CS&T/AllsportsAmerica Friday Sports News Update and What's Your Take? 05/29/2015.

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Sports Quote of the Day:

Note: Our Blackhawks  play the Anaheim Ducks in game 7, the deciding game of the NHL Western Conference championship Saturday night. The winner goes to the NHL finals to battle the Eastern Conference champion for the Stanley Cup. In support of our Blackhawks, we have two Sports quotes of the day. Embrace and enjoy them.

"When you give a team life, give a team confidence, anything can happen in game 7." ~ Paul Pierce, NBA Professional Basketball Player

Chicago Sports & Travel, Inc./AllsportsAmerica feel that the above quote is what the Ducks did for the Blackhawks.

 

"You don't concentrate on risks. You concentrate on results. No risk is too great to prevent the necessary job from getting done." ~ Chuck Yeager, Retired Brigadier General in the United States Air Force and Record-Setting Test Pilot

Chicago Sports & Travel, Inc./AllsportsAmerica think that if the Blackhawks adhere to the above quote, winning the Stanley Cup is their destiny.  

 

Trending: Bulls fire Thibodeau. (See details in basketball section below.) 

How 'bout them Chicago Blackhawks? Blackhawks ready for 'ultimate test' of Game 7. 

By Tracey Myers

It’s the stuff that dreams are made of, at least going into the game itself. It will take 60 minutes, perhaps even longer, to decide who wins/continues the dream and who loses/faces the crushing emotions the defeat brings.

We’re talking about a Game 7 here. And no matter what emotion may come out of one, there’s nothing like playing in one.

“As a hockey player, you want to talk about the cliché of growing up as a kid, playing on the backyard rink and playing in that Game 7, you just think of that as the ultimate test for any player to see what you’ve got and what you can bring in a high-pressure situation like that,” Jonathan Toews said. “I think that’s the exciting thing.”

A Game 7 brings energy, excitement, anxiety, desperation, the whole shebang, really. And that will all likely be on display when the Blackhawks face the Anaheim Ducks in Game 7 of the Western Conference Final on Saturday night. For the Blackhawks, it’s a chance to complete the conference-final comeback and go to their second Stanley Cup Final in the past three seasons. For the Ducks, it’s a chance to prove they can finish off a series in which they were up. Much like in this series vs. the Blackhawks, the Ducks led Los Angeles 3-2 in 2014 and Detroit 3-2 in 2013; they lost both series.

Whether or not the Ducks are studying their Game 7 history, the Blackhawks glimpse at theirs just enough to remind themselves how to handle certain situations.

“It's very similar to just playing overtime, to be honest with you. Right from the drop of the puck in the first period, every shift is important like it always is," Patrick Sharp said. "It's magnified that much more in a Game 7. 

"Our group has played plenty of overtimes, also Game 7s to draw experience from. I like the guys in our locker room; we get excited for opportunities like that [and] we don't shy away. We want the puck, want to score goals, play as well as we can.”

When asked if he would start with the same lines in Game 7 as he did in Game 6, coach Joel Quenneville said, “we’ll see.” He didn’t start that game with Toews and Patrick Kane together on the top line, but it’s likely he will this next contest. As far as personnel changes, it’s doubtful there will be any. The Blackhawks played their best game of this series on Wednesday night. Sure, the Ducks had a serious push in the third period; this is a good team, and a good team is going to threaten. But the Blackhawks withstood it.

Now they’ll see if the momentum they got from Game 6 carries over to Game 7 in Anaheim.

“We’ve all been in the situation before, we’ve been on the winning and losing side,” Marcus Kruger said of Game 7s. “It’s exciting, those type of games, when everything’s on the line. It’ll be a good game [Saturday].”

This series begged for a Game 7. It begged for a dramatic ending that certainly would compliment how this entire series has gone. The current players, as kids playing for bragging rights, probably drew up this scenario on the backyard pond countless times. Now many of them are doing it again for the chance at a much bigger prize.

“We can resort to our experience in these situations and just feel confident we’ll go work, that fate is on our side and we’ll find ways to make things happen,” Toews said. “We want to reverse the trend of alternating games, back and forth, with this team. We know we have another step to make if we want to finish this series off on the road.”

Blackhawks-Ducks Preview.

By GREG BEACHAM

 

Someday the Anaheim Ducks and the Chicago Blackhawks will relish the stories they'll be able to tell about playing in a postseason series as good as these Western Conference finals.

Not just now, though. They've still got to determine whether this tale has a happy ending or a brutal punch line.

Two weeks of extraordinarily high-level hockey conclude Saturday night at Honda Center when the Ducks and the Blackhawks play Game 7 for the Campbell Bowl and a trip to the Stanley Cup Final. They've traded victories for six tense games across the past two weeks, playing six overtime periods and four one-goal games.

Both teams used Thursday for travel and mental preparation for the big finish after Chicago staved off elimination with a 5-2 victory in Game 6.

The teams also did a bit of reflection on what's shaping up as a conference finals as memorable as Chicago's seven-game epic with the Los Angeles Kings last spring.

''It's for sure the most exciting series I've ever been a part of personally,'' said Ducks defenseman Francois Beauchemin, a Stanley Cup champion with 96 games of NHL playoff experience.

The games have mostly been close, but they've also been extremely well-played. Anaheim's deep, balanced lineup has wrestled Chicago's star-powered roster to a virtual stalemate through six games, with the Blackhawks winning two of the three overtime contests to avoid large series deficits.

''We play for these big games,'' said Chicago forward Marcus Kruger, whose goal ended Game 2 in triple overtime. ''You never get tired of hockey. That's what everyone plays for.''

It's been a spellbinding spectacle for fans and players alike, particularly in those overtime thrillers - even if the coaches aren't having quite the same experience.

''I can't feel it, quite frankly,'' Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau said. ''I've asked people, 'Is this a good series? Is it entertaining?' You're caught up in the moment of winning and losing. People say it's unbelievable, but we look at it as a little different right now. It might be something you appreciate one way or another in six months or in the future.''

The Ducks might feel a bit more pressure than the Blackhawks on home ice, and not just because they controlled long stretches of the series and got painfully close to finishing it in those overtime games. 

They also have a daunting bit of recent history to overcome: The Ducks have blown a 3-2 series lead and lost a Game 7 at home in each of the past two postseasons, and they're one loss from doing it again.

Anaheim dropped two straight to Detroit in the first round in 2013, and it fell short in the second round last spring against the future champion Los Angeles Kings.

''I'm not bringing that up to them at all,'' Boudreau said. ''Every year is a different entity. The guys who have been here those three years know what's happened. If we have to draw on extra motivation for a Game 7 with a chance to play for the Stanley Cup, then we've got the wrong guys. And we have the right guys in here.''

Yet Chicago has a failure to overcome in its own recent postseason history. The Blackhawks took Los Angeles to a seventh game in the Western Conference finals last spring, rallying from a 3-1 series deficit, only to lose in overtime when Alec Martinez's shot deflected off now-departed defenseman Nick Leddy's torso for the conference-winning goal.

Patrick Sharp was on the ice when Martinez's goal crushed the United Center.

''You could feel the air go out of the building,'' Sharp said. ''You could feel your heart drop a little bit, being that close. Battling back from being down in that series against the Kings, (it) was a tough way to go out on home ice. You learn from it. You use it as hunger to get back to the situation and try to learn from your past experience. Hopefully it's a different scenario for us this time.''

And while the Ducks appear to have a team that could contend again next year with much the same roster, the Blackhawks realize roster upheaval could be coming for a franchise with hefty bills to pay from seven straight playoff campaigns.

Chicago's window isn't exactly closing, but consecutive losses on the brink of the Stanley Cup Final would be heartbreaking wasted opportunities.

Just another thing for players to think about in the extra day off before the grand finale.

''I credit the guys, their focus, their preparation, their will to want to win, finding ways to win,'' Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said. ''They love the journey. They're competitive beyond what you could want it to be. It's a testament to their competitive level.''

Just Another Chicago Bulls Session… Breakdown in communication seemed to play a part in Thibodeau's firing. What's Your Take?

By Vincent Goodwill

Former Bulls Head Coach Tom Thibodeau

Even the best relationships have rocky moments but a common thread amongst all is communication—which certainly broke down between Tom Thibodeau and the Bulls’ front office.

A deterioration of a working relationship that seemed to produce plenty of results ended in the firing of Thibodeau Thursday morning after five seasons in Chicago, and two left on a contract extension he signed before the beginning of the 2013-14 season.

Assistant coach Andy Greer was also dismissed, with the fate of the other members of Thibodeau’s staff to be determined by the next coach, with the Bulls on the hook for the remainder of Thibodeau’s $9 million should he not coach in the next two seasons.

