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Sports Quote of the Day:
"The integral part of being a star is having the will to win. All champions have it." ~ Betty Cuthbert, Athlete and Fourfold Olympic Champion
Trending: Chicago Bears vs. Cincinnati Bengals. TV Schedule: Saturday, Aug. 29, 7:30 p.m. ET on FOX (Chicago), CBS (Cincinnati) Stadium: Paul Brown Stadium, Cincinnati, OH.
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Trending: Watson shines alongside steady Day, struggling Spieth. (See golf section for details).
Bear Down Chicago Bears!!!!! Bears vs. Bengals NFL Preseason Week 3 Preview, TV Schedule and Prediction.
Bear Down Chicago Bears!!!!! Bears vs. Bengals NFL Preseason Week 3 Preview, TV Schedule and Prediction.
By Clyde A. Speller
TV Schedule: Saturday, Aug. 29, 7:30 p.m. ET on FOX (Chicago), CBS (Cincinnati)
Stadium: Paul Brown Stadium, Cincinnati, OH.
Out of all the weeks during the NFL Preseason, Week 3 is the week that fans look forward to most. That’s when they can get a really good indication of how their team will look once the regular season starts. This Saturday, both the Chicago Bears and the Cincinnati Bengals will square off, trying to see for themselves just how ready they are for the real season.
The Bears (2-0) have found ways to win so far this preseason, despite not having their roster at full strength. As for the Bengals (1-1), they are looking to right numerous wrongs they had in their Week 2 preseason loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
With the first strings of both teams slated to play through most of the game, Cincinnati will get a good chance to see if their fifth-ranked rushing attack from last season is still effective. On the flip side, Chicago will have the challenge of trying to stop Bengals running backs Jeremy Hill and Giovani Bernard with a new 3-4 defensive alignment that they are still getting accustomed to.
Specifically, a lot of attention will be focused on how Bears rookie nose tackle Eddie Goldman will handle the interior of the defensive line. Goldman will more than likely be Chicago’s starting nose tackle Week 1 of the regular season due to the three-game suspension of veteran Jeremiah Ratliff.
Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton, who struggled in Week 2 of the preseason, will be looking to get back on track. Dalton just might do so going up against a Chicago defense that has yet to solidify their secondary. The Bears are still uncertain who will be their starting free safety. Last week, rookie Adrian Amos was bumped up to the first string and is still finding his way. Dalton, along with wide receiver A.J. Green, could exploit that soft spot.
Offensively for the Bears, they could possibly be without three of their top four wide receivers due to injuries. Rookie Kevin White (shin) is already out indefinitely, and Alshon Jeffery (calf) and Marquess Wilson (hamstring) may be sidelined on Saturday as well. Quarterback Jay Cutler will have a difficult time managing Chicago’s passing game, especially while facing a Cincinnati defense that was tied for the third-most interceptions (20) in 2014.
All in all, this third preseason game will be taken very seriously by both teams.
Looking at how both teams have played thus far this preseason, I have to say that the Bears’ running game will be the difference in the outcome of this game. Chicago has averaged 159.0 yards on the ground during the preseason, and most of those yards have come from ball carriers that could be significant in the regular season. With a depleted receiving corps, I think the Bears will take the air out of the ball with the running game and come out victorious in a low-scoring affair.
Prediction: Bears 17, Bengals 13.
Chicago Sports & Travel, Inc./AllsportsAmerica Opinion: The Bears may not win this game with all of the injuries to their receiver core, but they will make a game of it and build up their running game. We still feel that this team will be supremely better than last year's team and that their record will show tremendous improvement. Let's Go Bears!!!!!
The Bears (2-0) have found ways to win so far this preseason, despite not having their roster at full strength. As for the Bengals (1-1), they are looking to right numerous wrongs they had in their Week 2 preseason loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
With the first strings of both teams slated to play through most of the game, Cincinnati will get a good chance to see if their fifth-ranked rushing attack from last season is still effective. On the flip side, Chicago will have the challenge of trying to stop Bengals running backs Jeremy Hill and Giovani Bernard with a new 3-4 defensive alignment that they are still getting accustomed to.
Specifically, a lot of attention will be focused on how Bears rookie nose tackle Eddie Goldman will handle the interior of the defensive line. Goldman will more than likely be Chicago’s starting nose tackle Week 1 of the regular season due to the three-game suspension of veteran Jeremiah Ratliff.
Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton, who struggled in Week 2 of the preseason, will be looking to get back on track. Dalton just might do so going up against a Chicago defense that has yet to solidify their secondary. The Bears are still uncertain who will be their starting free safety. Last week, rookie Adrian Amos was bumped up to the first string and is still finding his way. Dalton, along with wide receiver A.J. Green, could exploit that soft spot.
Offensively for the Bears, they could possibly be without three of their top four wide receivers due to injuries. Rookie Kevin White (shin) is already out indefinitely, and Alshon Jeffery (calf) and Marquess Wilson (hamstring) may be sidelined on Saturday as well. Quarterback Jay Cutler will have a difficult time managing Chicago’s passing game, especially while facing a Cincinnati defense that was tied for the third-most interceptions (20) in 2014.
All in all, this third preseason game will be taken very seriously by both teams.
Looking at how both teams have played thus far this preseason, I have to say that the Bears’ running game will be the difference in the outcome of this game. Chicago has averaged 159.0 yards on the ground during the preseason, and most of those yards have come from ball carriers that could be significant in the regular season. With a depleted receiving corps, I think the Bears will take the air out of the ball with the running game and come out victorious in a low-scoring affair.
Prediction: Bears 17, Bengals 13.
Chicago Sports & Travel, Inc./AllsportsAmerica Opinion: The Bears may not win this game with all of the injuries to their receiver core, but they will make a game of it and build up their running game. We still feel that this team will be supremely better than last year's team and that their record will show tremendous improvement. Let's Go Bears!!!!!
Bears need to turn personnel gaps into positives vs. Bengals.
By John MullinThe Bears offense will be without any or perhaps all of their top wide receivers when it goes against the No. 1 defense of the Cincinnati Bengals. That won’t affect either the game planning or the player usage plan for coach John Fox, who is still more interested in evaluations that even outcomes, despite a stated desire to win preseason games as a way to continue changing the culture at Halas Hall.
“I think it [the third preseason game] is a little bit unique when you're a new staff,” Fox said. “I think, truth be told, I've only seen these guys play in two preseason games. I'm talking about feeling the emotion, feel the energy, see their eyes. You know, things that are all important when you sit in my seat."
The third preseason game is always the most important by virtue of the playing time accorded to starters. It also precedes the first round of cuts by Tuesday, so it also is extremely important to several players on the cut-down bubble.
And not just the offense and fringe players are dealing with squeeze situations.
Because the Bears are also going to be without defensive lineman Jeremiah Ratliff for the first three games of the season because of a suspension, the defense is also in the process of getting a correct mindset as those first three games – Green Bay, Arizona, Seattle – loom closer.
“It's going to be key for me to set the mindset with these guys,” said defensive lineman Jarvis Jenkins, “because we're kind of taking a step back, but that doesn't mean we won't come out and play like we're down a man. We have to step up and play football.”
In fact, the short stack of receivers may be a positive for quarterback Jay Cutler, who is settling into yet another offensive system but with less-experienced players who need more from the quarterback.
“Yeah, it just makes me have to work a little bit harder,” Cutler said. “It makes me have to communicate with them and make sure they know exactly what they're supposed to do, so I've got to be on it on my end as well. It's a challenge for us. Like I said, it's a really good group of guys, so I enjoy working with them.”
With Bears injuries, it's time for Jay Cutler to create his own 'weapons'.
By John Mullin
Jay Cutler at Practice. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Saturday night in Cincinnati against the Bengals, Jay Cutler will have a chance to be Tom Brady. Or maybe Aaron Rodgers.
And the Bears need exactly that from him. It’s time.
Preseason doesn’t count, but the third game in particular can be a telling test kitchen (see: Bears at Seattle, 8/22/14). Cutler won’t ever be any sort of approximation of either Brady or Rodgers. No one will ever expect that after this many years. And the health issues at wide receiver provide a stern test for an offense committed to running the football against a defense that knows the Bears are offensively passing-challenged.
But so much talk sprayed around over the past half-decade or so about how much Cutler needed more weapons. He got them and still didn’t win. And the assumption was always that he had to be given them.
By contrast, Brady and Rodgers were among the greats at creating their own from what they had. And with a growing list of injured Bears wide receivers who may or may not be ready by Week 1, that is precisely what the Bears need right now from their $126-million quarterback, with “right now” looking ahead to possible health problems in 2015.
Alshon Jeffery and Eddie Royal are expected to be ready by Week 1. But it is entirely possible that Cutler could have a receiver group consisting of Josh Bellamy, Jeremy Kelley, Rashad Lawrence, Marc Mariani and Cameron Meredith.
John Fox and Adam Gase should demand, “Ok, ‘6,’ win with those. Period.”
Martellus Bennett and Matt Forte will be in his huddle. But the Bears and Cutler are to a point where the quarterback needs to find ways to win with the tools at hand - in this case, his wide receivers. And most of all, not give the football away, something he’s managed to avoid through wins over Miami and Indianapolis.
Cutler is being paid like Brady and Rodgers. The Bears are entitled to see a return on the investment. And a third preseason game is an exquisite opportunity for Cutler to show whether he’s learned anything, conceptually or technically, from Gase and QB coach Dowell Loggains.
The Brady Model
Brady won his first Super Bowl with his top two receivers standing 5-foot-10 (Troy Brown, David Patten). Brown, an eighth-round draft pick, didn’t become a starter until his eighth season and didn’t reach lone Pro Bowl until 2001 – the year Brady took over from Drew Bledsoe as the starter. Patten was a castoff from the Giants and Browns through his first four seasons before catching 51 passes in 2001.
