41-point performance Friday night, took a nasty fall in the second quarter and left the game shortly after with a right shoulder injury.

The score was tied at 35 at that point and the Bulls seized momentum after going on a 36-9 run spanning into the third quarter.

Rose, who scored 16 first-half points, said it was important for the Bulls to attack not only after Davis’ injury, but the entire night since New Orleans (27-24) was on the second half of a back-to-back.

“When you have a back-to-back you can get kind of fatigued,” Rose said. “We were trying to push the ball the entire night and make it hard on them. It turned out in our favor.”

Rose, Gasol, and center Joakim Noah did not play in the fourth quarter while Butler sat with 10:29 left to play. Kirk Hinrich did not play in the second half after injuring his left toe.

With Chicago having a back-to-back set with a 5 p.m. tip in Orlando Sunday, Rose noted the importance of being able to sit during that stretch.

“It’s big man, it’s big,” Rose said. “We’ll see tomorrow. I can sit here and say that we’re going to be fine but it’s going to take a lot of action and take a lot of determination to go out there and play this game tomorrow.”

Gasol said the team can build off of a victory like this but it’s about building on the victory and not taking a step back.

“We’ve taken a lot of first steps,” Gasol said.  “It’s not about taking the first step forward, then two step backwards. You’ll go nowhere doing that. It’s about continuously going forward and doing the right things on the floor. We have to be consistent. That’s what we have to strive for.”

Sports Business Minute: NBA franchise valuations on the rise.

CSN Staff

With NBA All-Star Weekend right around the corner, CSN's Sports Business Insider Rick Horrow takes a look at franchise valuations, and why the health of the league is as good as ever.

"Forbes pegs the average NBA franchise value at $1.1 billion, up 74 percent year-over-year from last year, the largest increase since Forbes began franchise valuations in 1998," Horrow said. "Why? Well, Steve Ballmer's $2.2 billion purchase of the LA Clippers certainly helps. Second, the television deal that generates about $2.6 billion a year for the NBA starting in 2016, and third, NBA marketing continues to get creative."

Specifically, the Bulls came in at No. 3 most valuable NBA franchise with a worth of $2 billion, behind only the New York Knicks ($2.5 billion) and Los Angeles Lakers ($2.6 billion). The Bulls led the NBA in attendance in 2013-14 for the fifth straight season, and the $65 million they made was second most in the NBA (Lakers, $104 million).

Bear Down Chicago Bears!!!!! Trading Back In Draft Would Be Risky For Bears, Others.

CBS

 

(Photo: Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

                                                               
When the NFL Draft rolls around, an expert analyst has some easy advice for the Bears, who hold the seventh overall pick.

Sit still. Don’t move. Just watch. Don’t even engage in trade discussions unless the return offer is astronomical.

It’s really that simple, Bleacher Report writer/analyst Matt Miller said in an interview on the Boers and Bernstein Show on Thursday.

“The way this draft class looks, I have about 11 guys who I really, really like who are going to be legitimate, high first-round players and would be in most years,” Miller said. “I think there’s a drop-off after that. But the good news is at pick seven, you’re going to get one of those really, really good players.

“So the Bears are in a good spot. The Bears don’t have to do anything. They just have to wait and draft one of those guys.They don’t have to trade up. You don’t have to panic and make a move. You can really just watch what happens in front of you, hope the two quarterbacks (Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston) go, because that’s going to make that (seventh) pick even better, and just draft the best football player.

“It’s so simple this year.”

Miller cautioned that trading back in this year’s draft would be a dangerous proposition.

“I’d be leery of trading back very far,” Miller said. “There’s like 11 guys who are really good. You trade back too far, you’re getting into that second level. Let’s just for argument’s sake say they trade back to 15 with San Francisco. You know, you have a chance at Landon Collins out of Alabama. You probably have a chance for Benardrick McKinney, the inside linebacker from Mississippi State, but you’re really starting to roll the dice there.

“If you trade from seven to 15, you better hope and pray there are nine guys that you really like at that 15th pick, because eight of them could be gone. It’s a much bigger gamble than the common fan realizes.”

Collusion case moves closer to end of the line.

By Mike Florio

(Photo/Getty Images)

Three years ago, the NFL and NFLPA agreed to impose $46 million in salary-cap penalties on Dallas and Washington for treating the uncapped year of 2010 like (go figure) it had no salary cap.  The union, after agreeing to the penalties as part of a deal that ensured the team-by-team 2012 salary cap would increase and not decrease, accused the NFL of collusion — and attempted to initiate litigation aimed at securing hundreds of millions if not billions in damages.

Last year, a federal appeals court ruled that Judge David Doty, who had dismissed the case, should have given the NFLPA a chance to prove that the 2011 labor deal/settlement agreement was secured by “fraud . . ., misrepresentation, or misconduct.”

The judge who has assumed responsibility for the case following Judge Doty’s decision to step down has now ruled that proof of “fraud, misrepresentation, or misconduct” must be generated without the opportunity to question NFL witnesses or review NFL documents.

According to Daniel Kaplan of SportsBusiness Journal, Judge Michael Davis has denied the NFLPA’s request to conduct so-called “discovery,” a universal tactic in civil cases aimed at generating information to support the crafting of claims and defenses.

“The NFLPA has not demonstrated a colorable claim that the NFL improperly forced it to settle, or misled it as to the legal effect of the settlement,” Judge Davis wrote. 

“Furthermore, the NFLPA’s proffered evidence highlights the real concern that the NFLPA may use the opportunity for . . . discovery as an improper ‘fishing expedition’ to investigate the merits of its alleged collusion claim.”