The relationship between the coach and Gar Forman and John Paxson was broken beyond repair, and although Forman said a decision had been reached Wednesday night, many believe Thibodeau’s fate had been sealed for quite some time.

“We went into this week where we had our player meetings and our organizational meetings, and we dug deep,” Forman said. “We looked at a lot of different things as far as where this team's at and trying to sustain success and trying to grow on that success.

“But as we came out of those meetings, it was our decision that we felt a change was needed in order for us to continue to move forward.”

Thibodeau’s record of 255-139 was bested only by Gregg Popovich (San Antonio), the recently fired Scott Brooks (Oklahoma City), and Erik Spoelstra (Miami), but wasn’t enough to keep his job.

Having to do it without Derrick Rose for large portions of his tenure made it all the more impressive and perhaps turned it into a burden as Thibodeau’s grind-it-out style may have played against him in the end.

In those 394 games Thibodeau coached, Rose played in 181 of them with his knee injuries, a situation Popovich, Brooks or Spoelstra didn’t have to manage en masse.

There were rumors of player discord, and Paxson wouldn’t say if the players voiced their displeasure with Thibodeau in the season-ending meetings, or if that even played a part in their decision.

“Relationships involve a lot of things. This was a five-year relationship,” Paxson said. “We went through a process. There wasn't a point of no return. As with any relationship, it's a process. You go through things every day. And that's what happens. We determined after all our evaluations and all our discussions, a change was made.”

Philosophically, they appeared to disagree on a number of fronts, headlined by the minutes restrictions placed on Rose and Joakim Noah after serious knee surgeries last summer.

“So we went and listened to all the medical staff, and we came up with the belief and idea that we needed to kind of get them into the season the right way physically,” Paxson said. “In our mind, it was absolutely the responsible thing to do. We thought through three years – take Derrick out of the equation – we thought through three years we weren’t healthy come playoff time. Our goal, given the team we had, was to try to be as healthy as we possibly could be come playoff time.”

They didn’t say whether Thibodeau agreed with the suggestions made by the team doctors, but given his hard-driving style, it wouldn’t be a stretch to believe he bristled at it, and his opinions, while noted, didn’t factor much into the decision made by Forman and Paxson.

Whether the missed practice time or the lack of playing time given to the young players or the rigidity of Thibodeau’s offense or any other factor led to it, the breakdown in communication led to an apparent lack of communication.

“Everything should be about the best interests of the organization,” Paxson said. “So you should be able to ask any question you want to ask. You should be able to push the envelope in terms of anything in order to have some success. That's what relationships should be about. Obviously, there was a breakdown. That's not a secret by any stretch of the imagination.”

And despite all the success Thibodeau led them to, the Bulls find themselves on the hunt for a new coach, someone who can carry out their vision and get on the same page with, before their championship window slams shut.

“The path was there for us and we could have seized it,” Paxson said. “It's about trying to take advantage of the moment, and we didn't do that this year, and that was really disappointing.”

Chicago Sports & Travel, Inc./AllsportsAmerica Take: We have mixed emotions about this situation. The owners and team management have the right to run their team as they see fit. We have always said that Jerry Reinsdorf is one of the beat owners in professional sports if not the best. But some things in this affair don't make sense, i.e., Why all of the leaks about the firing? Why not just fire him at the appropriate time and everyone go their separate ways? What about the 9 million dollars still owed Thibodeaux? Did Thibs play these players coming off of surgery without the team doctor's or player's consent? There are many questions to be answered, these are just a few.

These are Thibs positives as I see them:

1) He took the Bulls to five consecutive playoff appearances.

2) He had a winning percentage of .647 (255-139)

3) In the five years he coached, His star player, (Derrick Rose) missed 213 of the games and he still consistently made the playoffs.

4) They said he pushed player beyond what was necessary, however, his pushing made Joakim Noah, the defensive player of the year in 2014. He pushed Jimmy Butler to be the most improved player in 2015. He truly revived Pau Gasol's career and he had more double-doubles than ever. He had given up on the Lakers and they had given up on him. Rose played more like himself in the 2015 playoffs more than he had since he was the MVP. He played with reckless abandon in many instances. Taj Gibson truly matured and for the last three years he played the substitute guards like a violin and got maximum effort from Nate Robinson, D.J. Augustin, and Aaron Brooks. He also had to find a way to get minutes for Nikola Mirotic, Tony Snell and Doug McDermott, who experienced a knee injury this year. Again, who was complaining about the player's time management, the front office or the players?

Can you ever see Michael Jordan, Scotty Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Horace Grant, Bill Cartwright, Luc Longley, John Paxton, Steve Kerr, B.J. Armstrong, Tony Kukoc, Ron Harper, Bill Wennington, Will Purdue, et al complaining about being overworked? Not on your life, they had desire, drive and the determination to be the best that they could be. I'm disappointed with the 2014-2015 Bulls performance in game 6 of this year's playoffs against Cleveland. They appeared to have given up and quit, that never would have happened to a Jordan led team. I'm not saying that this was the case, but when the inmates start running the asylum, there's major problems ahead.

Also, whomever the next coach may be, it's going to be difficult for him to take the team to the playoffs for the next five years consecutively. In a LeBron James interview after the series with the Bulls, he stated, when you're on the court, you can always hear Thibodeau calling out plays and defense. That's going to sorely missed.

I can't write about management's side of this saga as they are only making general statements and no specifics except to say that there was a communication problem. If you're from Chicago, you're a diehard Bulls fan. I pray that this slight roadblock won't hamper the Bulls opportunity to bring a post Jordan NBA championship to Chicago.

Now that you know what we think and how we feel, please go to the comment section at the bottom of this blog and let us know what your thoughts are and what's your take?

The Chicago Sports & Travel, Inc./AllsportsAmerica Editorial Staff     

Former Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau issues statement after departure.

#BULLSTALK

Hours after being dismissed as the Bulls head coach on Thursday, Tom Thibodeau released a statement thanking the fans for their support and the organization for the opportunity.

Thibodeau, who spent the last five seasons behind the Bulls bench, also indicated his coaching plans for the future.

Read the full statement below:

I want to thank, and will deeply miss, our incredible fans and the entire city of Chicago. I also want to thank my staff and all of the talented players and their wonderful families who have honored me and the Bulls by their effort, love, dedication and professionalism. I appreciate the opportunity that Jerry Reinsdorf gave me. We are proud of our many accomplishments, fought through adversity, and tried to give our fans the full commitment to excellence they deserve. I love this game and am excited about what’s ahead for me with USA Basketball and the next coaching opportunity in the NBA.

Bear Down Chicago Bears!!!! Upon further review: Bears handling of Bennett, Forte warrants watching.

By John Mullin

Looking a little deeper at the contract situations of Matt Forte and Martellus Bennett...

The situations are hugely significant, given that the two players represented 16 of the Bears’ 38 touchdowns and 53 percent of the team’s yardage on offense in 2014. They also involve not only the players, but also the directions anticipated in the 2015 Bears offense.

By way of perspective, first:

Understand that the matter of contracts are anything but simple, much more complicated than just declaring, “you’ve got a contract, you have to honor it.” The problem with that, as Brian Urlacher once correctly noted, when teams want (read: “demand”) a player to take a pay cut, the public rarely applies that dictum to teams, only when a player is demanding a pay raise. That’s just the nature of the NFL compensation structure.

For whatever reasons, the knee-jerk attitude is that when someone under-performs their pay grade, they can take a hit, but when someone out-performs their contract, an outcry for more money is rare.

Bennett vs. Julius Thomas

So Bennett can be criticized, albeit not necessarily fairly, for not appearing to honor his contract. “But fair” is a fluid concept where NFL contracts are concerned. Bennett is due a little more than $9 million over the next two seasons; by comparison, Julius Thomas, who caught a combined 108 passes the last two years, vs. Bennett’s 155, will average $9.2 million per year over the next four seasons, roughly twice what Bennett is getting despite production far short of Thomas’.

But here’s a problem.

A more interesting angle on the Bennett and Forte situations is looking at the futures rather than strictly the pasts. Because, ultimately, value is determined by what Bennett and Forte will be worth in the 2015 offense, not only what they were in seasons past.

Every expectation is that the Chicago offense under head coach John Fox and offensive coordinator Adam Gase will swing dramatically back toward the balance that left when Marc Trestman arrived. Bennett’s 155 receptions came in an offense out of balance (nearly 63 percent pass) compared to what Fox and Gase have run previously.