Brady won his second Super Bowl, over Fox and the Carolina Panthers, with Brown, Deion Branch (5-foot-9) and David Givens (6-feet). No Patriot caught more than Branch’s 57 passes.
What Brady didn’t do was throw interceptions, with an INT rate of 2.3 percent both years. Bill Belichick may indeed be among the great defensive minds of this era, but his defenses have had the advantage of a quarterback who let them stay off the field and not be forced to defend short fields after quarterback giveaways.
Cutler has only once in his career been that secure with his passes, and then only in 2011 when a superb season (2.2 percent) was derailed by his broken thumb after 10 games.
That was the year of Cutler’s lowest single-year completion percentage (58 percent) but the Bears were winning in large part because he wasn’t completing passes to wrong uniforms. And his top three wide receivers were Johnny Knox, Dane Sanzenbacher and Devin Hester.
The Rodgers Model
When the Green Bay Packers got past the Bears on the way to winning the 2010 Super Bowl, they were doing with a roster that had 13 players on IR by mid-December, 16 by season’s end. Rodgers himself suffered two concussions and missed a game.
He also lost running back Ryan Grant, tight end Jermichael Finley, right tackle Mark Tauscher, and no Green Bay receiver or back started all 16 games with the exception of Greg Jennings.
Rodgers suffered through the second-highest interception rate of his seven seasons as a starter – and that was all of 2.3 percent, a huge boost for a defense that was so riddled with injuries that coordinator Dom Capers was forced to take certain calls out of his playbook.
It falls to Cutler more than any other individual Bear to find ways to solve issues involving the paucity of wide receivers, injuries and shaky play on the offensive line, even the questions around the defense.
For Cutler, it’s time to win with efficiency, ball control and what he’s got on hand.
So you really think you know NFL football, now's the time to prove it. It's two weeks before the start of the 2015 season and the Chicago Sports & Travel, Inc./AllsportsAmerica NFL Office Pick 'em Pool. Remember, knowledge is power. What are you waiting for?
Sports Quote of the Day: (With reference to the CS&T/AA 2015 NFL Office Pick 'em Pool)
"You only go around once in life, so grab all the gusto you can." ~ 1966 Schlitz Beer advertising campaign
If you're looking to enhance this year's NFL season and make it more exciting, then our pool is for you. It's conducted over the internet as it has been for six years, it's for adult entertainment purposes only and we pay rewards every Tuesday morning at 9:00 AM. Read the pool information below and give it strong consideration. We promise that you won't be disappointed!!!
Below is a sample of the first week's CS&T/AA 2015 NFL Office Pick 'em Pool) Pick sheet. You must also pick a tiebreaker score, (The combined total score for both teams). Our pool is a marathon not aa sprint..... 17 weeks of concentration, dedication and extreme confidence. Let the games begin. They do, September 10, 2015.
And the Bears need exactly that from him. It’s time.
Preseason doesn’t count, but the third game in particular can be a telling test kitchen (see: Bears at Seattle, 8/22/14). Cutler won’t ever be any sort of approximation of either Brady or Rodgers. No one will ever expect that after this many years. And the health issues at wide receiver provide a stern test for an offense committed to running the football against a defense that knows the Bears are offensively passing-challenged.
But so much talk sprayed around over the past half-decade or so about how much Cutler needed more weapons. He got them and still didn’t win. And the assumption was always that he had to be given them.
By contrast, Brady and Rodgers were among the greats at creating their own from what they had. And with a growing list of injured Bears wide receivers who may or may not be ready by Week 1, that is precisely what the Bears need right now from their $126-million quarterback, with “right now” looking ahead to possible health problems in 2015.
Alshon Jeffery and Eddie Royal are expected to be ready by Week 1. But it is entirely possible that Cutler could have a receiver group consisting of Josh Bellamy, Jeremy Kelley, Rashad Lawrence, Marc Mariani and Cameron Meredith.
John Fox and Adam Gase should demand, “Ok, ‘6,’ win with those. Period.”
Martellus Bennett and Matt Forte will be in his huddle. But the Bears and Cutler are to a point where the quarterback needs to find ways to win with the tools at hand - in this case, his wide receivers. And most of all, not give the football away, something he’s managed to avoid through wins over Miami and Indianapolis.
Cutler is being paid like Brady and Rodgers. The Bears are entitled to see a return on the investment. And a third preseason game is an exquisite opportunity for Cutler to show whether he’s learned anything, conceptually or technically, from Gase and QB coach Dowell Loggains.
The Brady Model
Brady won his first Super Bowl with his top two receivers standing 5-foot-10 (Troy Brown, David Patten). Brown, an eighth-round draft pick, didn’t become a starter until his eighth season and didn’t reach lone Pro Bowl until 2001 – the year Brady took over from Drew Bledsoe as the starter. Patten was a castoff from the Giants and Browns through his first four seasons before catching 51 passes in 2001.
Brady won his second Super Bowl, over Fox and the Carolina Panthers, with Brown, Deion Branch (5-foot-9) and David Givens (6-feet). No Patriot caught more than Branch’s 57 passes.
What Brady didn’t do was throw interceptions, with an INT rate of 2.3 percent both years. Bill Belichick may indeed be among the great defensive minds of this era, but his defenses have had the advantage of a quarterback who let them stay off the field and not be forced to defend short fields after quarterback giveaways.
Cutler has only once in his career been that secure with his passes, and then only in 2011 when a superb season (2.2 percent) was derailed by his broken thumb after 10 games.
That was the year of Cutler’s lowest single-year completion percentage (58 percent) but the Bears were winning in large part because he wasn’t completing passes to wrong uniforms. And his top three wide receivers were Johnny Knox, Dane Sanzenbacher and Devin Hester.
The Rodgers Model
When the Green Bay Packers got past the Bears on the way to winning the 2010 Super Bowl, they were doing with a roster that had 13 players on IR by mid-December, 16 by season’s end. Rodgers himself suffered two concussions and missed a game.
He also lost running back Ryan Grant, tight end Jermichael Finley, right tackle Mark Tauscher, and no Green Bay receiver or back started all 16 games with the exception of Greg Jennings.
Rodgers suffered through the second-highest interception rate of his seven seasons as a starter – and that was all of 2.3 percent, a huge boost for a defense that was so riddled with injuries that coordinator Dom Capers was forced to take certain calls out of his playbook.
It falls to Cutler more than any other individual Bear to find ways to solve issues involving the paucity of wide receivers, injuries and shaky play on the offensive line, even the questions around the defense.
For Cutler, it’s time to win with efficiency, ball control and what he’s got on hand.
So you really think you know NFL football, now's the time to prove it. It's two weeks before the start of the 2015 season and the Chicago Sports & Travel, Inc./AllsportsAmerica NFL Office Pick 'em Pool. Remember, knowledge is power. What are you waiting for?
Sports Quote of the Day: (With reference to the CS&T/AA 2015 NFL Office Pick 'em Pool)
"You only go around once in life, so grab all the gusto you can." ~ 1966 Schlitz Beer advertising campaign
If you're looking to enhance this year's NFL season and make it more exciting, then our pool is for you. It's conducted over the internet as it has been for six years, it's for adult entertainment purposes only and we pay rewards every Tuesday morning at 9:00 AM. Read the pool information below and give it strong consideration. We promise that you won't be disappointed!!!
Below is a sample of the first week's CS&T/AA 2015 NFL Office Pick 'em Pool) Pick sheet. You must also pick a tiebreaker score, (The combined total score for both teams). Our pool is a marathon not aa sprint..... 17 weeks of concentration, dedication and extreme confidence. Let the games begin. They do, September 10, 2015.
| Game ** = Pick cannot be edited, picks deadline has past. | Away Team | Home Team | Ranking [?] (Your goal is to get the most points.) | Game Date / Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9/10/2015 7:30 PM* | |||||
| 2 | 9/13/2015 12:00 PM* | |||||
| 3 | 9/13/2015 12:00 PM* | |||||
| 4 | 9/13/2015 12:00 PM* | |||||
| 5 | 9/13/2015 12:00 PM* | |||||
| 6 | 9/13/2015 12:00 PM* | |||||
| 7 | 9/13/2015 12:00 PM* | |||||
| 8 | 9/13/2015 12:00 PM* | |||||
| 9 | 9/13/2015 3:05 PM* | |||||
| 10 | 9/13/2015 3:05 PM* | |||||
| 11 | 9/13/2015 3:25 PM* | |||||
| 12 | 9/13/2015 3:25 PM* | |||||
| 13 | 9/13/2015 3:25 PM* | |||||
| 14 | 9/13/2015 7:30 PM* | |||||
| 15 | 9/14/2015 6:10 PM* | |||||
| 16 | 9/14/2015 9:20 PM* | |||||
It's two weeks until the start of the 2015 NFL season. Time to consider participating in the2015 CS&T/AllsportsAmerica NFL Office Pick 'em Pool. Some of you have played before and know how much fun it is. The season last for 17 weeks. The entry fee is the same as it's always has been, $35.00. We usually have 35 players but this year we are looking for 50 players. Again, the entry fee is the same but we're looking forward to doubling the payouts. We need your help, if you've played before, we're asking you to bring in one additional player. It can be a fellow employee, friend from the sports bar, relative, neighbor or general acquaintance. If you haven't played before, now is the time to take the plunge and join in the fun. The pool is conducted over the internet and you have 24/7 access to the website, statistics, scores, weekly winners, etc. This is strictly an office pick 'em pool for entertainment purposes only and rewards are paid out weekly every Tuesday morning.