While the salary-cap penalties imposed on Dallas and Washington undoubtedly constitute evidence of collusion in 2010, the NFLPA agreed to the salary-cap penalties in exchange for a higher salary cap.  At the moment the league asked for the union to consent to salary-cap penalties, the NFLPA knew or should have known that Dallas and Washington were being punished for not honoring the unwritten rules of the uncapped year.  By agreeing to the salary-cap penalties, the NFLPA essentially ratified the collusion.

Even without the agreement regarding the salary-cap penalties, the NFLPA should have investigated any potential collusion claims before agreeing in 2011 to settle all pending claims and allegations.  For now, the NFLPA still has an opportunity to prove that the NFL lied in some way when securing the union’s agreement to waive the collusion claims in 2011.

Without the opportunity to conduct discovery, that’s going to be very hard to do.

Bryant, Russell headline Cubs' list of non-roster invitees.

By Tony Andracki

Kris Bryant and Addison Russell will be in spring camp with the Cubs.

The organization's top two prospects highlight the list of non-roster players invited to the Under Armour Performance Center in Mesa, Ariz. (Non-roster invitees are players not on the current 40-man roster.)

Fellow top prospects Albert Almora, Kyle Schwarber and Pierce Johnson will also be in camp. C.J. Edwards is already on the team's 40-man roster.

Here's the rest of the group:

Pitchers

—Daniel Bard
—Corey Black
—Anthony Carter
—Jorge De Leon
—Johnson
—Armando Rivero
—Donn Roach
—Francisley Bueno
—Hunter Cervenka

Catchers

—Schwarber
—Taylor Teagarden

Infielders

—Bryant
—Jonathan Herrera
—Russell
—Chris Valaika
—Logan Watkins (injured and could miss 2015)

Outfielders

—Almora
—Mike Baxter
—Adron Chambers

Cubs pitchers and catchers report Feb. 19 and position players will show up Feb. 24 with the first full-squad workout Feb. 25.

Rob Manfred says Super Bowl-type bidding will determine host city for MLB All-Star Game.

By D. J. Short

MLB Commissioner, Rob Manfred. (Photo/AP)

MLB has traditionally alternated All-Star Game host cities between leagues, but Cincinnati is lined up for this year and San Diego is set to host next year. New MLB commissioner Rob Manfred thinks now is the perfect time to bring some more changes.

During a Q & A session at ESPN on Thursday, Manfred said that he plans to move into more of a Super Bowl-type bidding process for cities to host the All-Star Game:

“One of the things that I am going to try to do with All-Star Games is — and we’ll make some announcements in the relatively short-term — I am looking to be in more of a competitive-bidding, Super Bowl-awarding-type mode, as opposed to [saying], `You know, I think Chicago is a good idea,'” he replied."

Manfred didn’t go into the specifics about how the bidding process would work, but Jayson Stark of ESPN.com hears from a source that they’ll consider the “merits of the city and ballpark, and which team and city can produce the best ‘All-Star experience.'” That’s all well and good, but it’s going to be a little complicated in the short-term. Teams like the Nationals and Marlins built new ballparks in recent years with the understanding that they would get an All-Star Game in the near future, so it’s believed that MLB will follow through on those promises.

Golf: I got a club for that; Jason Day wins at Torrey Pines in a playoff.

By DOUG FERGUSON (AP Golf Writer)

Jason Day, from Australia, watches his tee shot on the seventh hole of the south course at Torrey Pines during the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open golf tournament Sunday, Feb. 8, 2015, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)

Two feet away from chipping into the water, Jason Day turned a good break into a big win Sunday in the Farmers Insurance Open when he won a four-man playoff with a par on the second extra hole at tough Torrey Pines.

Day's gamble in regulation looked as if it might backfire when he went long of the green on the par-5 18th, and his chip out of deep rough raced down the hill, over the front of the green and was headed for the water when it stopped at the hazard line. He got up-and-down for par and a 2-under 70.

Day and J.B. Holmes each made birdie on the 18th in the playoff, while Scott Stallings and Harris English were eliminated with pars. On the second extra hole at the par-3 16th, Holmes went over the green, chipped to 15 feet and missed the par putt. Day hit 5-iron to 15 feet and made par for his third PGA Tour victory.

Day moved to No. 4 in the world, just ahead of Adam Scott, and became the highest-ranked Australian for the first time.

''It's an amazing feeling,'' Day said. ''I've been working so hard for this. I was visualizing myself holding the trophy, just like I did at the Match Play. I'm really proud of myself to hang in there and grind it out.''

Day's decision on the 18th in regulation wasn't the only choice that was second-guessed. Holmes, needing a birdie to win, laid up from 235 yards in the fairway and narrowly missed a 20-foot birdie attempt. He closed with a 72.

It was only the second stroke-play victory on the PGA Tour for the 27-year-old Day, who is in his eighth year. Loaded with talent, the Aussie has been hampered by more injuries than he cares to remember. Even when he won the Match Play Championship last year in Arizona, he was playing with an injured wrist that kept him out of every tournament but the Masters for the next three months.

His health was a big priority this year, and so was winning.

''It's a good start to the year,'' Day said. ''Hopefully, I can stay healthy.''

English and Stallings were eliminated on the first extra hole. Stallings had to lay up from the left rough, and his 15-foot birdie putt turned away. English drove well to the right, but his short iron back to the fairway was too strong and settled on the border of the first cut and 4-inch grass. He couldn't get any spin on the ball, and was left with a 60-foot birdie putt from the back of the green to stay alive. It stopped a few inches short.

The 16th was pivotal for Day twice on Sunday. In regulation, he holed a 50-foot birdie putt to get back in the game.

Day was among seven players who had at least a share of the lead on a Sunday that was more about survival than a shootout. It was the first time that a single-digit score under par - 9-under 279 - won on the PGA Tour since Justin Rose (4-under 276) at Congressional last summer.

Charles Howell III (68) and Alex Prugh (71) each missed birdie chances on the 18th and finished a shot out of the playoff.

