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Sports Quote of the Day: (CS&T/AA feelings with regards to the Chicago Bears 2015 season and all of the front office, coaching, player and staff changes made since the end of last season.)
"Transformation is a process, and as life happens there are tons of ups and downs. It's a journey of discovery - there are moments on mountaintops and moments in deep valleys of despair." ~ Rick Warren, Evangelical Christian Pastor
Trending: It's obvious that the Bears are in a transformation period and will be a work in process this year. An 8-8 season would be a blessing, however, hope springs eternal. Let's go Bears!!! (See football section for Bears updates)
Trending: It's obvious that the Bears are in a transformation period and will be a work in process this year. An 8-8 season would be a blessing, however, hope springs eternal. Let's go Bears!!! (See football section for Bears updates)
Trending: Jake Arrieta goes to another level with no-hitter for Cubs. (See baseball section for details).
Trending: Tokyo wins Little League title, beating Lewisberry 18-11. (See baseball section for details).
B ear Down Chicago Bears!!!!! 10 thoughts on Bears' 21-10 loss to Bengals.
By Brad Biggs
Andy Dalton of the Cincinnati Bengals spikes the ball after rushing for a 1-yard touchdown on fourth down in the first quarter. (Photo/Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
Ten thoughts after the Chicago Bears fell to the Cincinnati Bengals 21-10 Saturday night at Paul Brown Stadium, their first exhibition loss.
1. It’s hard to say exactly how things are going to shake out at the starting cornerback position opposite Kyle Fuller. It's hard to put a positive spin on things for two-time Pro Bowl performer Tim Jennings when he was the sixth player used at the position.
Sure, the coaching staff and front office want to evaluate a variety of different players and explore combinations. But the sixth cornerback spot in the third preseason game is where you expect to find an undrafted free agent or last year’s seventh-round draft pick. Not a guy who 19 months ago was signing a lucrative contract extension that guaranteed him $11.8 million, including his base salary of $4.4 million this season.
Here is who got on the field before Jennings:
Alan Ball: He started opposite Fuller and has been the favorite to win a job since signing a $3 million, one-year contract in free agency. As they say, follow the money. Sure, it’s not as much as Jennings is on the books for, but Ball was signed by the current regime for the current coaching staff.
Sherrick McManis: Longtime special teamer is pushing hard for a job as the nickel cornerback. He’s been longing to get time on defense and it might be his turn. More on McManis a little later.
Terrance Mitchell: A seventh-round draft pick by the Cowboys a year ago, he’s got good size and plays well when there isn’t a lot of traffic and communicating that needs to happen. If he’s on a side by himself covering a receiver, he’s best off. Has been around the ball a little bit lately.
Tracy Porter: He’s got history with GM Ryan Pace and coach John Fox but he can’t stay healthy (he left Saturday's game with a recurring hamstring injury). The Bears took a no-risk investment with Porter hoping he could remain healthy and it doesn’t look like it is going to pay off.
It’s understandable the Bears would want to look at a lot of options but that is what they have been doing since the first minicamp in April. Evaluating. What’s the old adage? If you have two starting quarterbacks, you have none. Not sure if that applies directly here but a decision needs to be made soon.
Jennings’ $4.4 million salary is going to make him impossible to trade, in my opinion. A pro personnel director for one NFC team said he’s curious to see if the Bears release Jennings, treating him as a sunk cost. You cannot rule that out as a possibility.
Sometimes teams, especially rebuilding clubs, will avoid having high-priced former starters on the roster as backups. I’m not saying Pace and the Bears feel that way about Jennings. This is our first go-around seeing how the front office and coaching staff work in concert to turn a 90-man roster into a 53-man roster.
Does Jennings still believe he is a starter?
“I believe so,” he said. “My track record is what it is but we’ve got guys that have been starters in this league for a while. We’re trying to evaluate our talent and see what kind of combinations we are going to use and go from there.”
Jennings acknowledged a decision like a trade would be totally out of his hands and like I said, he’s making too much money for a 31-year-old coming off arthroscopic knee surgery to fetch anything in return. It’s also hard to see the Bears wanting him around if he is their sixth (or fifth if Porter departs) option on Sundays. That’s a spot for a developmental player and one that can produce on special teams.
Fox was asked if Jennings is fighting for a roster spot.
“I think everybody is,” he replied. “There’s 90 people. Do the math.”