We need 50 diehard football fans that love the sport and have confidence in their knowledge of the game their ability to pick winners. The entry fee is $35.00 for 17 weeks which also includes weekly payouts of: 1st place - $50.00 and, 2nd place - $30.00. We also have bonuses for the 1st and 2nd place players with the most accumulated points at the end of the season: 1st place - $200.00 and 2nd place - $100.00.
If we don't get 50 players, we will revert back to the payouts for 35 players. However, We know that we will get 50 players with everyone's help.
We made two major changes to our pool last year, 1) You do not have to pick against the spread. Just pick the winner of each game and place your confidence points on them and 2) Your picks must be made one hour before the game(s) on the day the game(s) are played. If you miss Thursday's game(s), you will lose the highest number of points for that week (16, 15 or whatever the maximum points are for that week), however, you may still make Sunday's picks. If we get more than 50 participants the payouts will increase proportionately.
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How 'bout them Chicago Blackhawks? The Five NHL Rules You Definitely Need to Know.
By Sean McIndoe
(Photo/Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images)
Pro sports rulebooks are fascinating things. They’re living documents, changing constantly as new rules are added, others are dropped, and still more are clarified and adjusted. But despite that, most of the rules are decades old and familiar to even novice fans. We never actually read the rulebook cover to cover — we’d never need to. We all know the basics, and figure that the rest are just minor details.
And that’s all true enough. But fans really should take some time to browse through the rulebook every once in a while, because there’s all sorts of weird stuff in there. Rulebooks are rarely cleaned up, so stuff of indeterminate origin can linger for decades. Rules you’d think would be simple can go down a rabbit hole that lasts for multiple pages. And then there are the exceptions, loopholes, and special scenarios: paragraph after paragraph of increasingly specific language covering situations that in some cases have never happened. But at some point, somebody somewhere was concerned enough to add a line to the rulebook, where it will probably stay forever.
The NHL is no different, with many of its most common and well-known rules coming with a “Yeah, but … ” that most fans have never heard of. So today, let’s get out our trusty copy of the rulebook and dive in as we hunt for those hidden loopholes that rarely — and in some case never — come up in actual games.
Here are five rules you definitely know, and the weird exceptions to them that you probably didn’t.
1. If a player can’t serve his own major, his team must put someone in the box to replace him.
There are all sorts of situations in which a player might be assessed a major penalty that results in a power play for the other team, but that he can’t actually serve by physically sitting in the penalty box. Maybe the offending player is a goaltender. Or maybe he was ejected, or injured on the play.
In those cases, fans know the drill: The offending player’s team has to send over a player to serve his time for him. It’s usually a one-dimensional offensive star who doesn’t kill penalties anyway and can provide a threat to score on a sneaky breakaway once he’s out of the box.
But while teams do indeed have to put a player in the box, they don’t actually have to do it right away. Rule 20.3 makes it clear that a team “does not have to place a substitute player on the penalty bench immediately”; it’s completely legal to keep the entire bench intact by just leaving the box empty when the penalty starts, and leave it that way as long as desired. During any stoppage in play before the penalty ends, the team can send somebody over to serve whatever’s left of the penalty.
Of course, there’s a slight flaw in that sort of plan, and it’s the reason teams almost never try this particular move: If there isn’t a stoppage, and the power play ends before you can get somebody into the box, you’re pretty much screwed. With nobody to come out of the box, the power play would continue indefinitely, or at least until the next whistle. You can’t get to even strength by having a guy hop over the boards from the bench — he has to come from the penalty box.1 And to make matters worse, you’re not even technically considered shorthanded anymore, so you can’t ice the puck like you would on a typical penalty kill.
So does it make sense to do it? No, not really. But the rulebook says that you could, and that’s what really counts.
2. A player may not play the puck with a broken stick.
The broken-stick rule is one that most fans know well, even though it doesn’t come into play very often. If a stick breaks, you have to drop it immediately. If you don’t, it’s an automatic minor, per section 10.3 of the rulebook. Maybe the most memorable recent example of the rule being called came two years ago, when Ryan O’Reilly’s quest to become the first player in 33 years to go a full season without taking a single penalty ended when he was too slow dropping a broken stick in Game 74.
But there’s an exception to the rule. Two of them, in fact, one for each team: the two goaltenders. Goalies don’t have to drop a broken stick, per Rule 10.4.2
Both sections on broken sticks are worth a quick read, because they’re filled with weird exceptions and clarifications that most fans have probably wondered about at some point. For example, players can hand each other replacement sticks, but it’s a penalty if anyone “throws, tosses, slides or shoots” one. A skater can give his stick to a goaltender, but not vice versa. A player who has a stick thrown to him from the bench doesn’t get a penalty; the thrower does instead.
And my favorite random detail: While play is still going on, a “goalkeeper whose stick is broken or illegal may not go to the players’ bench for a replacement but must receive his stick from a teammate.” I’m sorry, but if a goalie wants to sprint to the bench and grab a replacement stick on the fly, I think we should let him. Hell, we should encourage it. I can’t believe Ilya Bryzgalov never tried that.
Speaking of weird goalie loopholes …
3. A goalie can’t handle the puck outside the trapezoid behind the net.
Few hockey fans seem to like what’s become known as the trapezoid, that shape behind the net that was introduced as one of the many new rules put in place after the 2005 lockout. New fans are often confused by it. Veteran fans are just annoyed, viewing it as an eyesore that has little impact on the game and has come to represent the sort of minor tinkering the league seems to love to engage in every year.
But the trapezoid does serve a purpose: It’s meant to limit the goaltender’s ability to play the puck. If you’ve been around long enough to remember the days when goalies like Martin Brodeur got so good at stickhandling that they were viewed as a third defenseman, you can understand what the league was going for. The only thing less entertaining than watching one team execute a dump-and-chase is to see the other team’s goalie retrieve the puck and dump it right back out before the “chase” part can even happen.
And so the trapezoid was born, establishing an area in which the goalie isn’t allowed to touch the puck. Part of the confusion is that “the trapezoid” itself isn’t the area the rule covers — it’s the safe zone, where goalies can still handle the puck as normal.
It’s the two areas to either side that aren’t allowed.3 Those are the areas where any contact between the goalie and the puck leads to an automatic penalty for delay of game.
Except when it doesn’t. There’s a little-known loophole, as laid out in Rule 63.2: “The minor penalty will not be assessed when a goalkeeper plays the puck while maintaining skate contact with his goal crease.”
I have no idea why the league would feel the need to add this particular exception, and if the rule has ever actually come into play, I’m not aware of it. But it certainly could — it’s 7 feet from the edge of the crease to the end of the trapezoid, which isn’t much considering how big today’s goalies are. You couldn’t actually handle the puck, Brodeur-style, but you could certainly reach it with your stick and settle it down for an oncoming defenseman.
So let’s take bets: Who’ll be the first goaltender to start regularly exploiting this loophole? And how badly will fans freak out the first time it happens because they’re convinced the referees are letting an obvious penalty go uncalled?
4. A regular-season game that remains tied after overtime is followed by a shootout.
Certain things are inevitable in the NHL. When the clock has run for 20 minutes, the period ends. When a power play ends, the penalized player returns to the ice. When a CBA expires, Gary Bettman and the owners will have a lockout. And when a regular-season game is tied at the end of overtime, we get a shootout. You don’t have to like it, but the shootout is inevitable.
Or so we thought! Because according to a close reading of the rules, the shocking reality is that … well, yeah, the shootout is basically inevitable. But the rulebook does hold out some small sliver of hope by including an odd part in Rule 84.4 that covers what happens if a team “declines to participate.” Apparently somebody felt there was a nonzero possibility some team could just refuse to take part in the shootout experience, and it had to be addressed in the rulebook.
So what happens if a team just says no to a shootout? It loses. That’s pretty much it. “If a team declines to participate in the shootout procedure, the game will be declared as a shootout loss for that Team.” You just lose automatically.
So why would any team ever decline? Principle, dammit! Or maybe because the coach got pissy about something or other and decided that the whole team needed to go sulk in the dressing room. Either way, it could happen. It never will, but it could. And if you hate the shootout, that’s pretty much all you have.
5. A team that loses in overtime is awarded a single point.
Ah, the loser point. It’s one of the worst rules in all of pro sports, an embarrassment that encourages boring defensive hockey, distorts the standings, and makes the NHL look like a children’s rec league that gives trophies just for trying hard. It’s awful. It also isn’t, despite what most fans think, automatic.
We’ve covered this one before, but there’s a rare exception to the loser point, and it’s laid out in Rule 84.2: The losing team doesn’t get its point if the winning goal is scored after the team pulls its goalie for an extra attacker in overtime. Empty-net goals negate the loser point.4
The rule was put in place to discourage teams from pulling their goalies late in overtime to go for a no-risk second point when a game was in danger of ending in a tie, and it has actually come into play at least twice, in 2000 and 2003. That tie-game scenario no longer exists thanks to the shootout, although the rule could still theoretically happen if a team needed to avoid a shootout thanks to the wins in overtime/regulation (ROW) standings tiebreaker.
As often happens, this loophole comes with various exceptions to the exception. For example, the rule excludes a scenario in which a team accidentally scores into its own net on a delayed penalty. And it includes this fascinating clarification: “Once the goalkeeper has been removed for an extra attacker in overtime during the regular-season, he must wait for the next stoppage of play before returning to his position.
He cannot change ‘on the fly.’” Wait, goalies are technically allowed to change on the fly the rest of the time? How did Mike Keenan never incorporate this strategy?
American Hockey League 2015-16 schedule released.
AHL
The American Hockey League today released the complete schedule of regular-season games for the 2015-16 season, the league’s 80th year of operation. The season, comprising 1,120 games, begins on Fri., Oct. 9 and concludes on Sun., Apr. 17.
All teams will play 76 games each (38 at home, 38 on the road) with the exception of the clubs which joined the AHL in January as part of the creation of a Pacific Division (Bakersfield, Ontario, San Diego, San Jose, Stockton); those five teams will play 68 games each (34 home, 34 road).