Stallings missed an 18-foot birdie putt on the 18th and closed with a 69. English got up-and-down from a bunker for birdie and a 72 to get into the playoff.

Day and Holmes, meanwhile, had different ideas about how to play the par-5 closing hole.

Day was in the first cut of rough and chose to hit 3-wood to clearly the water, taking his chances with trouble behind the green. It nearly cost him. Holmes, among the longest hitters in golf, was tied for the lead and could have won with a birdie. He laid up with an 8-iron, but his wedge was too deep and left him a downhill birdie putt from 20 feet that grazed the edge of the cup.

Jimmy Walker, in his first start since a nine-shot win at the Sony Open, had a brief share of the lead. He had two bogeys on the back nine for a 73 and finished two shot out of the playoff along with Martin Laird, Shane Lowry and Nick Watney.

DIVOTS: The tournament honored Billy Casper, who died Saturday night, with a picture of him on the first tee and flowers. Casper grew up in San Diego. Tributes continued to pour in, including one from Arnold Palmer, who lost a big lead and the 1966 U.S. Open at Olympic Club. ''He was a better player than most people gave him credit for being and is going to be sorely missed in the golf world,'' Palmer said. ... The final-round scoring average was 74.05.

Prolific Tour winner Billy Casper dies at 83.

By Rex Hoggard

Billy Casper

Billy Casper, arguably the most underrated major champion, died on Saturday. He was 83.

Casper – who won the 1970 Masters and 1959 and ’66 U.S. Opens – had endured multiple surgeries recently and spent a month in the hospital in December with pneumonia. He died at his home Springville, Utah, of a heart attack.

“He went downhill quick,” Casper’s son, Bob, told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “It was quick. But he didn’t have any pain. It was peaceful.”

He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1978 and won 51 times on the PGA Tour, seventh on the all-time victory list.

“Billy Casper was one of the greatest family men — be it inside the game of golf or out — I have had the fortunate blessing to meet,” Jack Nicklaus said via Facebook late Saturday. “He had such a wonderful balance to his life. Golf was never the most important thing in Billy’s life — family was.”

Casper played on eight consecutive U.S. Ryder Cup teams earning 25 1/2 points, the most by any American, and received the 2010 PGA Distinguished Service Award in recognition of his charitable foundation, the Billy Casper Youth Foundation.

For 20 years, Casper hosted the Billy’s Kids Golf Classic and Corporate Cup at San Diego Country Club, which raised more than $3 million for local charities.

Dubbed “the most underrated golfer of all time” by Johnny Miller, Casper’s 27 Tour victories from 1964 to ’70 topped every player during that timeframe, including Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player.

Farmers Insurance Open tournament director Peter Ripa said that the tournament will honor the San Diego native on Sunday with an image of Casper on each tee along with flowers.

Casper played his final Tour event in 2005 at the Masters, where he made 45 appearances, and also had nine Champions Tour victories, including the 1983 U.S. Senior Open.

Casper is survived by his wife, Shirley, 11 children and 71 grandchildren and great grandchildren.

USGA to launch Senior Women's Open in 2018.

Reuters; By Larry Fine,  Editing by Justin Palmer/Gene Cherry

The United States Golf Association will be balancing its championships lineup by launching a U.S. Senior Women's Open in 2018, USGA president Thomas O'Toole Jr announced on Saturday.

"We have studied and discussed the need for this championship for many years and now we can celebrate its introduction," O'Toole said at the annual USGA meeting.

Every championship conducted by the U.S. ruling body for golf has a female counterpart with the exception of the U.S. Senior Open, which has been contested since 1980.

"The opportunity to extend the inspiration of championships to this important part of golf’s family is something we approach with great humility and a sense of duty," O'Toole said.

"Support of the women’s game is at an all-time high. (This) serves a population of our golf community that is hungry to compete for a national title and frankly a sector of golfers we have not serviced before."

Professional and amateur players aged 50 and older will be eligible for the championship, which will be contested over 72 holes of stroke play in four days with a cut after 36 holes.

The venue, field size and details of the qualifying process have yet to be announced.

"We have been looking at the possibility of this championship for the better part of three decades," USGA executive director Mike Davis told Reuters.

"Years ago we were never quite convinced we could make it successful long term."

Davis said entries have been going up in all USGA women's competitions and their numbers as teaching pros and club pros have also been on the rise.

"This is the right time to start this championship. It will inspire the younger players to keep playing competitively. It did the same thing the first time we had the U.S. Senior Open when the great Roberto De Vicenzo won it at Winged Foot."

Davis predicts the women's event will have global reach.

"The U.S. Amateur, the U.S. Women's Amateur, those are really global championships. We get players from all around the world playing in those. And that's what will happen in this."

Hall of Famer Julie Inkster, winner of 31 LPGA Tour events and seven majors, applauded the announcement.

"I think it's great. Everybody's looking forward to it," Inkster, 54, told Reuters. "I know everybody's excited.

"Jane Crafter and Jane Blalock, they were really pushing for it. To see it come into fruition is nice."

NASCAR TV schedule: Week of Feb. 9-Feb. 15.