Meaning: Bennett is unlikely to be seeing the 225 “targets” over the next two years that he saw in the last two. By comparison, Thomas saw a combined 149 for 2013-14 with Fox in Denver. Rob Gronkowski averaged 9.0 targets per game over the past two seasons; Bennett averaged 7.0 even with the skewed offense. Bennett's rate of usage is likely to dip a bit.

And the Bears did not use the No. 7 overall pick of this year’s draft on a wide receiver with the intention of increasing use of the tight end.

Figuring Forte

As mentioned previously, one expectation is that the Bears will add a year to Forte’s contract, which expires after 2015, giving him the always-coveted cash-in-hand while at the same time lowering their cap hit.

Two considerations here, one future, one past:

While Bennett’s use might be expected to decline a bit for 2015, Forte’s might not. The return to better balance means more work for running backs. All of the carries and targets aren’t planned to be Forte’s; the Bears used a fourth-round pick for running back Jeremy Langford for more than special teams.

But Forte is the lead dog in the Bears’ backfield and the fact that he turns 30 in December projects as a non-serious issue. Few Bears have put as much planning and effort into their own offseason programs as Forte has, reminiscent of Walter Payton and his “hill.”

Coincidentally perhaps, Forte stands second to only Payton in nearly all significant running-back franchise numbers. And Payton, with more than 300 carries in all 10 of his final non-strike seasons, put up 2,000-yard combined yardage seasons at ages 30 and 31.

The Bears also have a quiet tradition of taking care of distinguished veterans with late-career contract tweaks. Urlacher got one; so did Lance Briggs; so did Roberto Garza.

How GM Ryan Pace and new contract chief Joey Laine go forward with veterans will not be lost in the locker room, either.

Bears RB Matt Forte says he won't hold out for extension.

AP - Sports

Chicago Bears running back Matt Forte speaks with the media after an NFL football organized team activity at Halas Hall, Wednesday May 27, 2015, in Lake Forest, Ill. (AP Photo/Matt Marton)

Chicago Bears running back Matt Forte says he will not hold out for a contract extension.

A two-time Pro Bowl pick, he says he will report to training camp on time despite the team's refusal to extend his deal. Forte is entering the final season of a four-year contract he signed in 2012.

He says the Bears told him they are ''not talking about that type of stuff right now.'' He does not expect to revisit contract talks with general manager Ryan Pace anytime soon.

The 29-year-old Forte set an NFL record for receptions by a running back last season with 102. He joined LaDainian Tomlinson as the only players with 100 catches and 1,000 yards rushing in the same season.

Bears chairman George McCaskey addresses Ray McDonald situation.

By Frank Schwab

Chicago Bears chairman George McCaskey (Photo/AP)

When you sign a player with off-field red flags, publicly rationalize the move with bad logic and then the player gets in trouble, you end up in a mea culpa press conference to explain what went wrong.

Will the Chicago Bears, and specifically chairman George McCaskey, learn anything from the Ray McDonald situation? Maybe. McCaskey certainly spoke like he would, two days after the Bears cut McDonald following an arrest over a domestic violence allegation.

But, many executives talk like character matters, until they need a pass rusher or red-zone threat.
 

“I’ve asked myself that question a lot: ‘What more could I have done? Is there somebody else we could have consulted with? Should I have taken more time to make a decision?’" McCaskey said on Wednesday, according to the Chicago Sun-Times' Patrick Finley. "I don’t know. We thought we had a good structure, a good support system. We thought we had safeguards in place in case something like this happened.”

The Bears heard what they wanted to hear as they debated whether to sign McDonald, which every team does when it justifies signing someone with off-field issues. The Bears tried to sell the public on bad reasoning, like how McDonald impressed them by buying his own plane ticket for a meeting, and that they talked to McDonald's parents and they vouched for him. It's always tough to tell if a team is trying to fool its fans or themselves in these situations.

Either way, it turned out bad, and ended shortly after McDonald was arrested on Monday morning. The previous statements on why it was OK to sign McDonald probably made the situation worse. But it's not like the Bears haven't acquired someone with serious red flags before. This wasn't some first-time experiment. It's hard to imagine it's the last time they acquire someone whose off-field record isn't clean, either.

But, after this public shaming, it might be a while until they try again. 
 

“The overriding emotion for me was sadness," McCaskey said, via Finley. "Sadness for the child, for the child’s mother and for the entire situation. Domestic violence is a vexing social problem. The NFL has had some high-profile cases, including this one. 

“And the NFL — because it’s a leader in society — is  called upon to take action, which we are doing. We’re not going to do it by ourselves but I think we have an opportunity to make an impact.”  

  
Whether the NFL is really a "leader in society," rather than a football business, can be debated. But the Bears wanted to move on quickly from this embarrassment. McCaskey said that he wasn't even consulted on Monday when the Bears cut McDonald because "They knew what needed to be done and did it." He detailed some other regrets. But it really just came down to McCaskey admitting a mistake for approving McDonald's signing, after general manager Ryan Pace asked for permission.

"As a I said, we had safeguards in place," McCaskey said, according to the Sun-Times. "(General manager) Ryan (Pace) came to me for permission. So we have the reinforcement of that process. I just need to make a better decision.”

Cubs see Addison Russell taking a big step forward. 

By Patrick Mooney

Addison Russell spread his arms out wide before taking off his helmet and getting lifted up into his teammates’ arms. The Cubs jumped up and down at Wrigley Field, the mosh pit moving from second base into shallow center.

The crowd roared after Russell blasted the game-winning double off Washington Nationals lefty reliever Matt Grace with two outs in the ninth inning on Tuesday night. It soared out into the gap in right-center field, past Washington centerfielder Denard Span, hitting the grass at the edge of the warning track, rolling into the ivy and bouncing off the brick wall for a 3-2 victory.

“They’re at the top,” Russell said after beating the Nationals with his first walk-off hit at any level of professional baseball. “If we can compete with them, we can compete with anyone. There’s no doubt in my mind that we can compete with anyone. We just got to keep grinding it out.”

The next night, Russell would commit a throwing error that helped create an unearned run the Cubs couldn’t afford to give up when Max Scherzer performs like a $210 million ace with a Cy Young Award on his resume. The Cubs lost 3-0 after splitting two one-run games with the National League’s most talented team on paper.

The Cubs (25-21) are willing to live with the growing pains, knowing they need Russell if they want to make the huge leap you saw last year from the Kansas City Royals, who come into Wrigley Field this weekend as the American League’s defending champs.   

“You have to understand this guy just turned 21,” manager Joe Maddon said. “Most of the time, those guys are in Double-A, or even sometimes A-ball, and they’re making all these mistakes. They’re swinging at bad sliders in Davenport.”

Maddon turned to the cameras in Wrigley Field’s interview room/dungeon and kept rolling: “Which I love Davenport, by the way. Or, say, Salinas, and I do love Salinas. That’s where you make these mistakes. But he’s making them here in front of everybody with cameras and the newspapers.

“Understand, it’s not easy to fight through that at that age with that lack of experience. His mental toughness is really incredible to me, how he’s fought through all these kind of difficult moments for himself. He’s not used to failing. He’s always been the lead bull.

“So as you’re watching him, specifically, and all of our guys blossom, understand where they’re at developmentally. Understand where a lot of guys that age and that experience level are. They’re not here. They’re in some obscure place without the spotlight on them learning their craft. He’s having to do it on the fly here. And he’s doing a great job.” 
  
A natural shortstop, Russell is learning how to play a new position in the big leagues, leading the team with four defensive runs saved, according to the online database at FanGraphs, while also leading all NL second basemen with seven errors.

“He’s extremely talented,” pitcher Jake Arrieta said. “He’s got so much room to grow. And those are things that he’s going to have to go through – and we’re going to have to go through as a team – to get better.”

Russell is also hitting .275 with three homers, eight doubles, eight RBI and a .788 OPS through 25 games in May. Maddon tries to relate to his players by remembering what he was doing at that age. (A fraternity party at Lafayette College would be a good guess.) 

“Unbelievable,” pitcher Kyle Hendricks said. “He obviously is a talent at 21. God, there’s no chance I’d be doing that.”

“I was in the minors,” pitcher Jason Hammel said. “I was down in the ditches, in the bushes, trying to make a name for myself. That’s what I was doing. I sure as hell wasn’t doing what he’s doing right now.

“He’s 21 years old and he’s not just hanging in there. He’s creating himself a nice little niche.”

Hammel had been a piece in last summer’s blockbuster Fourth of July trade with the Oakland A’s. The assumption was the Cubs would get a big-time pitching prospect back in the Jeff Samardzija deal, but Oakland general manager Billy Beane made president of baseball operations Theo Epstein an offer he couldn’t refuse by including Russell.