2015-16 team-by-team schedules (PDF)
2015-16 day-by-day schedules (PDF)
2015-16 LeagueStat schedules
Some highlights of the 2015-16 schedule:
• The 2015-16 regular season opens with five games on Oct. 9, including the beginning of a new era of professional hockey in California as the San Jose Barracuda, primary affiliate of the NHL’s San Jose Sharks, host the Rockford IceHogs at the SAP Center in San Jose and the Bakersfield Condors (Edmonton Oilers) host the Grand Rapids Griffins. On Oct. 10, the Ontario Reign (Los Angeles Kings) visit Bakersfield, the San Diego Gulls (Anaheim Ducks) host Grand Rapids, and the Stockton Heat (Calgary Flames) host Rockford. Ontario’s home opener is scheduled for Oct. 23 vs. Bakersfield.
• Opening night also marks the return of the Manitoba Moose as the new top affiliate of the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets. The Moose visit the Toronto Marlies on Oct. 9 and Oct. 10 before their home opener at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Oct. 15 vs. Ontario.
• The opening weekend of the AHL’s 80th season features some matchups between historic cities, as Lake Erie visits Rochester (Oct. 9), Hershey travels to Springfield (Oct. 10) and Providence hosts Portland (Oct. 11).
• Realignment has moved the defending Western Conference champion Utica Comets into the Eastern Conference, where they open Oct. 10 against their new North Division rivals, the Rochester Americans. The Comets, who sold out 40 of their 51 regular-season and playoff games at the Memorial Auditorium last year, open the home portion of their 2015-16 schedule on Oct. 21 vs. Rochester.
• The Charlotte Checkers return to the historic Bojangles’ Coliseum this season, with their home opener set for Nov. 7 vs. Manitoba.
• The 2016 AHL All-Star Classic will take place Sun., Jan. 31 and Mon., Feb. 1, at the Onondaga County War Memorial Arena in Syracuse, N.Y.
• There are three nights this season on which all 30 AHL teams are in action: Sat., Jan. 23, Sat., Feb. 6 and Sat., Apr. 9.
The 2016 Calder Cup Playoffs will feature the top four teams in each of the AHL’s four divisions as ranked by points percentage (points earned divided by points available), with one possibility for a “crossover” in each conference: if the fifth-place team in the Atlantic or Central Division finishes with a better points percentage than the fourth-place team in the North or Pacific Division, it would compete in the other division’s bracket. As announced last month, the 2015-16 season will feature some new rules, most notably a five-minute overtime period during the regular season played at three skaters aside for the duration.
The American Hockey League was officially born in 1936 when the Canadian-American Hockey League and the International Hockey League merged to form the International-American Hockey League (the “International” would be dropped from the league’s name in 1940). The AHL continues to serve as the top development league for the players, coaches, managers, executives, broadcasters and staff of all 30 National Hockey League teams. More than 88 percent of today’s NHL players are American Hockey League graduates, and for the 14th year in a row, more than 6 million fans attended AHL games across North America in 2014-15. Through the years, the AHL has been home to more than 100 future members of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
The entire 2015-16 AHL regular season schedule is available for viewing at theahl.com.
Just Another Chicago Bulls Session... Derrick Rose accused of rape in civil lawsuit, strongly denies allegations. What's Your Take?
By Dan Devine
Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose has been named in a civil lawsuit alleging that he and two other men drugged a woman, broke into her apartment and raped her.
A lawyer for Rose strongly denied the accusation, categorizing it as "completely false and without any factual basis."
TMZ reported late Wednesday that the woman who has filed suit, "identified only as Jane Doe," alleges that the 2010-11 NBA Most Valuable Player and two of his longtime friends — Ryan Allen, the younger brother of Memphis Grizzlies guard Tony Allen, and Randall Hampton, identified in a December 2014 New York Times story as "Rose's manager" — committed sexual acts against her will in August 2013.
TMZ reported late Wednesday that the woman who has filed suit, "identified only as Jane Doe," alleges that the 2010-11 NBA Most Valuable Player and two of his longtime friends — Ryan Allen, the younger brother of Memphis Grizzlies guard Tony Allen, and Randall Hampton, identified in a December 2014 New York Times story as "Rose's manager" — committed sexual acts against her will in August 2013.
Ron Clements of the Sporting News has more on the suit, filed Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court:
According to court documents obtained by Omnisport, a sister company of Sporting News, the woman said she was in a two-year relationship with Rose. She said they met at a Los Angeles party in October 2011 and began texting each other shortly thereafter. They began “meeting regularly and formed an intimate relationship with one another.”
The plaintiff claims she met with Rose approximately 12 times in 2011 and about 10 times in 2012, with another five meetings in 2013, ending with the alleged rape.
No criminal charges were sought stemming from the alleged incidents. The civil complaint says the woman was "reluctant" to report the rape to authorities because she feared retaliation and "did not wish jail time" for Rose. Instead, she filed a civil lawsuit with hopes of recovering what she says are damages to her life from the alleged incident.
In her lawsuit, the civil complaints against Rose, Hampton and Allen are sexual battery, battery, trespassing, conspiracy to trespass and commit rape and battery, a civil action for gender violence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress and a claim for declaratory relief. The plaintiff has requested a trial by jury.As TMZ reported, the complaint alleges that Rose "tried to pressure [the plaintiff] to masturbate in front of him, allow him to have sex with her friends and engage in group sex with strangers, all of which she says she refused," but that she continued her relationship with Rose.
The suit also claims that Rose, Hampton and Allen slipped a drug into her drink during a visit to Rose's Beverly Hills, Calif., home on Aug. 26, 2013, and that their pursuit of her continued after she and a friend left Rose's house:
They took a cab back to the plaintiff’s Los Angeles apartment, where she claims the three men broke into her home and then forcibly had sex with her. The complaint says the plaintiff "has very little recollection of the events" because she was incapacitated by the drugs but had several "flashes" of memory of specific moments.
The woman claims that Allen, who was briefly on the Bulls roster in 2012, called her a month later, stated he “was not aware” the woman was drugged and thought “she had wanted it” while adding that “girls in L.A. ask them to have group sex because they recognize them as NBA players.”
It was after this conversation, the woman claims she was encouraged by a friend “to pursue legal action against the men.” The woman says she waited to take action because she felt "ashamed and embarrassed" from the encounter. She also felt concerned over what her "conservative family" would think of her.
After news of the complaint broke, Lisa Cohen, Rose's lawyer, denied the allegations against her client in an early Thursday morning statement detailed by Liz Mullen of the Sports Business Journal:
The plaintiff's allegations are completely false and without any factual basis. This is nothing more than a desperate attempt to shake down a highly respected and successful athlete. Mr. Rose was in a non-exclusive, consensual sexual relationship with the plaintiff for over two years. The plaintiff expressed no complaints about Mr. Rose until various lawyers began to surface and demand that the plaintiff be paid millions of dollars. This is the third lawyer the plaintiff has retained in this matter. Two years have passed since Mr. Rose ended the consensual relationship with the plaintiff and her claims are as meritless now as they were two years ago. We have complete confidence that the case will be dismissed and that Mr. Rose will be vindicated. This lawsuit is outrageous.
Shortly after Cohen issued her statement, the Bulls issued their own: "We just learned about this matter and do not know all the facts. It would be inappropriate to comment further at this time."
Chicago Sports & Travel, Inc./AllsportsAmerica Take: Here we go again. First Bill Cosby, then Patrick Kane (Blackhawks) and now, Derrick Rose (Bulls) being accused of rape. I'm not going to comment on these cases as we'll let them play out in the legal system and then issue our opinion on each. My big question is, How can such high profile guys with tremendous financial assets allow themselves to get caught in these positions? We all know that there are people always looking to take advantage of you, (and by no means are we saying that this is the case in these instances), but discretion is the better part of valor. These guys could have afforded any companionship that they desired, (although we're not condoning or encouraging this position either), with their financial assets. You have to protect yourselves and your reputations. Things will always happen, and a couple of these cases may or may not have any basis to them but it's just something that follows you the rest of your life whether you're guilty or innocent. Some people will believe that you could never do anything like that and other people will always believe that you did it. That's just life. We hope that these investigations will come out and prove that our athletes did act as gentlemen and that we can go on into the next season and contend for a championship in basketball and hockey without the hangover of these allegations. Mr. Cosby's case, I don't know what to say about that except that, it just doesn't look good. But at the same time I must remind you that in this great country of ours, "You're innocent until proven guilty." He has a lot to prove!!!
The morale of this story is, "Be diligent, know with whom you're going out and dealing with, always carry yourself as a gentleman and most of all, just do the right thing."
Now, as always, you know how we feel and what we think. We'd love to hear your thoughts on this article and what's your take? We value your opinion and are always interested in hearing from you. Please go to the bottom of this blog and in the comment section, please express yourselves.
The Chicago Sports & Travel, Inc./AllsportsAmerica Editorial Staff.
Darryl Dawkins, NBA player dubbed ‘Chocolate Thunder’ for his dunks, dies at 58.
Mr. Dawkins averaged 12 points and 6.1 rebounds a game over his NBA playing career, which ended after the 1988-1989 season. Along with stints afterward in Italy, Mr. Dawkins played for the Harlem Globetrotters.
Mr. Dawkins was born in Orlando on Jan. 11, 1957. His first wife, Kelly Barnes, committed suicide in 1987, while he was estranged from her. His second marriage, to former Nets cheerleader Robbin Thornton, ended in divorce.
Survivors include his wife, Janice Hoderman. A complete list of survivors was not immediately available.
Cubs get playoff education in facing Bumgarner and Kershaw.