Staff Report, NASCAR.com

All times ET

Monday, February 9

5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBC Sports Network
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FOX Sports 1
6:30 p.m., NASCAR Gridiron Challenge (re-air), NBC Sports Network
7 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub (re-air), FOX Sports 2

Tuesday, February 10

11 a.m., Continental Tire Sportscar Challenge: Daytona International Speedway (re-air), FOX Sports 1
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FOX Sports 1
6:30 p.m., NASCAR America, NBC Sports Network
7 p.m., NASCAR Gridiron Challenge (re-air), NBC Sports Network
7 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub (re-air), FOX Sports 2
8 p.m., The Day: Daytona Primetime (re-air), FOX Sports 2
8 p.m., NASCAR America: Celebrate the States 1 (re-air), NBC Sports Network
8:30 p.m., NASCAR America: Celebrate the States 2 (re-air), NBC Sports Network
9 p.m., 2014 Daytona 500 (re-air), FOX Sports 2
9 p.m., NASCAR America: Celebrate the States 3 (re-air), NBC Sports Network
9:30 p.m., NASCAR America: Celebrate the States 4 (re-air), NBC Sports Network
10 p.m., NASCAR Gridiron Challenge (re-air), NBC Sports Network
10:30 p.m., The 10: Daytona Moments (re-air), FOX Sports 2
11 p.m., 2014 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race (re-air), FOX Sports 2
11 p.m., The List: Greatest Finishes (re-air), NBC Sports Network
11:30 p.m., The List: Memorable Moments (re-air), NBC Sports Network
Midnight, 100,000 Cameras: NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race (re-air), FOX Sports 2
12:30 a.m., The 10: Wildest Throwdowns (re-air), FOX Sports 2
1 a.m., The Day: Remembering Dale Earnhardt (re-air), FOX Sports 2 

Wednesday, February 11

6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FOX Sports 1
6:30 p.m., NASCAR America, NBC Sports Network
7 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub (re-air), FOX Sports 2

Thursday, February 12

9 a.m.-1 p.m., DAYTONA 500 Media Day, FOX Sports 1
5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBC Sports Network
5 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub: DAYTONA 500 Media Day, FOX Sports 1
7 p.m., NASCAR 2015: A New Era (re-air), FOX Sports 1
8 p.m., The Day: Daytona Primetime (re-air), FOX Sports 1
11 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub: DAYTONA 500 Media Day (re-air), FOX Sports 2
1 a.m., NASCAR 2015: A New Era (re-air), FOX Sports 2
3 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub: DAYTONA 500 Media Day (re-air), FOX Sports 1
5 a.m., NASCAR 2015: A New Era (re-air), FOX Sports 1

Friday, February 13

10 a.m., The Day: Daytona Primetime (re-air), FOX Sports 1
11 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub: DAYTONA 500 Media Day (re-air), FOX Sports 1
5 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Practice: Sprint Unlimited, FOX Sports 1
6 p.m., NASCAR America, NBC Sports Network
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Weekend Edition, FOX Sports 1
6:30 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Final Practice: Sprint Unlimited, FOX Sports 1
7:30 p.m., A Perfect Storm: The 1979 DAYTONA 500, FOX Sports 1
8:30 p.m., 1979 DAYTONA 500, FOX Sports 1
3 a.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Practice: Sprint Unlimited (re-air), FOX Sports 1
4 a.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Final Practice: Sprint Unlimited (re-air), FOX Sports 1
5 a.m., The Day: Daytona Primetime (re-air), FOX Sports 1

Saturday, February 14

10 a.m., 1979 DAYTONA 500 (re-air), FOX Sports 1
10:30 a.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Practice: DAYTONA 500, FOX Sports 1
12:30 p.m., Empty Cup: Quest for the 1992 NASCAR Championship (re-air), FOX Sports 2
1 p.m., 1979 DAYTONA 500 (re-air), FOX Sports 2
1:30 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Practice: DAYTONA 500, FOX Sports 2
3 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Practice: DAYTONA 500 (Simulcast), FOX Sports 1
3:30 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Weekend Edition, FOX Sports 1
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Day, FOX Sports 1
8 p.m., Sprint Unlimited, FOX
11 p.m., NASCAR Victory Lane, FOX Sports 2
11:30 p.m., The 10: Daytona Moments (re-air), FOX Sports 2

Sunday, February 15

9:30 a.m., A Perfect Storm: The 1979 DAYTONA 500 (re-air), FOX Sports 1
11 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Weekend Edition, FOX Sports 1
1 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, FOX
9 p.m., NASCAR DAYTONA 500 Pole Day, FOX Sports 1
10 p.m., A Perfect Storm: The 1979 DAYTONA 500 (re-air), FOX Sports 1
3 a.m., Sprint Unlimited (re-air), FOX Sports 1
4:30 a.m., NASCAR DAYTONA 500 Pole Day (re-air), FOX Sports 1
5:30 a.m., FOX Sports 1 on 1: Kevin Harvick (re-air), FOX Sports 1

 

For Kahne, camaraderie is key to success in 2015.

 

By Jessica Ruffin
                                                                                   

Kasey Kahne (Photo/Jerry Markland/Getty Images North America)

Kasey Kahne wasn't happy with his 2014 performance on the track.

 

" … I wanted to be better," Kahne said of last year during Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour presented by Technocom. "I wanted to do better and when I didn't at times, things crossed my mind like 'Man, what's my problem? Can I not figure this out?'"

The driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet had glimmers of stardom sprinkled throughout the year. He won a thriller in August at Atlanta Motor Speedway, which qualified him to compete in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. He also nabbed top-10 finishes at 11 races, including the prestigious event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (sixth).

But when compared with his previous multi-win runs in the Sprint Cup Series, Kahne's season was considered otherwise subpar.

In walks Keith Rodden, the new No. 5 team crew chief with arms full of knowledge, leadership and confidence in his driver.

"I feel like Kasey's a great driver at every track," Rodden said. "We just need to put it all together, get everyone on the team pointed the same direction and get going."

And Rodden isn't a stranger to the team. Despite Kahne's longtime kinship with former crew chief Kenny Francis -- who moved into a vehicle technical director position for Hendrick Motorsports at the end of 2014 -- the Kahne-Rodden duo has been strong for years.

"It's been a long time since I've changed crew chiefs," Kahne said of the staffing change. "This is only the third one I've had in the Sprint Cup Series. So that's going to be a big change for us.