“When he came up, his first week, he looked like he was just trying not to make waves, playing a little bit tight,” Epstein said. “His swing didn’t have its normal looseness and the bat speed that comes with it. He was a little robotic in the field.

“There comes a point where every player sort of takes a deep breath and relaxes and lets their natural ability come out. You’ve seen more and more from him.”

As much as Scott Boras loves ripping Cubs ownership, the super-agent also made a point to say how much his client has improved since getting traded from Oakland, crediting the organization’s coaches and player-development infrastructure.

“I’ve come pretty far,” Russell said. “There’s still a long ways to go. I’m just trying to get better every day. Just trying to get my early work in, take more swings in the cage. Just keep up my routine and do all the small things that make me ‘me.’

“Each day, it just seems like the game is slowing down, and I want to continue and stay on that process.”

Russell had 57 career at-bats on the Triple-A level before getting promoted in late April, and then he struck out 12 times in his first five games. He’s learning the angles at second base, the footwork that goes into turning a double play, getting more comfortable moving to his right. He’s diving, popping up and throwing to first base again, which he jokes is his signature move. 

Russell has been accountable, answering postgame questions at his locker, and he doesn’t draw attention to himself in the clubhouse. 

For someone who entered this season as Baseball America’s No. 3 overall prospect, Russell has managed to fly under the radar – thanks to Kris Bryant – and not believe all the hype.

Whether it’s making highlight-reel plays, or errors on routine groundballs, Russell expects to be the same guy every day. That’s why the Cubs believe he’s one of their untouchable core players.

“It just goes back to maturity,” Russell said. “You’re going to have those games where you do punch out three times, maybe four times. But tomorrow’s a new day. You got to come back with that whole new mindset.”

Starlin Castro leaves Cubs with questions to answer at shortstop.

By Patrick Mooney

The idea that Starlin Castro would elevate his performance as the Cubs ramped up their rebuild – and played games that actually matter – hasn’t become a reality yet.

Joe Maddon doesn’t blast his players in public, putting a positive spin on things and making the media happy with an amusing anecdote, a clever one-liner or the perfect sound bite for TV and Twitter: “Rock and roll.”

Castro has played for five managers in six seasons, becoming a focal point for Cubs fans/bloggers, the Chicago talk-show circuit and the Twittersphere. Maybe the perception would be different if Castro had Maddon deflecting attention – and a better team around him – during those five fifth-place finishes.

But if the Cubs are really going to contend this year, then Castro’s defense has to be a concern.

You could hear some boos during the ninth inning of Wednesday night’s 3-0 loss to the Washington Nationals at Wrigley Field. Castro had just committed his second error on a groundball to shortstop, giving him 11 this season. The announced crowd of 34,215 had thinned out considerably by then, but enough frustrated fans had seen enough to make some noise.

“He’s done a lot of good things,” Maddon said afterward, defending Castro. “I would say the problem mostly with him has been the routine play more than anything else. And I really believe that you can get a major-league caliber infielder to make the routine play. And he’s been doing that for awhile. He’s had a couple of mistakes – I don’t disagree. But for the most part, I’ve been fine with him at shortstop.”

Maddon wondered if Castro had carried his last at-bat out onto the field, still stewing over grounding out with runners on second and third to end the eighth inning.

Maddon also pointed out Castro had bailed out Addison Russell, turning a nice double play after a bad flip from the second baseman.

Yes, it’s a long season, with the Cubs having almost 72 percent of their schedule remaining. No doubt, Castro should have built up more capital as someone who earned three All-Star selections before his 25^th birthday and already has almost 900 career hits.

But Washington shortstop Ian Desmond (13) is the only National League player who has committed more errors than Castro so far this season, and it makes you wonder how long the Cubs will wait before they make a defensive shakeup with Russell or Javier Baez.

The Cubs certainly didn’t lose this game because of Castro, who got two singles off Max Scherzer (6-3, 1.51 ERA) on a night where the $210 million ace looked like a Cy Young Award frontrunner. And it was Russell’s throwing error that helped create an unearned run in the fourth inning.

But Castro hasn’t taken that leap forward as an offensive force yet. He hasn’t homered in almost three weeks. He’s generated one extra-base hit in his last 14 games, his OPS sinking to .637. A batting average that had risen to .333 on May 1 has since dropped to .270.

Castro’s line-drive percentage (16.0) would represent a career low, while his groundball percentage (60.7) is soaring toward a career high, according to the online database at FanGraphs.

On the 25-and-under infield, Castro is playing next to two rookies in Russell and third baseman Kris Bryant. If the Cubs want to play deep into October, they need to know what they will get from their shortstop, because this team isn’t all that sharp defensively, and the mistakes will now be magnified even more.

“We work on it constantly, man,” Maddon said. “If you’ve noticed, it’s a lot of routine stuff. We’ve also made a lot of great plays the last couple days. We have made a lot of really good plays on defense, and then the one that seems to bite us is the more routine stuff. That’s just repetition and technique.

“Just being fundamentally sound, that’s all that is, and we’re working on it always. I will never denigrate the work of this group or the coaching staff. They’re outstanding. It’s just a little bit of a youthful thing. We just got to get better.”

Chris Sale shines in White Sox victory over Orioles.

By Dan Hayes

Everything in White Sox Land looks pretty clean when Chris Sale is on top of his game.

On Thursday afternoon, the team’s ace made a sloppy product look shiny and new in a 3-2 White Sox win over the Baltimore Orioles in the first game of a doubleheader. With his bullpen in need of a lift, Sale struck out a season-high 12 batters over 7 2/3 scoreless innings at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Melky Cabrera and Adam LaRoche had RBI doubles in the sixth inning as the White Sox won for only the third time in 10 tries. Jake Petricka struck out Travis Snider to earn the save as White Sox pitchers struck out 16.

“(Sale) just had a real good feel for it,” manager Robin Ventura said. “He wasn’t all-out effort and I think that was because he had the soft stuff going. He felt great. He wanted to go back out there. Where we’re at right now with the doubleheader, you like that he wanted to go back out there.”

The White Sox are in the midst of a stretch in which they play 18 times in 17 days. Not only that, but closer David Robertson was off limits in the opening game after he pitched in parts of four innings over the previous two games.

So with a warm, muggy afternoon and Sale flying, Ventura asked his ace if he could return in the eighth inning even though he was already at 108 pitches. The Florida native quickly answered yes.

“You get a doubleheader, you want to get as far into the game as you can,” Sale said. “This (weather) is what I grew up in. This is what I played every game of baseball in pretty much before college, so it was nice to get hot and get a little sweat going and stay loose.”

Sale looked at ease, especially in the eighth.

Holding on to a 2-0 lead, he returned to the mound and needed 12 pitches to strike out Caleb Joseph and Everth Cabrera, both on 96-mph fastballs, before he turned it over to the bullpen.

Accompanied by a wicked slider, Sale mostly had his way with the Orioles until the seventh inning.

He struck out the side in the first inning and only surrendered a broken-bat, infield single his first time through the order. Sale worked around the middle of Baltimore’s lineup in the fourth inning and then struck out five in a row starting in the fifth, facing two over the minimum through six.

Headed into Thursday, his ninth start, Sale had only used the slider 11 percent of the time this season, according to brooksbaseball.net. But he used it liberally against the Orioles, throwing it 28 times in 120 pitches.

“I think (Tyler Flowers) saw that early, where my breaking ball was a little better than it has been this year,” Sale said. “I was just following his lead.”

The White Sox held their advantage when Sale pitched out of his only trouble spot in the seventh.

After a leadoff single by Adam Jones, Sale struck out Delmon Young and got Chris Davis to hit into a fielder’s choice. Sale gave up a single to Steve Pearce but J.J. Hardy fouled out. Sale allowed four hits and didn’t walk any batters marking the fifth time in his career he has had a double-digit strikeout performance and no walks.

For a while it looked like Sale could be headed for a no decision as Orioles rookie Tyler Wilson put up a strong start of his own. He retired Cabrera with two on to end the third inning and set down the White Sox 3-4-5 hitters in order in the fourth. But Adam Eaton drew a leadoff walk in the sixth and was running on the first pitch when Cabrera pushed a double into the left-field corner, allowing Eaton to score from first. It was only Cabera’s fourth extra-base hit of the season. One out later, LaRoche, who went 3-for-4, doubled to deep center to make it 2-0.

The White Sox added an insurance run in the ninth on Flowers’ RBI fielder’s choice. The run became critical when Davis hit a two-run homer off Zach Duke, who struck out three, with two outs in the ninth.

“It’s warming up,” Ventura said. “(Flowers’ RBI is) a big run. It’s always a big run when you can add on late, just to get that little bit of extra cushion.”