2. It is difficult to get all 32 NFL head coaches to agree on one point but you will probably find unanimous support for a shift in the way teams reduce their rosters. The first wave of cuts, where teams must reduce their rosters from 90 players to 75, are due by 3 p.m. Tuesday. Coaches would like to have 90-man rosters throughout the entire preseason before having to chop it down to a 53-man roster.
It seems a bit much. Why can’t they go through one game with a 75-man roster? Reality is, after Tuesday’s cuts, it is only another 96 hours before cuts must be made again to 53. The answer is attrition. It’s become commonplace throughout the NFL for starters to sit out the entire fourth preseason game (or nearly the entire game) and as I pointed out last week, the Bears played their fourth preseason game in Cleveland last summer with only 35 players. Former coach Marc Trestman held the other 40 out.
What ends up happening is the first set of cuts from 90 to 75 isn’t necessarily a scenario in which the worst 15 players are released. Reality is decisions are driven by what the team feels it needs to play through the fourth preseason season game. For instance, if a team’s second and third tight ends were sidelined with minor injuries, it could wind up keeping tight ends that would otherwise not survive first cuts. By keeping some tight ends, it might force the team to release a player at another position that is better but a pressing need is at tight end because the starter isn’t going to play and the top two backups (who would normally play in the game) are dinged.
What ends up happening is the first set of cuts from 90 to 75 isn’t necessarily a scenario in which the worst 15 players are released. Reality is decisions are driven by what the team feels it needs to play through the fourth preseason season game. For instance, if a team’s second and third tight ends were sidelined with minor injuries, it could wind up keeping tight ends that would otherwise not survive first cuts. By keeping some tight ends, it might force the team to release a player at another position that is better but a pressing need is at tight end because the starter isn’t going to play and the top two backups (who would normally play in the game) are dinged.
3. There will be an MRI in the very near future for defensive lineman Jeremiah Ratliff, who left the locker room on crutches and with his left ankle in a walking boot. A lot of the reaction on Twitter when that was reported was that he had plenty of time to heal up because the three-game suspension he will serve has him out until the first week of October. That’s true. The only time defensive coordinator Vic Fangio was made available, back in the first week of August, he singled out Ratliff as the only good player the team had on the line at the time. So losing him for more than the three games he was suspended would be a serious blow.
The Bears have a couple options up front but rookie second-round pick Eddie Goldman left with a concussion. Then, there is Jarvis Jenkins, Ego Ferguson, Will Sutton and Brandon Dunn. Keep in mind, the Bears didn’t sign a veteran defensive lineman when Ray McDonald (more on him a little lower down) was released in May. Quality defensive linemen aren’t readily available in May (or late August).
“Ray was a veteran and it was a tough loss for us,” Jenkins said. “We talked right then that we had to have young guys stepping up. We have to play together and work hard and it is going to be a good, solid defensive line.”
Perhaps the Bears will provide a little information on Ratliff in the next 72 hours or so.
4. For the first time in preseason, the Bears didn’t run the ball very well. But if you want to look at a position with a little depth right now, I like the running backs. This might be the best group that has been assembled behind Matt Forte. Yes, you’re talking about a pretty low bar after some free-agent disasters like Chester Taylor, Marion Barber and Michael Bush. But rookie fourth-round pick Jeremy Langford has generated some buzz. Veteran Jacquizz Rodgers looks like he will fit in and he has clearly earned the trust of the coaching staff. Senorise Perry, who left the stadium with a walking boot on his left ankle, will be a core special teams performer if he remains healthy. And when I asked quarterback Jay Cutler about the position group earlier in the week, he mentioned another player some have forgotten -- Ka’Deem Carey, the fourth-round pick from last year.
“A lot of guys,” Cutler said. “I wouldn’t want to be the guy that has to make that decision. We got the rookie (Langford). We’ve got some other guys that came on. Quizz has had a great preseason. Twenty-five, Ka’Deem’s come on. He’s ran the ball extremely hard. I know Stan (Drayton) is doing a great job with those guys making sure they’re on their stuff. Every time you give a guy the ball, it seems like they’re getting some chunks here and there. So I don’t know how it’s going to shake out.”
My guess is the Bears keep four and Carey is the odd man out but we’ve got to learn more about Perry’s injury right now.
5. Good thing for the team and Jimmy Clausen that he was cleared of a concussion, according to Fox. Clausen took a pretty rough hit in the fourth quarter. He suffered a concussion in the Week 16 game last season when Jay Cutler was benched. That was shot that lingered with Clausen for several weeks.