"But as far as myself and Keith ... first time we worked together was in 2004 and that's before myself and Kenny worked together. And we've had a long relationship together -- Communication has been really solid between us over the years and we're friends."

Rodden served as a team engineer for Kahne from 2004 until 2013, when he left to pursue a crew chief position with Jamie McMurray at Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates.

"It's been a lot of fun being back in the 5/24 shop, back with all the guys I used to work with," Rodden said. "Everyone's welcomed me back with open arms and we've really hit the ground running getting ready for the season."

With Rodden back on his side, Kahne believes his team will be steered in the right direction.

"Keith, he's a motivator, he's a team guy, he pushes you," Kahne said. "He asks for everything you've got and if you make a mistake, you're going to know it. ... We're going to figure out why and what it was, make it better and go from there.

"He's also going to go after what he wants and what he needs and that's something that a crew chief needs to have at HMS to be competitive."

Rodden's appointment was not the only change made in the offseason. During the few months of downtime on the NASCAR schedule, Kahne has worked on bettering another area of his No. 5 crew -- the ever-forgotten aspect of camaraderie.

"The thing that I feel that I can help with -- and I can be a part of -- is just being part of the team and being part of the group," Kahne said. "We have a strong group of guys, and I don't think we've been a strong enough team to compete like some of the other ones.

"That's something that we worked on during the offseason and we'll carry on through the regular season as well. Being together, knowing each other better, working hard for each other. ... We hold each other responsible, work hard and when we make mistakes, we make gains at the same time."

During the offseason, the squad has convened several times off the track to build a brotherhood needed for cohesiveness on the asphalt. It's a door that hasn't been touched much -- and one that the soft-spoken driver felt he and his team needed to crack open.

Because for Kahne, trust and accountability with his pit crew becomes even more important during the swift 12 seconds of a NASCAR pit stop.

"There's so much that goes on in the pit stops and everything happens so quickly that the smallest mistake you lose two or three spots," Kahne said. "That cost you 30 minutes on the racetrack to get back to where you need to be ... (the pit crew's) role is a big role and (Rodden) knows that."

With that understanding, Kahne believes his old pal Rodden will be just the guy to lead his team to Victory Lane in 2015.

"Oh man, I'm ready to get started," Kahne said with a smile. "I want to get started and see where we stack up. I feel like Keith's going to do a really nice job with the cars and the team and the guys."

And what he added later alludes to his confidence in his No. 5 team -- and himself.

"It's racing -- I love it and know I can do it," Kahne said. "If we put the right situation together, we're going to win a lot of races still."

Three questions still unanswered as USMNT builds toward 2015 Gold Cup.

By Andy Edwards

PST’s Kyle Lynch already told us about the three things we learned from the U.S. national team’s 2-0 victory over Panama on Sunday, so how about a few minutes to discuss the three things we still don’t know as the USMNT heads into the bulk of the 2015 calendar year?

After all, that’s what an “educated” soccer society would do, isn’t it?

What’s the long-term tactical system going to be?

3-5-2? 4-4-2? 4-2-3-1? Over the last two games alone (Chile and Panama), we’ve seen all three, which is all well and good considering we’re 41 months away from the next World Cup. What’s not OK, though, is that the 2015 Gold Cup is less than four months away, and there’s no telling what formation Klinsmann might choose the next time his team steps on the field.

Furthermore, it’s not just about a formation — because formations are ever fluid and changing between offense and defense — but it’s a matter of an identity as a team, something Klinsmann promised when accepting the USMNT head coaching job 42 months ago.

Reverting back to reactive, defend-for-our-lives soccer worked fairly well at the 2014 World Cup, but it was ultimately that team’s undoing in the tournament, just as it has been every other USMNT World Cup team in recent memory. If Klinsmann doesn’t feel he has the players to play the progressive, possession-based style of soccer he wants, then he’d be better off working on the type of soccer his team is actually going to play once the games start to count again.

Is Jermaine Jones really going to be a starting center back?

I sent out an extremely tongue-in-cheek tweet prior to kickoff of Sunday’s game regarding the Jermaine Jones Center Back Experience™. I don’t particularly understand the allure of changing the position of — not to mention the team’s entire tactical setup to extend the career of — a 33-year-old life-long central midfielder as a center back. Jones is really, really good at what he does — and that’s, among other things, provide energy in the midfield, win the ball back quickly and make dangerous forward passes.

As a center back, he’s asked to do very little of that. Instead, he’s asked to watch the midfield action from afar, read the game closely and very carefully pick and choose his moments to pounce. Those are three things, with all due respect to what Jones does well, that Jones does not do well. He’s good enough to start in the USMNT midfield today, this summer, next summer and perhaps even in Russia in 2018.

However, as a center back who bring a sense of urgency to the defense and likes to play adventurous passes out of the back, Jones is the dream candidate for such a role. But that really only works as the middle man in a three-man backline.

In short, if Klinsmann continues to run Jones out in a four-man backline, expecting him to play a disciplined center back, my head is going to explode.

Is it wise for Klinsmann to give preferential/hypocritical treatment to certain players?

He loves Jones. I mean, absolutely loves him. We know this. As stated above, he’s changed the team’s entire tactical setup to prolong his international career — there’s not many American players worth doing that for, and Jones is maybe one of them.

But when he makes statements like the following — according to ESPN’s Adrian Healey and Taylor Twellman during Sunday’s game against Panama — after pointing to Geoff Cameron‘s failure to appear in the same position week in, week out with Stoke City as the reason he can’t lock down a regular spot the national team, I have to wonder, “Does Klinsmann believe a single word coming out of his own mouth?”