Sloppy White Sox drop nightcap to Orioles.

By Dan Hayes

One minute they show you promise, the next the White Sox show you why they haven’t been very good.

Several defensive mistakes and another gaffe on the bases Thursday didn’t do rookie starter Chris Beck any favors in the second half of a long, muggy afternoon. Winners behind a dominant Chris Sale in the opener, the White Sox were forced to settle for a split after they dropped the nightcap of a doubleheader, 6-3, to the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

The teams split the makeup doubleheader but the White Sox — who open a three-game series in Houston on Friday night — made a handful of errors that may have cost them a sweep.

“We had some chances there to get (Beck) out of some stuff and we didn’t and you move on to Houston,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. “It was a long day, a long day to get guys in there and play some positions, but we could have played better in the second game.

“He did his job.”

He said it could have been better, but all things considered, Beck’s major league debut was solid — especially after he settled down. Unfortunately for the White Sox, their defense went the opposite direction.

Holding a 3-2 lead in the third, Beck yielded a one-out single and walked Chris Davis. Steve Clevenger followed with a single but Melky Cabrera’s throw home was on the mark only for Geovany Soto to drop it, which allowed Adam Jones to score and the others to move into scoring position.

On the very next play, Conor Gillaspie couldn’t hang on to J.J. Hardy’s ground-ball single, which allowed another run to score and gave Baltimore a 4-3 lead. But Beck retired the next two batters to limit the damage in the third.

He pitched around a one-out double in the fourth and leadoff walk in the fifth.
Beck looked like he’d get around a leadoff double in the sixth but Emilio Bonifacio misplayed Travis Snider’s hard liner into an RBI single to make it 5-3.

Despite the extra outs provided by the White Sox, Beck avoided letting the game get out of hand.

“He managed himself really good,” Soto said. “He was a big leaguer. He looked like a big leaguer.”

A low throw by Beckham in the seventh accounted for another run, this one charged to Dan Jennings.

Beck looked just like a rookie in his first two innings. He gave up an opposite-field triple to Manny Machado on his first pitch and walked Johnny Paredes with one out. Adam Jones’ RBI groundout made it 1-0 in the first and Davis doubled in another run to put Beck down by two. But the rookie stranded two batters in the second inning when Snider grounded out to first.

Beck — who was optioned back to Triple-A Charlotte after the game — allowed five runs (four earned) and 10 hits with four walks in six innings.

Though he was partly satisfied and found some positives, Beck wanted more.

“Still there was a couple of pitches in my head I wish I could take back,” Beck said. “You just tried to move on from each one and execute to the best of my abilities and today that just wasn’t really up to par.”

After a strong start, the White Sox offense had to settle for a bogey or two when birdies were an option.

Adam Eaton started the game with a solo home run off rookie pitcher Mike Wright. The White Sox added two more in the third inning on a two-run homer by Adam LaRoche to put the White Sox ahead 3-2.

But trailing by a run in the fifth, the White Sox ran themselves out of a potential rally. LaRoche led off with a walk and Beckham drew a 10-pitch free pass. LaRoche tagged on Gillaspie’s fly to right and advanced to third. But Beckham inexplicably took off from first, slipped and was doubled off. After another walk, reliever Oliver Drake retired J.B. Shuck on a liner.

Ventura attributed some of his team’s mistakes to a long day in the midst of an unforgiving stretch of 18 games in 17 days. Given the scenarios he faced, Beck impressed Ventura.

“His presence of what was going on around him, he still competed and did what he was supposed to do,” Ventura said. “It’s a good lineup, it’s tough to go through. For a guy’s first time up here he was fine.

“Once he got over the ‘he’s starting,’ his command was better and got guys out in front with the change.”

Golf: I got a club for that: Bowditch leads Byron Nelson with blistering first round.

AFP

Steven Bowditch, an Australian who has made his home in Texas, upstaged native son Jordan Spieth, grabbing a two-shot lead in the Byron Nelson Championship with a sparkling 62.

Bowditch, seeking a second victory on the USPGA Tour, had eight birdies in his eight-under effort and a two-stroke lead over American Jimmy Walker, who had seven birdies and a bogey in his six-under 64.

Americans Ryan Palmer and James Hahn shared third on 65, with Tom Gillis, John Merrick and 2011 PGA Championship winner Keegan Bradley a further stroke back on 66.

Spieth, the 21-year-old Masters champion, settled for a one-under 69 that left him tied for 33rd.

Bowditch's round matched his best ever on the US tour.

He set the tone early, rolling in a 24-foot birdie putt at his opening hole. He drained birdie putts of 30, 29 and 18 feet and said his decision to add a little weight to his putter on Thursday had helped him produce the best putting round of his PGA career.

"I typically don't make a lot of longer putts," Bowditch said.

Bowditch said keeping it in the fairway was also key on the rain-soaked TPC Four Seasons course.

"I stayed aggressive, kept hitting drivers and getting them on the golf course," he said. "The greens are great. They are soft but you can still make some putts out there."

Spieth's sensational victory at Augusta National made him the first Texan to win a major title since Justin Leonard won the 1997 British Open.

He's been the focus of adoring attention both at last week's Colonial in nearby Fort Worth and this week at the tournament he first played as a 16-year-old.

"Not a whole lot you can do with only two birdies in the round," said Spieth, who also had one bogey.

Bowditch ended up in the Dallas-Fort Worth area by chance, saying he "basically threw a dart at the map" when he decided to set up a US base in 2005.

He met his wife in Texas and has now lived here a decade, saying with a smile: "I'm stuck now."

Fittingly, his only win on the US Tour came at San Antonio last year, when he was one of three Aussies to notch a Texas win along with Matt Jones in Houston and Adam Scott at Colonial.

US Open the most democratic of majors.

By DOUG FERGUSON

England's Luke Donald plays a shot during day two of the BMW PGA Championship at the Wentworth golf club, Virginia Water, England, Friday May 22, 2015. (Adam Davy/PA via AP)

The names of golf's two oldest championships are similar, and so are the concepts.

The British Open and the U.S. Open are open to anyone who wants to qualify. The difference between them, other than the 35 years of history and the turf on which golf is played, was evident Monday when the final exemptions were awarded through the world ranking.

The U.S. Open took the top 60 in the world who were not already eligible, adding 24 players to the field at Chambers Bay in three weeks. That brought the number to 74 players who do not have to qualify, and it brought a smile to the face of the USGA.

For the ninth straight year, at least half of the 156-man field will have to qualify for the right to play in the U.S. Open. That includes seven players who earned over $2 million on the PGA Tour last season, and three players who already have cleared $2 million this year. It includes Thomas Bjorn, who was in the Ryder Cup last September.

It's not easy to get into the major known as the toughest test in golf.

It's not unreasonable, either.

U.S. Open champions are exempt for 10 years. The Masters and PGA Championship give their winners a lifetime pass. British Open champions can play until they're 60.

Winners of the other three majors get a five-year exemption to the U.S. Open, while The Players Championship winner gets three years. The top 10 and ties from the previous U.S. Open don't have to qualify, nor do the 30 players who make it the Tour Championship.

Everyone else - except for amateurs and the Senior U.S. Open champion - has to qualify if they're not among the top 60 in the world. There is one more cutoff for the top 60 the week of the U.S. Open, though no more than two players typically get through.

Monday also was the cutoff for the British Open.

It took the top 50 in the world who were not already eligible from a long list of criteria that recognizes the quality of golf being played around the world. That's how it should be. The proper name of golf's oldest event is ''The Open Championship.'' It is the most global of majors, which is why the winner of the claret jug is introduced on the 18th green as the champion golfer of the year.

But it's not as open as it used to be.

The Open has similar exemptions for major champions, and it recognizes its European roots by giving a three-year pass to the BMW PGA Championship winner and to the top 30 from the Race to Dubai. 

It also takes the money winner from tours in Australia, Asia and South Africa, and the top two from the money list in Japan. The list goes on.

Five more PGA Tour players can get in through the FedEx Cup standings a week after the U.S. Open. Two more from the Japan Golf Tour can get in through a special money list. There's a spot for the Japan Open champion, and for everyone on the last Ryder Cup team (that covers Bjorn).

There's still room for qualifying - as many as 44 spots, or roughly 28 percent of the field. 

All but 12 of those are in the ''Open Qualifying Series.'' Those are part of an existing event, such as the Irish Open this week or the Greenbrier Classic next month. The top three or four players, provided they finish no worse than 12th in the tournament, get into the British Open if they haven't already qualified.

R&A chief Peter Dawson said last year that it effectively is a 72-hole qualifier, which would seem to be a more rigorous test, just like 36 holes is a better measure than 18. Except that players don't set out to get into the Open. They're trying to win a tournament.