By Patrick Mooney
Madison Bumgarner and Clayton Kershaw are the kind of big-time pitchers the Cubs will have to go through in the playoffs.
This is Ph.D-level stuff at Joe Maddon’s Cub University, facing last year’s World Series MVP on Thursday afternoon at AT&T Park and getting last season’s National League MVP/Cy Young Award winner on Friday night at Dodger Stadium.
The San Francisco Giants won the first series on this West Coast trip, shutting the Cubs down with Bumgarner and three different relievers in a 9-1 game that never felt particularly close. The defending champs are now 5.5 games behind the Cubs for the second wild card.
The Cubs still headed to Los Angeles at 20 games above .500, and their lineup has been a huge part of this second-half surge, with Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber right in the middle of the Rookie of the Year discussion and Addison Russell emerging as the franchise shortstop.
The question becomes: Can they keep doing it against elite starters when everything is magnified in October?
“We’re not free-swingers,” Maddon said. “We’ll accept our walks. We strike out. But it’s not like we’re just chasing all the time. We’re able to see pitches. A lot of times, we’re able to build pitch counts up (against) good starters.
“That’s where I have a lot of confidence in this young group. We’re not just up there hacking. We have a really good game plan.”
Bumgarner (16-6, 2.97 ERA) struck out 12 of the 22 batters he faced and the Giants were able to shut down their ace after 98 pitches. MadBum allowed one run on two hits in six innings.
“Just funky,” Bryant said. “When you have a guy (with) that kind of crossfire, it’s a tough at-bat. You can’t really get comfortable in there. He’s the best of the best.”
“It is a learning process,” Schwarber said. “You get an idea. You have to make that continuous adjustment as you keep facing these guys.”
It won’t get any easier against Kershaw (10-6, 2.29 ERA), another lefty in the best-pitcher-on-the-planet conversation.
“Just be the same every day and come in and battle, no matter who’s on the mound,” veteran outfielder Chris Denorfia said. “We love competing against the best – and these guys are – but I think more than anything we need to learn to just be ourselves and not try to do too much.
“(That’s) what you got to get good at in this game – the mental part. (It’s) knowing what you’re good at hitting and trying to look for those pitches and hit ‘em. No matter who’s throwing ‘em.”
The Cubs are actually 5-2 in games started by Cy Young Award winners this season, winning against Kershaw, Jake Peavy, Corey Kluber, Zack Greinke and Bartolo Colon while losing to Peavy and Max Scherzer.
“You got to get used to it,” Maddon said. “This is what you’re playing for. You’re playing to get to October. When you do, you’re going to play against good teams with really good pitching. That’s how they got there, too. To this point – and I really anticipate it will continue – our guys have handled it very well."
White Sox rock '76 throwback jerseys in victory over M's.
By John Paschall
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
They weren't the 1976 South Side Hitmen but the White Sox offense did just enough on Thursday to earn a 4-2 win over the Mariners.
Avisail Garcia got the offense started for the South Siders with a bloop hit that just escaped the glove of Franklin Gutierrez, scoring Adam Eaton. In the third inning, doubles from Jose Abreu and Trayce Thompson, who is now hitting .519 in the majors, drove in two more runs to extend the lead to 3-0. Garcia added a fifth inning sacrifice fly to pad the lead.
Carlos Rodon continued his roll and pitched six plus innings of two-run ball against a struggling Mariners team. The rookie pitched himself into a jam in the first inning, loading the bases after a hit and two walks but got out of it unharmed. After that, the left-hander mowed down the Mariners lineup until the seventh inning when a Gutierrez hit a 408-ft two-run homer to right center to put Seattle on the board.
The bullpen made Rodon sweat it out in the later innings as the Mariners got runners on second and third with nobody out in the seventh. Zach Duke worked his way out of the jam, however, with two strikeouts and a fly out.
Nate Jones found himself in a similar situation in the 8th with men on second and third with two outs but a groundout from Mark Trumbo ended the threat.
Chris Sale establishes individual season strikeout mark.
By Dan Hayes
Chris Sale set an individual season-mark for strikeouts on Wednesday night and likely has seven more chances to increase his total.
With a fourth-inning whiff of Travis Shaw, Sale established a new personal mark for strikeouts, a figure he increased to 229 before the game ended. Sale, who had 29 strikeouts in his previous two starts, struck out seven over seven scoreless innings. He exited with the score tied but the Boston Red Sox eventually topped the White Sox 3-0.
“It’s cool,” Sale said. “But at the end of the day, there’s really only one stat that matters and that’s wins. We just have to keep fighting. It’s nothing in particular. We just have to keep fighting and keep our heads up. We are a good team and keep grinding.”
With a fourth-inning whiff of Travis Shaw, Sale established a new personal mark for strikeouts, a figure he increased to 229 before the game ended. Sale, who had 29 strikeouts in his previous two starts, struck out seven over seven scoreless innings. He exited with the score tied but the Boston Red Sox eventually topped the White Sox 3-0.
“It’s cool,” Sale said. “But at the end of the day, there’s really only one stat that matters and that’s wins. We just have to keep fighting. It’s nothing in particular. We just have to keep fighting and keep our heads up. We are a good team and keep grinding.”
Sale established his previous mark in 2013 when he struck out 226 in 214 1/3 innings. Sale has only pitched 171 1/3 innings so far this season, but entered Wednesday with a major league-best average 12.2 strikeouts per nine innings.
Even though he operated without his best stuff, the four-time All-Star still managed seven strikeouts in a 119-pitch effort against Boston. Sale worked out of two tight jams and early before he retired 10 of the last 11 he faced.
“He can bob and weave with the best of them,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. “He wasn't in his strikeout form tonight, but they were going after stuff early. I thought they did a great job of attacking early. I wouldn't say he was throwing strikes early in the count, he was getting behind. That got him in some jams but he's got good enough stuff to get out of it.”
Golf: I got a club for that..... Watson shines alongside steady Day, struggling Spieth.
Even though he operated without his best stuff, the four-time All-Star still managed seven strikeouts in a 119-pitch effort against Boston. Sale worked out of two tight jams and early before he retired 10 of the last 11 he faced.
“He can bob and weave with the best of them,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. “He wasn't in his strikeout form tonight, but they were going after stuff early. I thought they did a great job of attacking early. I wouldn't say he was throwing strikes early in the count, he was getting behind. That got him in some jams but he's got good enough stuff to get out of it.”
Golf: I got a club for that..... Watson shines alongside steady Day, struggling Spieth.
AFP
Bubba Watson fired seven birdies in a five-under par 65 on Thursday, outshining playing partners Jordan Spieth and Jason Day to seize a share of the first-round lead at The Barclays.
Two-time Masters champion Watson was atop the leaderboard alongside Colombia's Camilo Villegas and fellow Americans Spencer Levin and Tony Finau in the first of four events in the US PGA Tour's season-ending FedEx Cup playoffs.
On a tightly bunched board, the leaders held a one-stroke lead over New Zealand's Danny Lee, England's Paul Casey, Scotland's Russell Knox and Americans Jason Dufner, Cameron Tringale and Bryce Molder.
Another seven players were tied on 67, with newly crowned PGA Champion Day heading a group on 68 despite battling a bad back.
Spieth, the reigning Masters and US Open champion playing his first tournament since supplanting Rory McIlroy atop the world rankings, endured a tough day in a marquee group with Day and Watson.
The 22-year-old Texan carded a four-over par 74, just the third time in his last 33 rounds that he failed to break par.
"It was a very off-day," said Spieth, who posted his worst score of the year in relation to par.
"A little bit of rust with wedges combined with some poor decision making -- and it just came out of nowhere," said Spieth, who called the round his worst "in years".
"Normally when I'm running that good, it doesn't turn like that," he said of the sudden struggles with his game.
"Typically when I hit the fairways I'm not over par," added Spieth, who hit 11 of 14 fairways. "That's what was weird about the round."
After teeing off at 10, Spieth had two birdies to make the turn two-under, but he had five bogeys and a double bogey against one birdie coming in.
"He just looked a little flat," said Australia's Day, who held off Spieth in the final round at Whistling Straits this month to win the PGA Championship, nabbing his first major title and rising to a career-high third in the world. "It's understandable with all the stuff that he's been doing."
Day, who skipped Wednesday's pro-am after aggravating a long-standing back injury on Tuesday, kept himself in the hunt despite some discomfort.
"There were a couple of swings out there that hurt," said Day, who nevertheless had three birdies and one bogey in his two-under effort.
Watson, meanwhile, had no complaints. His seven birdies included five in his first nine holes -- the back nine of Plainfield Country Club.
"All in all it's a good round," said Watson, who regretted his two bogeys -- after a poor shot at the par-three sixth and a three-putt at the ninth.
"If I just make a better swing on the par-three and then a two-putt, it's not too bad," Watson said. "I missed the cut the last time I played here, so we are ahead of the curve right now."
FedExCup Playoffs success a game of momentum.
By Helen Ross
Consider these numbers: Hunter Mahan is one of 493 players to have participated in at least one event of the FedExCup Playoffs since the PGA TOUR instituted its big-bang finish in 2007.
But he is the only player to have survived all 24 eliminations and advanced to the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola all eight years the Playoffs have been contested.
"I take great pride in that and I think it's a great accomplishment because it's through a long period of time," Mahan said.
But as good as the 13-year veteran has played during the Playoffs, he's never won the FedExCup. Last year may have been his best opportunity.
Mahan opened the Playoffs in 2014 with a win at The Barclays to surge to No. 1 in the FedExCup standings. He ranked fifth when he came into the finale at East Lake, the last player who controlled his own destiny and could have won the $10 million bonus with a victory there.
Mahan didn't. Billy Horschel did -- riding a wave of momentum that saw him rebound from a missed cut at The Barclays with a tie for second at the Deutsche Bank Championship and wins in the last two Playoffs events.