"Not at all.” — Klinsmann’s response when asked whether Jones playing in midfield for the New England Revolution is a problem, given his recent switch to center back for the USMNT"

Surely playing different positions for club and country only a coincidence that it’s not an issue at all for Jones, a player Klinsmann appears to lean upon heavily, while it’s the very thing that has kept Cameron from getting what many would argue is a due run of regular games in the USMNT lineup.

France 2-0 USWNT: French flop leaves U.S. women with one win in last 5. 

By Nicholas Mendola

The United States women’s national team now has just one win in its last five matches after falling to France on Sunday.

The No. 3 ranked French side got a 51st minute goal from Eugenie Le Sommer (right) and another moments later from Jessica Houara (below, center) to down the No. 2 ranked States.

How long those numbers remain is uncertain. The USWNT has a chance to right the ship on Friday in Milton Keynes against No. 6 England.

The French could’ve broken through earlier if not for U.S. keeper Ashlyn Harris, who made some splendid first-half saves.

Abby Wambach subbed on late, and won a penalty only to see it saved by French keeper Sarah Bouhaddi.

USWNT’s last five results

Dec. 10 — vs. China, D 1-1
Dec. 14 — vs. Brazil, L 2-3
Dec. 18 — vs. Argentina, W 7-0
Dec. 21 — vs. Brazil, D 0-0
Sunday — at France, L 0-2

Germany overtook the States in the FIFA rankings this December, knocking the U.S. out of the top spot for the first time since 2008.

Sunday’s result will set off some — or further —  trepidation amongst U.S. supporters. The USWNT is in a tricky World Cup Group D with Australia, Sweden and Nigeria.

Here’s how they started:

  
Dean Smith, legendary North Carolina basketball coach, dies at 83.

By Alexander Wolff

Coach Dean Smith ( Photo: Brian Lanker/SI)

You can have peace without the world if you opt for death. Or the world without peace if you decide for doing and having and achieving. Only in play can you have both. In play you realize simultaneously the supreme importance and utter insignificance of what you are doing."

-- George Sheehan, author and philosopher of sport

Few sportsmen found the George Sheehan sweet spot better than Dean Smith. The former North Carolina basketball coach, who found peace without the world on Saturday night at 83, understood what Sheehan goes on to call “the paradox of pursuing what at once is essential and inconsequential.” Smith kept the two in almost perfect balance.

It’s the inconsequential part of sport that so many of us, heads turned by beckoning glory, find hard to accept with grace. Smith had it nailed. He didn’t need to put any game face on; he wore the same face, game or no game. Almost alone among coaches I’ve known, Smith actually preferred to speak to the press in the hours before tip-off. And if that game turned out to be a loss, he got over it quickly -- in part because for every loss he could point to roughly three-and-a-half victories (879 all told), but also because he truly understood that a billion people in China didn’t give a damn. During the back half of Smith’s career men’s college basketball spawned a generation of coaches who regarded the university -- with its classes and standards, with its women’s teams clamoring for resources and practice time -- as irritations, barriers to their entrepreneurial striving. So they tried to set their programs apart and reserve for themselves the spoils of shoe and camp and TV deals. Smith believed that every dime his team delivered to Chapel Hill belonged to the athletic department. He didn’t begrudge the women’s soccer program spending Tar Heels basketball booty; he gloried in it.

Indeed, Smith despised attitudes of entitlement in any guise. Freshmen carried the video equipment on road trips, and reporters had to wait to speak to them until after their first game, only by which time, Smith believed, a young Tar Heel might actually offer something worth listening to. Offended by premature ballyhoo over the five recruits he welcomed in the fall of 1990, Smith arranged for them to scrimmage the rest of the team for 20 minutes. What many called the greatest recruiting class of all time lost by 46 points -- 92, the coach delighted in pointing out, over a full game.

Smith recognized the absurdity of the NCAA underwriting antidrug crusades funded by March Madness ads for beer -- the undergraduate’s drug of choice, which was implicated in campus problems from vandalism to date rape -- and he said so. This ability to pull back and see the big picture extended to issue after issue percolating around college sports. Other coaches, knowing that the best players weren’t likely to stay more than a year or two, wanted to use them ASAP; Smith lobbied for a return to freshman ineligibility, because he knew a year of acclimation to college life would be good for the whole young man. As other schools tried to find ways to keep prize recruits longer, Smith nudged his own to turn pro if the money and security were there, because neither the university nor (goodness knows) Smith himself was entitled to their servitude. Yet almost every player who did leave early came back to Chapel Hill to get a degree. The graduation rate of Smith’s players, 97 percent, is both the result of and an explanation for their abiding loyalty. “We’re his flock,” one of them, Bobby Jones, said in 1997, after Smith broke Adolph Rupp’s all-time victory record. “He takes great pains to shepherd us.”

The son of Baptist schoolteachers, raised in the railroading town of Emporia, Kans., Smith played positions -- quarterback, point guard, catcher -- in high school that foreshadowed the career he would choose. In much the same way his major at Kansas, mathematics, prefigured the analytical approach he brought to North Carolina, which named him at 30 to succeed his boss, Frank McGuire.

After a loss at Wake Forest in 1965 the team bus famously returned to campus to find Smith hung in effigy. A book soon sent to him by his sister, Joan -- Beyond Our Selves by Catherine Marshall -- helped Smith both compose himself in that incident’s aftermath and loam the soil in which his collectivist beliefs took root. Marshall holds that freedom comes from acknowledging the limit to what an individual can accomplish alone. By realizing that teammates are helpmates, a basketball program can gait itself for the long run: Smith reached a Final Four in four different decades and won NCAA titles 13 years apart.