It's different when its 36 holes against a field of players with the same objective. That's where golf's oldest championship loses some of its romance.

That's what the U.S. Open gets right.

Joe Ogilvie is an interesting case study. He retired last year, but not before making it through U.S. Open qualifying three straight years. A year ago, he missed three straight cuts and then tied for third in the qualifier. In 2013, he missed eight cuts and finished no higher than 46th in two other events. And then he finished fourth in the qualifier. He had the same bad form and same good result in 2012.

Think he would have stood a chance in the British Open qualifying system?

''I treated qualifiers differently,'' Ogilvie said. ''There was no scoreboard watching. I played the golf course. I didn't try to win. I didn't try to shoot 62. Just keep the ball in front of me, take all the big numbers out and go from there. Admittedly, if I treated my career like that I would have gone better.''

Luke Donald is not eligible for the U.S. Open or British Open for the first time in a decade. Depending on how he fares at the Irish Open this week, he will play a 36-hole qualifier on June 8 against a field of players not eligible for the U.S. Open. His odds are probably better than the British qualifying system, especially considering it has been three months since he last finished better than 15th.

NASCAR; H2H: Is day racing or night racing better?

George Winkler and Kathy Sheldon

Would you rather watch under the sun or stars?

Last week while speaking at Charlotte Motor Speedway, it came out that Dale Earnhardt Jr. thinks the daytime is the right time for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing. Junior had his reasons, and you can read them at the link above, but it got us at NASCAR.com thinking about which type of races we prefer.

Some tracks shine at night, such as Bristol Motor Speedway for the annual night race there in the late summer, and fans look forward to the event months in advance. Meanwhile, other venues sparkle during the daylight. Like, how could we beat the day at Talladega earlier this season? Bright skies and that big American flag in the background. What could be better?

Kathy Sheldon and George Winkler have their preferences as to which time they like races and are ready to debate. Which do you prefer? Let us know in the comments section below.

Winkler: Alright, Kathy. Boogity, boogity, boogity, let's go debating. I'll start off speaking from the heart. My first live sporting event with my dad was a day baseball game in San Francisco between the Giants and Cardinals. And as a kid I remember just how bright and green that field appeared the first time I laid eyes on it. Had it been a night game, it would have been past my bedtime. So I empathize with parents who are bringing their sons and daughters to their first race. I want them to have the same bright experience I had because that is what will set them on the path to becoming a true sports fan.

Sheldon: George, we share an abiding love for baseball, as well as racing. I, too, was a wee lass when my family took me to my first game at Wrigley Field -- a day game. I would argue all day long for more day baseball, but racing is different for me. Baseball fans usually spend less than 3-1/2 hours total at the ballpark. That's including player introductions, the national anthem, and buying souvenirs before or after the game. Out of 12 races so far this season, NASCAR fans have seen five events go past the 3.5-hour mark. Just the racing. The Coca-Cola 600 was 4 hours and 3 minutes -- of baking in the sun. The deeper we go into summer, the hotter those afternoon races get. Plus, remember many NASCAR fans travel to see races. Saturday night races give them a chance to get some shut-eye then make their way home on Sunday and not miss any work vs. driving late into the night Sunday or taking a day off on Monday.

Winkler: Kathy, you make a great point about the travel for the fans being more convenient on Sunday after a Saturday night race. Those of us who work in the business certainly appreciate those Sundays off, too. But stepping away from the fan experience for a bit, let's talk about the actual racing. Junior thinks there's better racing during the day because the surface is hotter, the track is slicker and the groove is wider. These are some of the reasons I love watching the race at Auto Club Speedway, for example. With a racing surface that's wide open during the day, it gives drivers the chance to try different grooves and can lead to exciting moments and different strategies. Plus, those California views! Or Phoenix or Las Vegas for that matter. Can't see those at night!  
 
Sheldon: Sticking with the fan experience for one more second, what you can see at night is the fireworks on the track. Did you not think it was the coolest thing ever the first time you saw the brake rotors glowing on 43 cars going 150-plus mph? Only at night can you see the sparks flying when the exhaust or suspension pieces hit the pavement during braking in the corners or when cars make contact. As for better racing, I like seeing the strategy of which team can beat the changing conditions. Going from early evening setting sun track temperatures to cooler night temperatures is just one more facet in the battle of man vs. machine. This spring’s Texas race didn't lack excitement, with 29 lead changes among nine drivers.

Winkler: OK, you're a tough cookie to crack, Kathy. So I'm pulling out the cranky old man material. I get up early in the morning and need to get on with my day. I don't have time to sit around in a parking lot waiting for these night races. I've got places to go, people to see, yards to mow, important stuff like that. These crazy kids these days getting extra time to get all "juiced up" for these races. I like to hit the ground running in the morning and I'm ready for a good, old-fashioned 1 p.m. ET start. Get 'er done, as they say! 

Sheldon: George, I'll hand it to you on being a family man. I've worked nights too many years. So I would still rather be hanging out in the parking lot after a race having a sandwich and one last beer (if I'm not driving) while waiting for traffic to thin out at midnight rather than getting up with the sun. Or better yet, camping! I'd say we agree you can't really go wrong when it comes to spending time at the track as a fan, but sign me up for those warm summer nights.

SOCCER; U-20 World Cup preview: The groups, the favorites, USA outlook and the game's future stars.

By Andy Edwards

Previews - FIFA U-20 World Cup New Zealand 2015

Night owls, rejoice, for the 2015 U-20 World Cup, which is being played in New Zealand, kicks off late Thursday night or very, very early Friday morning (depending on what time zone you live in).

The bi-annual tournament returns and brings with it yet another showcase of some of the world’s very best up and coming talent from all corners of the globe. Want to see the next great South American star from Brazil or Argentina? The U-20 World Cup is the place to do just that. Oh, and the Americans are back for a second straight cycle, carrying expectations as heavy as any wave of youngsters dawning the Stars and Stripes have in quite some time.

The groups

Group A — Myanmar, New Zealand (hosts), Ukraine, United States
Group B — Argentina, Austria, Ghana, Panama
Group C — Colombia, Portugal, Qatar, Senegal
Group D — Mali, Mexico, Serbia, Uruguay
Group E — Brazil, Hungary, Nigeria, North Korea
Group F — Fiji, Germany, Honduras, Uzbekistan

The favorites

Hey, guess what — Brazil, Argentina and Germany have lots more really good, young players coming through the pipeline, so expect them to be around for the latter stages.

Unlike the big World Cup, winning at the youth level isn’t so much about being the best team as it is having the best player, or collection of two or three players. Fortunately for the above mentioned sides, they’ve got both top-end talent and overall better, deeper squads than most.

But don’t be surprised when someone unexpected — think Uruguay, Nigeria or Mexico — has one of the tournament’s leading scorer or assist men, and rides that wave of production to a semifinal or finals appearance. It happens almost every youth tournament — Ghana and Iraq bowed out in the 2013 semifinals.

USA outlook

This time around, the draw was kind to Tab Ramos & Co. Remember that vicious 2013 draw — Spain, France and Ghana? Woof. It went about as poorly as was to be expected — zero points and a minus-6 goal differential.

Ukraine, New Zealand and Myanmar is an infinitely better draw. In fact, failing to make it out of the group would be a massive failure. From there, the Baby Yanks could face any one of Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Portugal, Mexico, Uruguay, Serbia or Nigeria. Obviously winning the group becomes advantageous to avoid some of the heavyweights.

Qualification was pretty straightforward for Ramos’ squad after struggling in their first two group games (1-1 vs. Guatemala, 0-1 vs. Panama). The roster features a number of changes from qualification, but optimism surrounds a side with first-team regulars for their respective club teams — Emerson Hyndman (Fulham), Rubio Rubin (Utrecht), Tommy Thompson (San Jose Earthquakes), Matt Miazga (New York Red Bulls) and Kellyn Acosta (FC Dallas) — making up much of the expected starting 11.

Stars of the future

Angel Correa, forward, Argentina & Atletico Madrid — 20 years old — Moved from San Lorenzo (Argentina) to Atletico Madrid last summer, but missed six months of his first season in Spain after a tumor was discovered on his heart. Scored 12 goals in 65 league games in Argentina’s first division, as a teenager.

Kelechi Iheanacho, forward, Nigeria & Manchester City — 18 years old — Was the star (Golden Ball winner) of Nigeria’s U-17 World Cup-winning side back in 2013. Moved to Man City shortly thereafter, where he’s impressed for the Citizen’s reserve side.