But Horschel started the Playoffs ranked 69th and was 82nd when he made that early exit at The Barclays. The avid Florida Gators fan might take issue with the comparison, but his run was not unlike the path the underdog North Carolina State Wolfpack took in 1983 to win the NCAA basketball title, beating a heavily favored Houston team in the finals.
And that's what's important to remember as the Playoffs begin again this week at The Barclays.
"When you do get in the Playoffs, everyone has got a legitimate chance to win," Mahan said. "Takes one good week to propel you up the board, and you can change the ... schematic of the whole thing.
"You can have an OK season and all of a sudden you play good at the right time and be a FedExCup champion."
Jordan Spieth, who won the first two majors of the year, then finished a shot out of the playoff at The Open Championship and second at the PGA, is certainly the odds on favorite this week.
The 22-year-old comes to Plainfield with a commanding 1,710-point lead over Jason Day. Each Playoffs win is worth 2,000 points (down 500 from last year) and the field at East Lake will be reset entering the finale so that all 30 who advance have a mathematical chance to win.
Throw out the standings. Four great weeks, and you will probably win, regardless of where you started."
Peter Kostis, one of CBS' analysts, agrees that Spieth is the one to beat -- "I don’t expect him to take a week off as far as the quality of his play," the noted instructor says.
Only twice, though, has the regular season FedExCup leader gone on to win the FedExCup. Tiger Woods did it in the competition's inaugural season, winning two of the four events and finishing second once, and again in 2009.
"Billy Horschel showed us last year, though, that if you get hot at the right time, you can win," Kostis said. "Throw out the standings. Four great weeks, and you will probably win, regardless of where you started."
NBC's Johnny Miller suggested Bubba Watson, who ranks third, might be someone who could get hot in the Playoffs. "It's hard to predict what he's going to do, but he has the ability to beat anybody if he gets it going," Miller said.
Ditto for Hideki Matsuyama, Louis Oosthuizen, Patrick Reed and J.B. Holmes, according to the World Golf Hall of Famer. That said, it's just a guessing game.
"It's hard to know who's going to get hot," Miller said. "Who'd have picked Billy Horschel? Nobody would have picked him after missing the cut at the first Playoffs event, The Barclays. Who'd have thought he was going to finish second, first, first?"
But he did, and there is room for other players to ride the momentum. Notah Begay of the Golf Channel says to keep an eye on Paul Casey, who finished third at the Wyndham Championship last week.
"I think that of somebody that's flying under the radar that's been very, very consistent this back part of the summer after finding some good parts of his game early spring, and he's parlayed that into some really good golf," Begay said.
"... He hasn't been able to convert in the win category yet, but I think that he is a player that if he gets a couple things to go his way, he's playing good enough to be able to knock off a couple of these tournaments in the next four weeks."
Brooks Koepka is another many expect to have a strong run through the Playoffs. Koepka, who won the Waste Management Phoenix Open earlier this year, has reeled off three consecutive top-10s and enters The Barclays ranked 12th in the FedExCup.
Koepka has added motivation, as well. He wants to play his way onto the U.S. Presidents Cup team. He ranks 17th in the current standings and the top 10 at the end of the Deutsche Bank Championship qualify automatically.
The 25-year-old, who "grew up watching (the Playoffs), I guess you could say," says he has an understanding of the competition's ebbs and flows. He doesn't plan to alter his approach, though.
"Just go play good golf," Koepka said with a shrug of his shoulders. "It all takes care of itself."
NASCAR: 10 runner-up finishes may be a means to an end for Kevin Harvick: Another championship.
"I take great pride in that and I think it's a great accomplishment because it's through a long period of time," Mahan said.
But as good as the 13-year veteran has played during the Playoffs, he's never won the FedExCup. Last year may have been his best opportunity.
Mahan opened the Playoffs in 2014 with a win at The Barclays to surge to No. 1 in the FedExCup standings. He ranked fifth when he came into the finale at East Lake, the last player who controlled his own destiny and could have won the $10 million bonus with a victory there.
Mahan didn't. Billy Horschel did -- riding a wave of momentum that saw him rebound from a missed cut at The Barclays with a tie for second at the Deutsche Bank Championship and wins in the last two Playoffs events.
But Horschel started the Playoffs ranked 69th and was 82nd when he made that early exit at The Barclays. The avid Florida Gators fan might take issue with the comparison, but his run was not unlike the path the underdog North Carolina State Wolfpack took in 1983 to win the NCAA basketball title, beating a heavily favored Houston team in the finals.
And that's what's important to remember as the Playoffs begin again this week at The Barclays.
"When you do get in the Playoffs, everyone has got a legitimate chance to win," Mahan said. "Takes one good week to propel you up the board, and you can change the ... schematic of the whole thing.
"You can have an OK season and all of a sudden you play good at the right time and be a FedExCup champion."
Jordan Spieth, who won the first two majors of the year, then finished a shot out of the playoff at The Open Championship and second at the PGA, is certainly the odds on favorite this week.
The 22-year-old comes to Plainfield with a commanding 1,710-point lead over Jason Day. Each Playoffs win is worth 2,000 points (down 500 from last year) and the field at East Lake will be reset entering the finale so that all 30 who advance have a mathematical chance to win.
Throw out the standings. Four great weeks, and you will probably win, regardless of where you started."
Peter Kostis, one of CBS' analysts, agrees that Spieth is the one to beat -- "I don’t expect him to take a week off as far as the quality of his play," the noted instructor says.
Only twice, though, has the regular season FedExCup leader gone on to win the FedExCup. Tiger Woods did it in the competition's inaugural season, winning two of the four events and finishing second once, and again in 2009.
"Billy Horschel showed us last year, though, that if you get hot at the right time, you can win," Kostis said. "Throw out the standings. Four great weeks, and you will probably win, regardless of where you started."
NBC's Johnny Miller suggested Bubba Watson, who ranks third, might be someone who could get hot in the Playoffs. "It's hard to predict what he's going to do, but he has the ability to beat anybody if he gets it going," Miller said.
Ditto for Hideki Matsuyama, Louis Oosthuizen, Patrick Reed and J.B. Holmes, according to the World Golf Hall of Famer. That said, it's just a guessing game.
"It's hard to know who's going to get hot," Miller said. "Who'd have picked Billy Horschel? Nobody would have picked him after missing the cut at the first Playoffs event, The Barclays. Who'd have thought he was going to finish second, first, first?"
But he did, and there is room for other players to ride the momentum. Notah Begay of the Golf Channel says to keep an eye on Paul Casey, who finished third at the Wyndham Championship last week.
"I think that of somebody that's flying under the radar that's been very, very consistent this back part of the summer after finding some good parts of his game early spring, and he's parlayed that into some really good golf," Begay said.
"... He hasn't been able to convert in the win category yet, but I think that he is a player that if he gets a couple things to go his way, he's playing good enough to be able to knock off a couple of these tournaments in the next four weeks."
Brooks Koepka is another many expect to have a strong run through the Playoffs. Koepka, who won the Waste Management Phoenix Open earlier this year, has reeled off three consecutive top-10s and enters The Barclays ranked 12th in the FedExCup.
Koepka has added motivation, as well. He wants to play his way onto the U.S. Presidents Cup team. He ranks 17th in the current standings and the top 10 at the end of the Deutsche Bank Championship qualify automatically.
The 25-year-old, who "grew up watching (the Playoffs), I guess you could say," says he has an understanding of the competition's ebbs and flows. He doesn't plan to alter his approach, though.
"Just go play good golf," Koepka said with a shrug of his shoulders. "It all takes care of itself."
NASCAR: 10 runner-up finishes may be a means to an end for Kevin Harvick: Another championship.
By Jerry Bonkowski
Kevin Harvick might beg to differ with Ricky Bobby’s Talladega Nights axiom that finishing second is the first loser.
Harvick finished runner-up for the 10th time this season in Saturday’s Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
But to Harvick, it was a means to an end.
“I’m not frustrated at all because I’ve been on the other side of this fence, and you’d give everything in the world to finish second every week because it’s not easy,” Harvick said. “Obviously you want to win races, but we’re in position and feel like we can get that momentum swing at any point if it just starts going our way. But it’s fun to be able to come to Bristol and be competitive.”
Harvick did everything he could to catch Logano in the closing laps, but the latter refused to yield.
“(Logano) was able to get those huge runs up off the exit of the corner and just stayed one step ahead of me through traffic,” Harvick said. “In clean air we probably were a little faster, but it didn’t really matter. I had to be in front of him to show that. All in all, he was just one step ahead of me in traffic.”
Saturday’s finish was Harvick’s career-high 17th top-five finish. That is also the second-most in a single season during the modern era. Only Bobby Allison had more with 12 in 1972. The all-time record is 18 by David Pearson in 1969, when he started 51 of the 54 races that year.
Harvick also remains the points leader 24 races into the season. Since his last win, at Phoenix in the fourth race of the season, Harvick has earned eight runner-up finishes. that ties the all-time record of second-place finishes between victories (assuming Harvick wins again).
Consistency propelled Harvick to last season’s Sprint Cup championship, and could put him in position to repeat this year.
“They just keep bringing fast cars to the racetrack and we’re able to overcome a lot of things,” Harvick said. “Everybody just keeps grinding away at whatever the circumstances are, and we’re able to overcome things, and that’s really what it’s going to be about over the last 10 weeks.”
Fire wary of 'big, big' hill to climb to keep playoff hopes alive.
By Danny Michallik
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
In the buildup to the Fire's midweek fixture against the New York Red Bulls, head coach Frank Yallop reminded reporters via teleconference of the team's struggles throughout much of the 2015 term, some of which materialized during the disappointing 1-0 home defeat to the Colorado Rapids last week.