“After the hit I really didn’t feel anything,” Clausen said during training camp. “It was just adrenaline going on. Then that night after was pretty brutal. It just kept getting worse and worse. It ended up going for about two weeks, three weeks. It was pretty bad. When I went back to California, I still felt it.”
The Bears made Clausen off-limits to media after the game. Provided he’s healthy, he should get solid playing time on Thursday against the Browns at Soldier Field.
6. I wrote about one-quarter of the secondary above exploring the issue at the cornerback spot opposite Kyle Fuller. But the entire starting unit is failing to make plays on the ball, contest catches and challenge opposing wide receivers. Antrel Rolle looks slow and he’s been guilty of some poor angles. Adrian Amos is a rookie and you expect growing pains and there have been a mounting number of questions in the mailbag on a weekly basis wondering what’s going on with Fuller. Coaches tell you players should make a big jump forward from their rookie season to Year 2 and we’re waiting to see Fuller emerge. I don’t know if the Bears have a single playmaker in the defensive backfield.
7. At this point it would be pretty surprising if quarterback David Fales made the 53-man roster. I’ll reserve the right to adjust my thinking after the Browns game on Thursday night when Fales should get extensive playing time, but I could easily see a scenario in which the team keeps only two quarterbacks on the 53-man roster (provided Jimmy Clausen is healthy). Fales has thrown only three passes in preseason and he got a late start on things in camp after a mystery illness -- he wouldn’t go into any specifics -- put him on the shelf for a month.
“It’s a long story,” Fales said. “I was sick though. It kind of came up the last minute before camp. The week before camp. It was something kind of crazy. I couldn’t mess with it and just had to take the time. I lost a little bit of weight but I got it back. It was more my strength, muscle activation and stuff. I feel fine. Last week was big kind of getting back into the rhythm.”
Talk about a challenging year. Fales had always been healthy playing football but his right shoulder never healed after a sack by Cleveland’s Barkevious Mingo in the preseason finale last August. Fales rested it for a month after the season and when it didn’t respond, he opted for surgery to repair the AC joint.
“I feel good now,” he said. “I was kind of getting to it in OTAs. OTAs was first time throwing consecutive days and then the break came around and I was actually throwing the best I have in a long time and then I got sick. I’m getting back.
“I am definitely trying to get my endurance, strength and my legs back under me. It’s coming fast. I feel good. I feel good with the offense and my understanding and everything with that.”
Fales believes he has a good grasp on Adam Gase’s offense and is ready to prove what he can do.
8. There was no sign of wide receiver Alshon Jeffery at Paul Brown Stadium and that is because Fox said the decision was made to leave him behind for treatment on his calf muscle injury. The vibe I’m getting is Jeffery is back in action for the season opener against the Packers, but you’re wise to treat all injury information with caution these days.
Jeffery needs to get back on the field and stay there for what is a huge season for him. He won’t play a down in preseason but it’s what he does in the regular season that will matter as he is in the final year of his contract. The Bears have not engaged in talks with Jeffery on a new contract and that is not surprising. General manager Ryan Pace wants to get a feel for the lay of the land and the roster before he starts shelling out big bucks. Jeffery controls his market with how he performs.
The top tier of wide receivers continues to come in at about the same number. Dez Bryant and Demaryius Thomas signed contracts that average $14 million per year and the Falcons’ Julio Jones got paid on Saturday with a five-year extension that averages $14.25 million per year.
Is Jeffery in that range? Not right now. But if he goes out and produces like he did in 2013 when he had 89 receptions for 1,421 yards, you can bet he’s going to put himself in that price range. And you can bet the Bears will likely have to place the franchise tag on him.
9. An epilogue was tacked on to Ray McDonald’s two-month stint with the Bears as Santa Clara County (Calif.) prosecutors announced Wednesday that a grand jury had indicted McDonald on a felony rape charge from an incident at his home in December.
The Bears kicked McDonald to the curb after a May 25 incident in which he was accused of breaking into a woman’s bedroom. Prosecutors also announced the grand jury indicted McDonald for violating a May 27 domestic violence restraining order.
When the Bears terminated McDonald’s contract in May, they said terms of the deal had been spelled out clearly to McDonald: If he did as much as received a ticket for jaywalking, he was done. That’s fine. They followed through on their word when McDonald did much worse and got tangled up in accusations of domestic violence.
Maybe were for the signing of McDonald because there was no guaranteed money in the contract (certainly not unique for NFL contracts) and the Bears had protection in the event McDonald got himself in trouble again. Maybe were opposed to the signing of McDonald because he’d been accused of violence against women.