Andreas Pereira, midfielder, Brazil & Manchester United — 19 years old — Made his Premier League debut this season, before signing a new three-year contract weeks later. Belgian-born, but a frequent standout for Brazil’s youth teams at all levels.

Giovanni Simeone, forward, Argentina & River Plate — 19 years old — The son of Atleti manager Diego, Giovanni made his first-team debut for River not long after his 18th birthday. Born in Madrid, could have played for Spain, but elected to play for the country of his father’s birth.

Hirving Lozano, midfielder, Mexico & Pachuca — 19 years old — Nearly 50 appearances for Pachuca’s first team, including 29 this season (7 league goals); 2015 CONCACAF U-20 Championship (qualifying tournament) Golden Boot winner.

Andrija Zivkovic, midfielder, Serbia & Partizan — 18 years old — 60 first-team appearances for Partizan; scored 5 league goals each of the last two seasons (12 total, all competitions); made 10 appearances in Champions League qualification playoffs and Europa League this season.

Diego Poyet, midfielder, Uruguay & West Ham United — 20 years old — Another son of a famous father — former Sunderland manager Gus — Diego made a handful of first-team appearances this year, his first season with the Hammers.

Gedion Zelalem, midfielder, United States & Arsenal — 18 years old — Crowned the next savior of American soccer long before his switch from German to American international was approved. Just a pair of first-team appearances for Arsenal, but rave reviews from Arsene Wenger have USMNT supporters crazed with hope and excitement.

Godfred Donsah, midfielder, Ghana & Cagliari — 18 years old — Made his Serie A debut at 17 years old; scored twice for a relegated Cagliari side this season after becoming a regular in the first team (20 starts).

US Open Cup 3rd round roundup: MLS teams learn 4th round opponents. 

By Andy Edwards

(Getty Images)

Call it the mini-Cascadia Cup, if you must, but with a place in the fourth round of the 2015 US Open Cup on the line, Seattle Sounders 2 and Portland Timbers 2 — each MLS side’s respective USL farm team — provided some quality afternoon entertainment and a glimpse of the future of MLS’s most popular rivalry.

Rennico Clarke opened the scoring and gave the visiting Timbers the lead in the 54th minute, but Andy Craven equalized for the Sounders just 12 minutes later. The game would remain tied, 1-1, after regular time.

Pablo Rossi scored the winner in the final minute of the first period of extra time (104th minute). Sam Garza’s made a surging run through midfield before playing a through ball into the Timbers 2 penalty area. Rossi received the ball, following what would turn out to be a catastrophic error by a T2 defender, and curled his second-time shot inside the far post.

S2 will face Major League Soccer side Real Salt Lake at Rio Tinto Stadium in the fourth round.

North American Soccer League (U.S. Soccer’s officially recognized second-division league) teams won just two of their nine third-round matchups, with all seven losses coming at the hands of USL (third division) sides.

Elsewhere in USOC 3rd round action

Harrisburg City Islanders 1-3 (AET) Rochester Rhinos
Richmond Kickers 3-0 Jacksonville Armada
Pittsburgh Riverhounds 1-0 Tampa Bay Rowdies
Chattanooga FC 1-2 (AET) Atlanta Silverbacks
Carolina RailHawks 0-1 Charlotte Independence
Charleston Battery 3-2 Ft. Lauderdale Strikers
Indy Eleven 0-2 (AET) Louisville City
New York Cosmos 3-0 Jersey Express
Saint Louis FC 1-1 (3-1 PKs) Minnesota United
Tulsa Roughnecks 0-1 Oklahoma City Energy
San Antonio Scorpions 0-2 Austin Aztex
Real Monarchs 0-1 Colorado Springs Switchbacks
Ventura City Fusion 1-2 PSA Elite
Sacramento Republic 7-3 Chula Vista FC

4th round matchups (to be played June 16 or 17 – home team listed first)

Seattle Sounders (MLS) vs. Portland Timbers (MLS)
New York Cosmos (NASL) vs. New York City FC (MLS)
LA Galaxy (MLS) vs. PSA Elite (USASA)
New York Red Bulls (MLS) vs. Atlanta Silverbacks (NASL)
Sporting Kansas City (MLS) vs. Saint Louis FC (USL)
FC Dallas (MLS) vs. Oklahoma City Energy (USL)
New England Revolution (MLS) vs. Charlotte Independence (USL)
Richmond Kickers (USL) vs. Columbus Crew SC (MLS)
Pittsburgh Riverhounds (USL) vs. D.C. United (MLS)
Real Salt Lake (MLS) vs. Seattle Sounders 2 (USL)
Charleston Battery (USL) vs. Orlando City SC (MLS)
Houston Dynamo (MLS) vs. Austin Aztex (USL)
Chicago Fire (MLS) vs. Louisville City (USL)
San Jose Earthquakes (MLS) vs. Sacramento Republic (USL)
Philadelphia Union (MLS) vs. Rochester Rhinos (USL)
Colorado Rapids (MLS) vs. Colorado Springs Switchbacks (USL)

NCAAFB: Inequality in cost of attendance has some worried in SEC.

By RALPH D. RUSSO

The cost of attendance boost to an athletic scholarship is about to become a reality and some coaches are uncomfortable with the new economic reality of college sports: Athletes will be able to get more at some schools than at others.
  

In the Southeastern Conference, Tennessee and Auburn will be giving their athletes about $5,500 more on top of a scholarship that pays for tuition, room and board, and books.

On the other end, schools such as Alabama, Texas A&M and Georgia will be giving their athletes about $3,000 less. Those numbers are determined by financial aid offices following federal guidelines, and individual students can petition a school for more money.

''The calculation of it has nothing to do with college athletics,'' Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs said Wednesday at the SEC spring meetings.

Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said he is concerned the variances create an advantage for some schools and could promote fraud.

''Even in the NFL they have a salary cap,'' Saban said this week. ''So this is an issue to me that is completely different than anything that we've had to deal with. Now, I'm all for the players getting more. I always have been. I've always promoted it. I've always been for it.

''I just think there are some unforeseen consequences of this that may affect the competitive balance that we've always worked very hard to keep relative to college football.''

LSU athletic director Joe Alleva said some standardization in determining cost of attendance would be beneficial.

''There's certain parts of cost of attendance that are the same at every school,'' Alleva said. ''So for example: Are you going to give a kid a laptop computer? If you're going to give him or her a laptop, are you going to do it every year? Are you going to do it every other year? If we can define how many trips home we're going to give a kid.

''I think the more we can narrow it down the better.''

Narrowing it down - or trying to cap the cost of attendance - could be problematic, though.

''I think that's what has to be discussed before we decide to layer on certain guidelines or policies,'' Mississippi athletic director Ross Bjork said. ''I think we have to be careful in today's world that we're not setting ourselves up for the next round of legal issues.''

The cost of attendance stipend at Ole Miss will be $4,500, fourth-most in the SEC according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

At Mississippi State, the cost of attendance bump will be $5,126.

Mississippi State athletic director Scott Stricklin does not see the stipend as being any more of an advantage in recruiting for the Bulldogs as newer facilities, bigger stadiums and larger support staffs would be for rivals such as Alabama or LSU.

''All of our campuses have differences,'' Stricklin said. ''Different strengths. Different challenges. We offer different experiences for prospective students, and student-athletes. We're going to use all those in recruiting to stand out. This is just another part of it, I think.

 

''It's a new concept and there are a lot of things that we do that we try to level the playing field on. This just happens to be one that I don't think the circumstances around that allow that to happen.''

When cost of attendance rules were adopted by the Power Five conferences earlier this year, the SEC proposed an NCAA rule that would have required schools to report when and why a student-athlete was given a cost-of-attendance stipend above the predetermined school average.

The SEC will continue to push for a national transparency rule, but the idea of altering the way it is calculated or capping does not seem to be realistic.

''We are constrained by the law,'' SEC Commissioner Mike Slive said.

NCAABKB: Will Frank Kaminsky turn college success into NBA greatness?

By Vinnie Duber

Frank Kaminsky was the national player of the year in college basketball, named as such by just about everyone you can think to ask.

But college is over, and now it’s time to see if Kaminsky’s success at the NCAA level can translate to success in the pros.

Being dubbed college hoops’ best player doesn’t have much correlation to NBA greatness. Yes, the last 10 years of honorees have included Kevin Durant and Anthony Davis. They’ve also included Jimmer Fredette and Tyler Hansbrough.

Kaminsky, obviously, will hope to be more like the first two guys named than the last two, and given the amazing transformation he went through during four years at Wisconsin, you shouldn’t count him out.