"It seems like we're not quite getting the right combination of creating our chances and scoring them, and the percentage of chances that go in against us," he said.
What a difference a few days can make.
Barring the conceding of a first-half penalty kick and a contentious goal four minutes into the second stanza, the Men in Red showed integrity and purpose in an inspired performance Wednesday night, handing Jesse Marsch's side their seventh loss of the season behind a two-goal showing from Kennedy Igboananike.
“Any time you score two goals is good," Yallop said of the Nigerian. "I always say this, and we’ve talked about it a little bit: it takes a while for guys to settle and get their feel. It’s a tough league to come into from the outside. ... Big thing for me is, he works hard, he wants to do well, he tries his best, and he scores two goals to win us the game. So, very happy for him. He’s a good kid that works hard, and the guys really like him and back him up, and I thought he did great tonight.”
Through two-thirds of the campaign, the Fire's inefficiency in front of goal has been a worrying sign. Just four days prior, the Fire were left licking their wounds after 90 minutes had transpired at Toyota Park after falling to the Rapids. Dillon Serna's first-minute strike - Colorado's first of only two efforts on target on the night - was all that mattered despite the 20 shots (four on target) the Fire peppered at Clint Irwin's goal, three of which flew from the boot of Igboananike.
Fast forward to Wednesday night, and some of those issues - at least momentarily - were put to bed. While both of New York's only shots on target resulted in goals, two tallies from Igboananike either side of halftime stole the show. He brought his regular season total to six goals, enough to pull level with David Accam as the Fire's joint top scorer. The Nigerian's six shots accounted for a third of the Men in Red's total count (17) by night's end, many of them forcing exceptional saves from Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles.
"We're never going to keep our head down," he said. "All that matters most is three points. We have been losing and making a lot of mistakes, but tonight we beat New York, not an easy game. It's our hard work that pays off (tonight)."
The endeavor on display on many an occasion throughout the season was there for all to see Wednesday night, and it'll have to be come Saturday night. The Fire begin their three-game road stint against Orlando City SC at the Citrus Bowl, where Adrian Heath's side has dropped five regular season contests.
“It’s difficult," Yallop added. "It’s not been a great season, obviously. We’re bottom of the league, but I feel we’ve performed better than the points have shown. That’s always a building block for me. I think that the circumstances in the season that have cost us points - individual errors, guys not being healthy - all those things come into it. I think you saw a team tonight that was pretty good. Whoever's on the field, I was excited when we got the ball going forward, it was good to see. I’m forever optimistic. We've got a big, big hill to climb to make the playoffs, but we have to keep going, keep moving on."
Full draw: Epic UEFA Champions League Group stage will see giants collide.
By Joe Prince-Wright
2015/16 draw for preliminary rounds of UEFA Champions League (Photo?NBCSports.com)
The draw for the group stage of the 2015-16 UEFA Champions League campaign took place in Monaco on Thursday and Giants collide in Group A with Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain squaring off, while Arsenal meet Bayern Munich in Group F and Manchester City will clash with Juventus in Group D.
Once again City got unlucky with their draw as they were paired against last season’s runners up Juventus, reigning Europa League champs Sevilla and Borussia Monchengladbach. Their city rivals Manchester United were very happy with their draw on their return to the UCL, as they plucked out PSV Eindhoven, CSKA Moscow and Wolfsburg in Group B.
Reigning champions FC Barcelona were handed a favorable draw as they face Bayer Leverkusen, Roma and BATE Borisov. Chelsea also made out with a smile on their face, although they have some tricky away tests coming up as Jose Mourinho‘s side are in Group G alongside his former club FC Porto, plus Dynamo Kiev and Maccabi Tel-Aviv.
Below is the full draw for the eight groups, as play kicks off on Sept. 15 and concludes on Dec. 9 before the tournament resumes with the knockout rounds in February 2016.
Each team will play home and away against the three other teams in their group, with the top two teams going through to the last 16 and the third-placed team qualifying for the last 32 of the Europa League.
All eight UCL groups in full
Group A
Paris Saint-Germain
Real Madrid
Shakhtar Donetsk
Malmo
Group B
PSV Eindhoven
Manchester United
CSKA Moscow
Wolfsburg
Group C
Benfica
Atletico Madrid
Galatasaray
Astana
Group D
Juventus
Manchester City
Sevilla
Borussia Monchengladbach
Group E
Barcelona
Bayer Leverkusen
Roma
BATE Borisov
Group F
Bayern Munich
Arsenal
Olympiakos
Dinamo Zagreb
Group G
Chelsea
FC Porto
Dynamo Kiev
Maccabi Tel-Aviv
Group H
Zenit
Valencia
Lyon
Gent
Below is the full draw for the eight groups, as play kicks off on Sept. 15 and concludes on Dec. 9 before the tournament resumes with the knockout rounds in February 2016.
Each team will play home and away against the three other teams in their group, with the top two teams going through to the last 16 and the third-placed team qualifying for the last 32 of the Europa League.
All eight UCL groups in full
Group A
Paris Saint-Germain
Real Madrid
Shakhtar Donetsk
Malmo
Group B
PSV Eindhoven
Manchester United
CSKA Moscow
Wolfsburg
Group C
Benfica
Atletico Madrid
Galatasaray
Astana
Group D
Juventus
Manchester City
Sevilla
Borussia Monchengladbach
Group E
Barcelona
Bayer Leverkusen
Roma
BATE Borisov
Group F
Bayern Munich
Arsenal
Olympiakos
Dinamo Zagreb
Group G
Chelsea
FC Porto
Dynamo Kiev
Maccabi Tel-Aviv
Group H
Zenit
Valencia
Lyon
Gent
NCAAFB: Programs run into pitfalls with fining college players.
By RALPH D. RUSSOX
Take away game tickets for missing class. Hold back a bowl gift for being late. Maybe even dock a player his $15 per diem for skipping study hall.
For years, college football coaches have been coming up with creative ways within NCAA rules to punish players for relatively minor missteps - sometimes hitting them in the wallets.
These days those wallets are fuller than ever before, thanks to new NCAA rules which increase the value of an athletic scholarship by several thousand dollars to include a stipend for additional cost-of-attendance expenses. That does not mean coaches can start fining players for misdeeds like they do in the pros.
''All that's covered (in cost of attendance) is the costs that the school says is needed to survive on campus,'' said Ramogi Huma, executive director of National College Players Association, a student-athlete advocacy group. ''This is not excess money.''
Not only could fining players be an NCAA violation, but it also makes college sports look like professional sports at a time when college leaders are trying to make the case that amateurism needs to be preserved.
Huma led a movement to unionize football players at Northwestern. It failed, but the National Labor Relations Board never did rule on whether the players were employees.
College sports leaders insist they are not. Antitrust lawsuits against the NCAA make the case they are.
Virginia Tech athletic director Whit Babcock quickly stamped out a potential problem Thursday night in Blacksburg, Virginia, when he quickly ended a fine program Hokies' coaches said they were considering.
Defensive coordinator Bud Foster talked about fines coming out of players' cost-of-attendance money. Virginia Tech athletes are receiving an additional $3,280 (or $3,620 for out-of-state students) this year to cover expenses beyond tuition, room and board and fees.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch published a photo on Thursday of a video board at the Virginia Tech football facility that had a list of transgressions - missing class, missing study hall, dirty locker, unsportsmanlike behavior - with dollar amounts next to them ranging from $5 to $100.
Virginia Tech said no money had been forfeited under the proposed system.
''Now, I would also like to say this: I really admire coach (Frank) Beamer, the behavior of our players, the accountability, the discipline, the clean program. I admire what he's done,'' Babcock told The Roanoke Times. ''But I just think this is a new era and we all agreed this morning that we would stop this practice in total.''
Babcock said in the past Virginia Tech coaches had disciplined players by withholding game tickets or bowl gifts.
That's not uncommon nor is it against the rules. Tickets and gifts are perks for being part of the team, not financial aid.
''I would basically hold ransom,'' said former UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel, now an analyst for CBS. ''I would keep things and if I got the behavior I wanted it would be returned to them.
''I would hold back bowl gifts until we got the academic work that we needed to get done.''
Neuheisel, who also coached at Washington and Colorado, said a player could be punished by not being allowed to drive to a not-so-far-away bowl game, hence taking away the player's ability to be reimbursed for the mileage and make a couple of bucks in the process.
Former Arkansas and Mississippi coach Houston Nutt said making a player run gassers or stadium steps at 5 a.m. as punishment isn't always enough to get his attention.
Nutt said he once took away a player's travel per diem - about $15 - after the player missed several study halls.
''To me it was a good little learning point especially when his teammates opened up their envelope and got theirs and his first trek was straight to me,'' said, who also works for CBS Sports. '''Hey coach where's my envelope?'''
Cincinnati coach Tommy Tuberville seemed to double-down on the Virginia Tech plan when he told ESPN that he would withhold cost-of-attendance funds if players violated team or athletic department rules.
''We are in no way, shape or form fining any of our student-athletes,'' Cincinnati athletic director Mike Bohn said.
While NCAA rules prohibit schools from withholding scholarship funds, a school can include in its scholarship agreement that funds can be revoked for violations of university, athletic department or team policies. The scholarship agreement athletes sign with Cincinnati spells that out. There is also a university appeals process for an athlete who faces the loss of a scholarship.
Cincinnati football players are receiving an additional $5,504 in scholarship money to cover cost of attendance.
''And now we're trying to educate our student athletes,'' said Maggie McKinley, associate athletic director who oversees compliance at Cincinnati, ''because of that increase in their scholarships, they have more to lose.''
For years, college football coaches have been coming up with creative ways within NCAA rules to punish players for relatively minor missteps - sometimes hitting them in the wallets.