As a college basketball writer during the 1980s and ’90s, shuttling the eight miles between Chapel Hill and Durham, I couldn’t help but compare Smith and his program to Duke’s as it flourished under Mike Krzyzewski. The Blue Devils emerged during the age of Reagan and Bush the Elder, and their conservative coach made a point of unfettering his players, as if he were implementing a position paper of the American Enterprise Institute. Under its liberal Democrat coach, North Carolina basketball by contrast felt as if it were in the care of a descendant of FDR or LBJ. “Put a plant in a jar, and it will grow to take the shape of the jar,” Krzyzewski liked to say, “but let a plant grow free, and who knows what it might become” -- which to an ACC ear could sound like a variation on the old joke that Dean Smith is the only man in the world who could hold Michael Jordan to 12 points a game. Ah, but let Smith and his staff take their sweet time with a Tar Heel, holding at bay the bugbears of entitlement, and that player too would be gaited for the long run. Neither Jordan nor such star professionals as Larry Brown, Vince Carter, Billy Cunningham, Brad Daugherty, Walter Davis, Phil Ford, Rick Fox, Antawn Jamison, Bobby Jones, Mitch Kupchak, Bob McAdoo, Sam Perkins, Charlie Scott, Kenny Smith, Jerry Stackhouse, Rasheed Wallace and James Worthy could ever be described as having suffered for time spent in the Carolina hothouse.

Smith spoke guardedly of those players. He realized that he had to engage the press in order to highlight his Tar Heels, yet he tried to keep the spotlight from shining too glaringly. I began to recognize a pattern in our sessions together. I’d ask a question; he’d dispute the premise. Sometimes I’d rephrase the question, but more often I’d defend my original premise, at which point we were going one-on-one over some set of facts of which Smith usually had superior command. Soon enough, my time up, I’d leave his office and, leafing through my notebook, find that he had gone into a rhetorical Four Corners and run out the clock. (For example, after I’d asked about the North Carolina system: “I don’t like the word system. To me it connotes that we’re rigid, that we don’t change with our personnel, and that’s just not true. Now, if you say philosophy ...”) But he genuinely loved the sparring and scoring of points, just as he loved a challenge on the golf course as much as the basketball court.

He certainly didn’t want the attention. When a new, 21,444-seat arena (now 21,750) opened on campus in 1986, he permitted his name to grace the Dean Smith Center only because university officials and past lettermen insisted that he alone could stand for Carolina basketball since the dawn of the ’60s. When he broke that all-time wins record, he made sure to recognize the players and assistant coaches who beside him on the bench over the years, for “they all share in this moment,” he said, before adding, in a nod to Sheehanian duality, “if indeed it is a moment.”

That comment underscores how Smith was his sport’s philosopher king. Practices, games and the rankings of teams and recruits might ebb toward insignificance in the mind of a man who lent his name and voice to grand crusades, like civil rights and a nuclear freeze, and kept the works of Kierkegaard on his nightstand. Yet remember, per Sheehan: The game is essential as well as inconsequential. “There’s very little that feels as good as a conference win on the road,” Smith once said -- confessed, really.

He obsessed over tactics and grappled with officials, engaging in gamesmanship with the grubbiest of his rivals. Yet he never lost sight of the cross purposes at the heart of sport, and he once mused to me, “I suppose my first goal was to keep my job. Then I wanted to win. Then I got more mature and said, ‘Oh, we want to play well.’ Then I’d ask myself, Why do I feel good when we don’t play well and win?”

Such are the baser angels of our competitive nature. “I think we’re most happy and free when there’s a creator or spirit in charge of our lives,” he once said. “And that’s where I struggle. Because I want to take over constantly.” So it was, addressing a college commencement audience at Eastern College in Pennsylvania, that he riffed on Churchill, “Always, always, always, always, always, always quit.”

Imagine how baffling that would look generations from now if read out of context. For an epitaph, better that we reprise something SI employed to describe Smith in 1997. It’s our citation upon naming him Sportsman of the Year: “He never forgot that the arena is but an outbuilding of the academy.”

Butch Jones fulfilling 'vision' at Tennessee with another strong class.

By Bill Bender

Butch Jones saw it all coming — everything except for the bowtie.

For the second consecutive season, Tennessee reeled in a top-10 recruiting class. Only this one is ranked better than the last. The Volunteers topped it off with 4-star tackle Drew Richmond, who promised to flip from Ole Miss given one condition from his coach.

“Well the first thing I had to do was put on a bowtie,” Jones told Sporting News. “I promised him I would put on a bowtie when I announced it. I tell you, everyone went crazy.”

Nothing else should surprise about Jones’ third cycle in Knoxville. The first landed quarterback Joshua Dobbs, who led Tennessee to a 4-2 record after taking over as starter last season. The second landed running back Jalen Hurd, who averaged 4.7 yards per carry as a freshman, along with 5-star receiver Josh Malone, who averaged 25.7 yards per catch.

Junior college running back Alvin Kamara and 4-star quarterback Quinten Dormady arrived as early enrollees this year. The 2015 class also brings in a total of 11 linemen on both sides of the ball. On defense, 5-star defensive tackle Kahlil McKenzie joins 4-star linemen Kyle Phillips. Andrew Butcher and Shy Tuttle on defense. On the other side, 4-star tackle Jack Jones and Richmond are on board. 

Tennessee is starting to look how Tennessee is supposed to look, especially in the trenches.

“We have a vision of what’s going on at Tennessee, and when these recruits come on campus they see it,” Jones said “Winning our first bowl game since 2007, having our first winning season since 2009; you see all those things starting to manifest themselves.”

Why is Jones having success? He said it’s about trusting a “recruiting profile of like-minded individuals.” No program needed that speech more. Lane Kiffin and Derek Dooley combined for a 23-27 record in four years before Jones’ arrival. The last three classes are starting to put everyone on the same page. That starts with the right players. 

Tennessee has struggled with elite talent the last 10 years. Chris Donald (2007) and Da’Rick Rogers (2010) transferred. Janzen Jackson (2009) and Demetrice Morley (2005) were dismissed from the team. Hurd and Malone have helped change that perception.