Most believe that Kaminsky will be able to find NBA success thanks to a phenomenal offensive game that includes a bottomless bag of post-move tricks and an accurate 3-point shot. He shot 54.7 percent last season from the field and 41.6 percent from 3-point range. That’s a seven-footer shooting 41.6 percent from 3-point range, to be precise.

“I bring a lot of different things to the table,” Kaminsky told reporters at the NBA Draft Combine. “On the offensive end, I bring a versatile skill set, I can fit in with systems, I can fit in with people. I feel like I’ve got a good personality, and I’m committed to winning. If I’ve shown anything in the last two years in college, it’s that I want to win. I have a winning attitude, and I can bring that to the table.”

His offensive game is impressive, though he might need to move down a position in the NBA because of it. Yeah, he’s seven feet tall, but NBA teams might want to use him as a power forward instead of a center, something Kaminsky mentioned at the combine.

If there’s anything that folks are concerned might not move over to the NBA, it’s his defense. Playing power forward will mean guarding smaller guys. He proved himself as part of a strong defensive Badgers team defending the low post, grabbing a ton of rebounds and ranking highly in the Big Ten in blocked shots, but how will he do when he’s guarding guys away from the basket? Kaminsky knows it’s the part of his game he’ll need to improve the most.

“I think I need to improve on the defensive end,” Kaminsky said. “It’s a whole different evil at the next level. You can get away with some deficiencies in college, but in the NBA you’ll get exposed. So I know I need to get work on my body and get better.”

There’s plenty, though, that won’t be in question.

Kaminsky’s bringing the same confidence and attitude to the draft process that made him a national celebrity this spring. It was a Final Four run during which the Badgers seemed more like fun-loving rock stars than college kids on a basketball mission, though both of those descriptions applied.

Kaminsky was the star of that show, putting his goofiness on display for the American basketball-watching public with on-air dance moves, humorous magazine photo-shoots and an interview with actor Will Ferrell for Access Hollywood.

“Your everyday interesting character,” Wisconsin teammate Sam Dekker described. “He’s quirky, he’s fun-loving and he’s very straight forward. Sometimes people might not like that, but that’s Frank. He’s not afraid of who’s around, he’s just going to be himself, but that’s the thing that makes him great. He doesn’t care who’s watching him, he’s going to be him, he’s going to play his game. … The guy you see on the court’s the guy you see off the court.”

Through all the giggling during press conferences, though, Kaminsky and the Badgers made it very clear that a switch flipped when they took the court, that winning was still the most important thing. And that proved true as they mopped the floor with the Big Ten and won some NCAA tournament games in incredible comeback fashion. Wisconsin took down Michigan State in the Big Ten Tournament title game, bested Arizona in an Elite Eight rematch and put a stop to Kentucky’s undefeated season in a memorable Final Four showdown.

And through it all, Kaminsky played exceptionally well. He scored 29 points against Arizona, poured in 20 against Kentucky and finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds in the national title game loss to Duke. He averaged 18.8 points and 8.2 rebounds per game during his senior season of college, earning national and conference player of the year honors and becoming a no-doubt first team All American.

So what’s the issue?

“Haters, man. There’s haters,” Dekker said. “When you’re good enough to put yourself in that position with the stuff he did, people are going to try to knock you down and doubt you. But the best players ever are going to go through that stuff. And I see Frank as a really, really good player. He won those awards for a reason. And he’s going to add even more to his game, and I see him doing well regardless of where he goes, he’s going to represent well and have a very long and very good career.”

That’s what Kaminsky is hoping for. He said his expectations were to be picked anywhere from No. 5 to No. 12. It’s a projection that would’ve seemed like lunacy just a few years ago, when he was an unheralded recruit out of Benet Academy who couldn’t find his way onto the court for Bo Ryan’s Badgers. But by the time he was an upperclassman, Kaminsky was leading the Badgers on deep NCAA tournament runs and winning national player of the year awards.

Time will tell how Kaminsky’s NBA career goes, but if the past is any indication, counting him out would seem a bad decision.

9 likely challengers await American Pharoah in Belmont.

By BETH HARRIS

Triple Crown hopeful American Pharoah gets a bath at Churchill Downs in Louisville, K.Y, Tuesday, May 26, 2015. (Churchill Downs/Reed Palmer Photography via AP)

Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner American Pharoah figures to have nine challengers when he runs in the Belmont Stakes next week, trying to become the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years.

Seven of his expected rivals return from the Derby or the Preakness, while two others are new to the Triple Crown trail.

The latest horse to join the mix Thursday was The Truth or Else, who has two wins in two starts at Belmont Park. He is trained by Ken McPeek, who ended War Emblem's Triple try in 2002 with 70-1 shot Sarava.

Trainer Mark Casse said Conquest Curlinate would not run in the Belmont. The colt wasn't nominated to the Triple Crown series and it would have cost $75,000 to supplement him to the 1 1/2-mile race.

Other expected runners are Carpe Diem (10th in Derby); Frammento (11th in Derby); Frosted (fourth in Derby); Keen Ice (seventh in Derby); Madefromlucky; Materiality (sixth in Derby); Mubtaahij (eighth in Derby); and Tale of Verve (second in Preakness).

The field will be set next Wednesday, when entries are taken and post positions drawn.

Bob Baffert, who trains American Pharoah, downplayed the issue of Derby horses skipping the Preakness to rest up five weeks and run in the Belmont.

''I don't blame them,'' he said Thursday. ''That part of the Triple Crown doesn't bother me at all.''

Baffert won't send American Pharoah from Kentucky to Belmont Park until next Tuesday, and the horse won't have an official workout over the big oval. Instead, he'll gallop up to the race on June 6.

''That's my comfort zone,'' he said. ''I've had so much luck shipping out of Churchill Downs and winning Grade 1 races. I feel more confident doing that than if I was just sitting around up there.''

Kiaran McLaughlin will saddle Frosted at his home track, and he agreed with Baffert that American Pharoah doesn't need extended time over the track.

''He could probably run down a street very well over broken glass. He's a very, very nice horse,'' McLaughlin said. ''I don't think working over it is going to make him like it. It's more the distance, because no one has run a mile and a half, and you don't know if they'll want a mile and a half.''

American Pharoah has never run at Belmont, and neither have most of his challengers. However, six of them train there and The Truth or Else has those two victories on the track.

''Weird things happen in the Belmont,'' McPeek said. ''You shouldn't duck one horse in a race. American Pharoah could possibly not handle the surface. You don't know. So long as it's a dry track, we'll pull the trigger.''

Baffert agreed weather is a factor at Belmont, where the extended forecast calls for partly cloudy skies with a 20 percent chance of rain on race day.

''If it's windy and dry, it becomes deep and loose and tiring,'' he said. ''There's so many variables. I want a fair track.''

Baffert is confident in American Pharoah and his preparation, and the only pressure he's feeling is on behalf of racing fans that have waited patiently for 36 years to see another Triple Crown winner.

Only 11 horses have swept the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont, the last being Affirmed in 1978.

The most recent attempt was last year, when California Chrome finished in a tie for fourth in the Belmont. In 2012, I'll Have Another won the first two legs but was scratched on Belmont eve with a leg injury. In 2008, Big Brown didn't finish the Belmont.

''I don't want to let those fans down,'' Baffert said. ''Every year we go, 'This is the one.' Hopefully, maybe, this is the one. So far all indications show me that he's doing well. It's about the horse now. Is he that good of a horse to do it?''

On This Date in Sports History: Today is Friday, May 29, 2015.

Memoriesofhistory.com

1911 - The first running of the Indianapolis 500 took place. Ray Harroun won the race.

1916 - The New York Giants won their 17th consecutive road game.

1922 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that organized baseball was a sport, not subject to antitrust laws.

1962 - Buck (John) O'Neil became the first black coach in major league baseball when he accepted the job with the Chicago Cubs.

1965 - Ralph Boston set a world record in the broad jump at 27-feet, 4-3/4 inches, at a meet held in Modesto, CA.

1965 - Dick Allen (Philadelphia Phillies) hit a 529' home run out of Connie Mack Stadium.

1977 - A.J. Foyt won the Indianapolis 500 for the fourth time.

1977 - Sue Press became the first woman golfer to hit consecutive holes-in-one.

1984 - The Boston Red Sox retired #9 (Ted Williams) and #4 (Joe Cronin).

1985 - In Brussels, Belgium, at Heysel Stadium a concrete retaining wall collapsed and 39 people were crushed or trampled to death. More than 400 people were injured. The soccer event was the European Champion's Cup final.

1990 - Rickey Henderson stole his 893rd base. He broke Ty Cobb's record.

1992 - Tim Raines (Chicago White Sox) stole his 700th career base.

2001 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that disabled golfer Casey Martin could use a cart to ride in tournaments.

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