These days those wallets are fuller than ever before, thanks to new NCAA rules which increase the value of an athletic scholarship by several thousand dollars to include a stipend for additional cost-of-attendance expenses. That does not mean coaches can start fining players for misdeeds like they do in the pros.
''All that's covered (in cost of attendance) is the costs that the school says is needed to survive on campus,'' said Ramogi Huma, executive director of National College Players Association, a student-athlete advocacy group. ''This is not excess money.''
Not only could fining players be an NCAA violation, but it also makes college sports look like professional sports at a time when college leaders are trying to make the case that amateurism needs to be preserved.
Huma led a movement to unionize football players at Northwestern. It failed, but the National Labor Relations Board never did rule on whether the players were employees.
College sports leaders insist they are not. Antitrust lawsuits against the NCAA make the case they are.
Virginia Tech athletic director Whit Babcock quickly stamped out a potential problem Thursday night in Blacksburg, Virginia, when he quickly ended a fine program Hokies' coaches said they were considering.
Defensive coordinator Bud Foster talked about fines coming out of players' cost-of-attendance money. Virginia Tech athletes are receiving an additional $3,280 (or $3,620 for out-of-state students) this year to cover expenses beyond tuition, room and board and fees.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch published a photo on Thursday of a video board at the Virginia Tech football facility that had a list of transgressions - missing class, missing study hall, dirty locker, unsportsmanlike behavior - with dollar amounts next to them ranging from $5 to $100.
Virginia Tech said no money had been forfeited under the proposed system.
''Now, I would also like to say this: I really admire coach (Frank) Beamer, the behavior of our players, the accountability, the discipline, the clean program. I admire what he's done,'' Babcock told The Roanoke Times. ''But I just think this is a new era and we all agreed this morning that we would stop this practice in total.''
Babcock said in the past Virginia Tech coaches had disciplined players by withholding game tickets or bowl gifts.
That's not uncommon nor is it against the rules. Tickets and gifts are perks for being part of the team, not financial aid.
''I would basically hold ransom,'' said former UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel, now an analyst for CBS. ''I would keep things and if I got the behavior I wanted it would be returned to them.
''I would hold back bowl gifts until we got the academic work that we needed to get done.''
Neuheisel, who also coached at Washington and Colorado, said a player could be punished by not being allowed to drive to a not-so-far-away bowl game, hence taking away the player's ability to be reimbursed for the mileage and make a couple of bucks in the process.
Former Arkansas and Mississippi coach Houston Nutt said making a player run gassers or stadium steps at 5 a.m. as punishment isn't always enough to get his attention.
Nutt said he once took away a player's travel per diem - about $15 - after the player missed several study halls.
''To me it was a good little learning point especially when his teammates opened up their envelope and got theirs and his first trek was straight to me,'' said, who also works for CBS Sports. '''Hey coach where's my envelope?'''
Cincinnati coach Tommy Tuberville seemed to double-down on the Virginia Tech plan when he told ESPN that he would withhold cost-of-attendance funds if players violated team or athletic department rules.
''We are in no way, shape or form fining any of our student-athletes,'' Cincinnati athletic director Mike Bohn said.
While NCAA rules prohibit schools from withholding scholarship funds, a school can include in its scholarship agreement that funds can be revoked for violations of university, athletic department or team policies. The scholarship agreement athletes sign with Cincinnati spells that out. There is also a university appeals process for an athlete who faces the loss of a scholarship.
Cincinnati football players are receiving an additional $5,504 in scholarship money to cover cost of attendance.
''And now we're trying to educate our student athletes,'' said Maggie McKinley, associate athletic director who oversees compliance at Cincinnati, ''because of that increase in their scholarships, they have more to lose.''
NCAABKB: Indiana president none too pleased with recent legal issues involving student athletes.
By Raphielle Johnson
(Photo/AP)
In the last eighteen months, Indiana head coach Tom Crean has been forced to discipline multiple players who have gotten into trouble away from the court. The most recent instance involved forward Emmitt Holt and center Thomas Bryant, with both being cited for illegal possession of alcohol earlier this week. The citation was Holt’s second off-court issue since joining the program last year, when he was suspended four games due to an incident in which the car he was driving struck former teammate Devin Davis after Davis got out of the car.
The incidents do Crean and his staff no favors as they look to return the Indiana program to prominence both within the Big Ten and nationally, and recent issues in the men’s basketball and football programs have caught the attention of school president Michael McRobbie as well. According to the Indianapolis Star, McRobbie let his displeasure be known at the annual all-staff meeting Wednesday, with the characterization being that McRobbie “read them the riot act.”
- IU’s president since 2007, he has long taken a supportive, but passive, role with his athletics department. That he felt compelled to deliver such remarks at this week’s all-staff meeting suggest the issue is front and center in the offices of Bryan Hall, the central hub of the university’s administration.
- “I expect all of you to ensure that my message is heard loud and clear by all student athletes,” he said according to the excerpts. “I have stressed repeatedly that our student-athletes are first and foremost students! Our ultimate goal is to help them obtain a degree that will prepare them for career and life success.
- “We owe this to them.”
With Wednesday’s developments many will look to Crean to step forward, but he’ll also need leaders within the team to step forward and keep everyone on track. Whether or not that happens will have an impact on the direction of the Indiana program in the upcoming 2015-16 season and beyond.
Usain Bolt wins 200 gold at worlds, then gets taken down by cameraman's Segway.
By Joe Lago
Usain Bolt of Jamaica collides with a cameraman on a segway after the men's 200m final during the 15th IAAF World Championships at the National Stadium in Beijing, China August 27, 2015. (Photo/REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson)
Usain Bolt predicted that he wouldn't lose his favorite event at the world championships and, as is usually the case when the Jamaican steps onto a track, he went out and backed up his words.
Bolt faced another showdown with American Justin Gatlin in the 200-meter final in Beijing on Thursday and did not blink as he captured his record 10th world title in a time of 19.55, the fifth fastest 200 ever.
On Sunday, Bolt edged Gatlin in the 100-meter final by just one hundredth of a second. Both cruised to victories in Wednesday's semifinal heats to set up the rematch.
"Justin Gatlin was saying he was ready to go and was going to do something special. And for the 100 I don't mind people talking a lot because it's the 100 meters," Bolt said. "But when it comes to my 200, I take it really personal."
Gatlin came off the curve running step for step with Bolt, but that's when Bolt kicked it into another gear. Down the back stretch, he easily put distance between himself and Gatlin and coasted across the finish line all by himself to the world's best time of 2015.
Bolt won his fourth consecutive world title in the 200, while Gatlin suffered his first 200 loss in two years. The American finished second at 19.74 seconds. South Africa's Anaso Jobodwana (19.87) took bronze.
"I'm just happy to go out there and make the big man run," Gatlin said of the rivalry that figures to continue at next year's Rio Olympics.
While taking his victory lap, Bolt was bumped into from behind by a cameraman's Segway.
The collision left Bolt with an apparent cut to his leg, but he said it wouldn't keep him out of the 400 relay. "Hopefully, I won't feel any effects," he said.
American star Allyson Felix also added to her legacy by winning gold in the women's 400 meters. She won in impressive fashion with a personal-best time of 49.26 seconds, the fastest time in the world, momentarily tying Bolt's all-time mark of nine world titles.
"It's amazing," Felix said of her nine titles. "I never thought I would be here."
Christian Taylor also won gold for the U.S. in the triple jump. The former Florida Gator clinched it with the second-longest triple jump ever of 59 feet, 9 inches.
Bolt faced another showdown with American Justin Gatlin in the 200-meter final in Beijing on Thursday and did not blink as he captured his record 10th world title in a time of 19.55, the fifth fastest 200 ever.
On Sunday, Bolt edged Gatlin in the 100-meter final by just one hundredth of a second. Both cruised to victories in Wednesday's semifinal heats to set up the rematch.
"Justin Gatlin was saying he was ready to go and was going to do something special. And for the 100 I don't mind people talking a lot because it's the 100 meters," Bolt said. "But when it comes to my 200, I take it really personal."
Gatlin came off the curve running step for step with Bolt, but that's when Bolt kicked it into another gear. Down the back stretch, he easily put distance between himself and Gatlin and coasted across the finish line all by himself to the world's best time of 2015.
Bolt won his fourth consecutive world title in the 200, while Gatlin suffered his first 200 loss in two years. The American finished second at 19.74 seconds. South Africa's Anaso Jobodwana (19.87) took bronze.
"I'm just happy to go out there and make the big man run," Gatlin said of the rivalry that figures to continue at next year's Rio Olympics.
While taking his victory lap, Bolt was bumped into from behind by a cameraman's Segway.
The collision left Bolt with an apparent cut to his leg, but he said it wouldn't keep him out of the 400 relay. "Hopefully, I won't feel any effects," he said.
American star Allyson Felix also added to her legacy by winning gold in the women's 400 meters. She won in impressive fashion with a personal-best time of 49.26 seconds, the fastest time in the world, momentarily tying Bolt's all-time mark of nine world titles.
"It's amazing," Felix said of her nine titles. "I never thought I would be here."
Christian Taylor also won gold for the U.S. in the triple jump. The former Florida Gator clinched it with the second-longest triple jump ever of 59 feet, 9 inches.
Memoriesofhistory.com
1922 - The Walker Cup was held for the first time at Southampton, NY. It is the oldest international team golf match in America.
1941 - The Football Writers Association of America was organized. 1972 - Mark Spitz captured the first of his seven gold medals at the Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany. He set a world record when he completed the 200-meter butterfly in 2 minutes and 7/10ths of a second.
1941 - The Football Writers Association of America was organized. 1972 - Mark Spitz captured the first of his seven gold medals at the Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany. He set a world record when he completed the 200-meter butterfly in 2 minutes and 7/10ths of a second.
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