“If you look at our current team, they’ve been the biggest ambassadors for our football program,” Jones said. “A young man comes on campus, feels the expectations, standards and perspective we have at Tennessee.”

Meeting those expectations and standards also requires the right perspective.
Tennessee still is just 14-34 in SEC play since Phillip Fulmer retired. The legendary Vols coach went 95-34 in conference from 1992-2008. Tennessee hasn’t won the SEC since 1998, when the Vols won a BCS championship.

That’s why this two-year period is creating buzz in one of those football-crazy meccas itching to get back on the big stage. Is it time to cue the most-infectious fight song in the SEC?

“It’s still a process and we’re still very young,” Jones said. “You could argue we’ll be the youngest team in college football next year. It’s part of the process, and we still have a long way to go. Today is a great step in the right direction.”

Jones sees it coming. Can you?

Officials: 25 people killed in Egyptian soccer match riot.

By MERRIT KENNEDY (Associated Press)

A soccer fan is seen near a police car, which was set on fire by fireworks, during clashes between soccer fans and security forces in front of a stadium on the outskirts of Cairo February 8, 2015. Twenty-two people were killed in clashes outside a Cairo football stadium on Sunday, the public prosecutor's office said. Witnesses said people had been crushed in a stampede when police used teargas to break up a crowd trying to enter the stadium from which they were barred. REUTERS/Al Youm Al Saabi Newspaper. (Photo/Stringer/Reuters)

A riot broke out Sunday night outside of a major soccer game in Egypt, with a stampede and fighting between police and fans killing at least 25 people, authorities said.

The riot, only three years after similar violence killed 74 people, began ahead of a match between Egyptian Premier League clubs Zamalek and ENPPI at Air Defense Stadium east of Cairo. Such attacks in the past have sparked days of protests pitting the country's hard-core fans against police officers in a nation already on edge after years of revolt and turmoil.

Two security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said at least 25 people were killed.

The violence comes as police face increasing scrutiny following the shooting death of a female protester in Cairo and the arrest of protesters under a law heavily restricting demonstrations. President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has pledged to bring stability to Egypt amid bombings and attacks by Islamic militants, but also has said Egypt's emergency situation meant that some violations of human rights were inevitable, if regrettable.

Egypt's public prosecutor issued a statement ordering an investigation. After convening an emergency meeting to discuss the violence, the Cabinet announced that it was postponing upcoming soccer matches until further notice, Egypt's state television said.

What caused the violence wasn't immediately clear. Security officials said Zamalek fans tried to force their way into the match without tickets, sparking clashes. Fans have only recently been allowed back at matches and the Interior Ministry planned to let only 10,000 fans into the stadium, which has a capacity of about 30,000, the officials said.

Zamalek fans, known as ''White Knights,'' posted on their group's official Facebook page that the violence began because authorities only opened one narrow, barbed-wire door to let them in. They said that sparked pushing and shoving that later saw police officers fire tear gas and birdshot.

A fan who tried to attend the game, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity out of fear of being targeted by police, said that the stampede was caused by police who fired tear gas at the tightly packed crowd.

''Those who fell down could not get back up again,'' the man said.

The Zamalek fan group later posted pictures on Facebook it claimed were of dead fans, including the names of 22 people it said had been killed. The AP could not immediately verify the images.

Egypt's hard-core soccer fans, known as Ultras, frequently clash with police inside and outside of stadiums. They are deeply politicized and many participated in the country's 2011 uprising that forced out President Hosni Mubarak. Many consider them as one of the most organized movements in Egypt after the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, which the government later outlawed as a terrorist organization following the 2013 military overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

The deadliest riot in Egypt soccer history came during a 2012 match when Port Said's Al-Masry team hosted Cairo's Al-Ahly. That riot, at the time the deadliest worldwide since 1996, killed 74 people, mostly Al-Ahly fans.

Two police officers later received 15-year prison sentences for gross negligence and failure to stop the Port Said killings, a rare incident of security officials being held responsible for deaths in the country. Seven other officers were acquitted, angering soccer fans who wanted more police officers to be held accountable for the incident and other episodes of violence.

In response, angry fans burned down the headquarters of Egypt's Football Association, also protesting its decision to resume matches before bringing those behind that 2012 riot to justice. They've also protested and fought officers outside of the country's Interior Ministry, which oversees police in the country.

On This Date in Sports History: Today is Monday, February 9, 2015.

Memoriesofhistory.com

1895 - In Massachusetts, W.G. Morgan invented volleyball.

1895 - The first college basketball game was played as Minnesota State School of Agriculture defeated the Porkers of Hamline College, 9-3.

1900 - Dwight F. Davis put up a new tennis trophy to go to the winner in matches against England. The trophy was a silver cup that weighed 36 pounds.

1924 - Frank Nighbor received the first NHL Hart Trophy. The award, that judges the most valuable player to his team, was the first individual award in the NHL.

1932 - America entered the 2-man bobsled competition for the first time at the Olympic Winter Games held at Lake Placid, NY. They won the Gold Medal.

1960 - A verbal agreement was reached between representatives of the American and National Football Leagues. Both agreed not to tamper with player contracts.

1989 - Kevin Johnson (Phoenix Suns) ended an NBA free throw streak of 57 games.
1992 - Mike Gartner tied an NHL record when he reached the 30-goal mark for the 13th straight season. Only Bobby Hull and Phil Esposito had accomplished the feat.

1993 - Fourteen people were arrested when violence erupted at the Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl victory parade.

2005 - NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said that a deal between the league and the players' association would have to be in place before the end of the week to save the season.

2009 - Alex Rodriguez (New York Yankees) admitted that he had taken banned substances from 2001 to 2003.

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