What can’t be overlooked here before we move on is the Bears were clearly operating on bad information. Had they thought McDonald would be facing a rape charge, they never would have brought him to Halas Hall. The investigation into the December party at his San Jose home was still considered open when the team signed him. So not only did the Bears place trust in a player that quickly proved he wasn’t deserving, they were proceeding with bad information about how things would shake out.
10. Scouts from six NFL clubs were credentialed for the game: Cardinals, Chargers, Chiefs, Packers, Raiders and Steelers. The Packers and Steelers have been present for all three preseason games. The Bears, of course, open the regular season against Green Bay on Sept. 13. The Steelers don’t play the Bengals until Nov. 1 but they are AFC North rivals.
10a. Wide receiver Ify Umodu created a buzz on the sideline with his touchdown celebration after blocking a punt, scooping it up and returning it 8 yards to the end zone. Umodu told Rich Campbell is was a Namaste yoga pose.
“It’s something that I had in my tool box for a while,” said the undrafted rookie free agent from Northern Arizona. “I took some yoga classes in college and I have a couple poses I know. Just had to go out there and do a little something. Overall, the reaction was pretty good. They thought it was pretty funny. It wasn’t meant to be funny.”
10b. Bears kicker Robbie Gould is 8 for 8 on field goals in the exhibition season after connecting from 34 yards. He has also hit from distances of 48, 23, 21, 27, 50, 38 and 25 yards.
10c. Stunning that the Bengals would expose starting quarterback Andy Dalton to injury in preseason with a quarterback sneak at the goal line. Dalton scored on fourth down and injured his neck in the process. That’s precisely why coaches don’t like sneaking with their quarterbacks. It exposes their necks and helmets to hits. The good news is Cincinnati coach Marvin Lewis said Dalton is fine. But why call that?
10d. Little surprising to see the Bears replace cornerback Fuller with safety Brock Vereen in a goal line package. Vereen just isn’t a physical player. Bengals running back Jeremy Hill easily shook him off on a 1-yard touchdown run.
10e. Browns coach Mike Pettine announced he will not play quarterback Josh McCown on Thursday at Soldier Field against the Bears. What stinks is Johnny Manziel is also out.
10f. Two sacks for Lamarr Houston was a solid showing even if he was getting extensive playing time in the fourth quarter.
10g. Martellus Bennett with a team-high 11 receptions through three games. The rest of the tight ends? Two catches.
Update: Chicago Bears cut longtime starting cornerback Tim Jennings.
By Eric Edholm
In a move that could kickstart the Chicago Bears' identity shift on defense, the team has released cornerback Tim Jennings.
The 31-year-old Jennings had started 74 of the past 80 games for the Bears at corner and had four- and nine-interception seasons for them in 2013 and 2012, respectively. He has played nine years in the NFL, with his first four seasons coming with the Indianapolis Colts.
Jennings is not considered an ideal fit with the Bears' new defensive scheme, which promises to be more man-coverage heavy. His best skill is in zone coverage, and he might be able to fit a number of teams that play that as their primary coverage.
Former Bears head coach Lovie Smith is running the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' defense and could convince Jennings to sign there. The New England Patriots and Dallas Cowboys also are possibilities, with both teams perhaps seeking more secondary depth.
The handwriting was on the wall Saturday night when Jennings was playing in the fourth quarter of the Bears game against the Cincinnati Bengals alongside third-team defenders. He was the sixth cornerback to enter the game.
Many are called but few are chosen. Are you chosen? Are you confident in your knowledge about the NFL? Are you confident in you ability to pick winners for the upcoming 2015 season? Are you excited and chomping at the bit for the season to start? If you are, then the CS&T/AllsportsAmerica 2015 NFL Confidence Office Pool is for you!!!
We have a little over a week to go before the NFL season gets underway. It's decision time and we want you in. $35.00 for 17 weeks of pure, unadulterated football drama, anxiety, exaltation, frustration, happiness, sadness, celebration and the full gamut of emotions on the 2015 NFL rollercoaster. Enter and try it, we guarantee you a season of fun. Surprise yourself and see how good you really are. It cost less than a Starbucks, McDonald's, Burger King or Wendy's hamburger, a glass of beer, a gallon of gas, etc., once a week. Our entry fee is reasonable and the rewards are fabulous. Think about it and make your move. You can't win if you aren't in and if you're not in, you're out. You don't want to be out!!! Trust us.
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 a 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 | ||
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| 12 | 9/13/2015 3:25 PM* | |||||
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| 15 | 9/14/2015 6:10 PM* | |||||
| 16 | 9/14/2015 9:20 PM* | |||||
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Blackhawks counting on new players to defend Cup.
By Brian Hedger
The more things change with the Chicago Blackhawks, the harder their front office works to attain the same results.
The Blackhawks have proven during the past seven seasons that sustained success is possible in a salary-cap system, but only for teams that continually prepare for offseason roster turnover.
It helps to have a core group of elite players like Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith to build around, as Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman does in Chicago, but that alone won't win anything. Bowman has built the Blackhawks' past two championship teams after parting with established role players and replacing them with players who have thrived in those supporting roles.
"I think change is good, and I think we've embraced that in the past and been able to bring in some players that now are household names … but at one point they were new," Bowman said. "It's going to be the same thing for some of the new guys that are part of this group next year. They might be new to the fans and media, but as you'll see in time, I think we're really going to fall in love with some of these guys."
Artemi Panarin, Marko Dano and Erik Gustafsson, three players 23 or younger, each could play his way into a regular role, as could forward Teuvo Teravainen, 20, after opening some eyes with an impressive performance during the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Panarin, a 23-year-old left wing, was one of the most exciting players in the Kontinental Hockey League last season; Dano, a 20-year-old right wing, made an impressive NHL debut with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2014-15; and Gustafsson, a 23-year-old defenseman, turned heads in the Swedish Hockey League.
Panarin and Gustafsson signed with the Blackhawks as free agents last spring, and Dano came to Chicago in a trade that sent forward Brandon Saad to the Blue Jackets. That trade also brought in Artem Anisimov, 27, who's expected to center the second line.
Defenseman Trevor Daley and left wing Ryan Garbutt were acquired in a trade that sent left wing Patrick Sharp to the Dallas Stars.
Defenseman Johnny Oduya, who spent three-plus seasons in Chicago, signed a two-year contract with the Stars, and center Brad Richards signed for one year with the Detroit Red Wings.
"Every year you have a new mixture that you're trying to put together, and I think the one thing that I try to remind people is that each year is unique and each year is different," Bowman said. "I know the tendency for everybody, whether it's fans or even people around the team, is to look backward: 'Well, this is how we had it last year, so this guy is going to replace that guy.' But when you look back on it, we had a different blueprint each year that we won the Cup. It wasn't the identical same team and one player replaced another one."
Trading Saad took most by surprise, including Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville. Bowman agreed to it when it became apparent Saad's asking price for a new contract was too much for Chicago's cramped payroll.
"It's tough losing a young kid who could be a real good player in our league," Quenneville said. "We [will] miss a dimension to our team as well. That's today's game. That's one of the things you have to deal with when you're a championship team. Guys are going to earn more money based on their performance and what they've achieved, [and] deservedly so. [Saad] falls into that category."
Yet the Saad trade is a good example of how Bowman has kept the Blackhawks among the NHL elite. It hurts to lose a talented two-way player who has two championships at the age of 23, but the return might net something even better for Chicago.
Dano could develop into a two-way force, and Anisimov, at 6-foot-4, 198 pounds, is the big, talented center the Blackhawks have long sought to acquire. Anisimov signed a five-year contract extension that doesn't begin until 2016-17 and has a manageable cap charge ($4.55 million, according to war-on-ice.com).
"We have some new players [coming] in," Bowman said. "So when you look at it from that perspective, you get excited about what the possibilities might be for next year with some of the new players we have coming in."
Just Another Chicago Bulls Session... NBA Trade Rumors: Chicago Bulls Rudy Gay To Chicago For Taj Gibson? Bulls Need Help At Wing Position.
By Michael Asis
The NBA Trade rumors continue and Rudy Gay is at the forefront. Will he head back East to Chicago?
Rudy Gay (Photo : Ethan Miller | Getty Images Sport)
The Chicago Bulls were projected as an Eastern Conference contender last year, but they fell short of expectations. They were touted as the team capable of stopping LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers' rampage in the East, but they did not seem to offer as much of a resistance.
Looking ahead to next season, the Bulls need to fill out the position they lack: small forward. Since the departure of Luol Deng, the Bulls have not had a solid replacement at the "three" position-which LeBron James plays.
The stopgap solution of playing Jimmy Butler when they go small and Nikola Mirotic when they go big is not the answer, so they may have to swing a trade. Yibada had a proposal that could be a win-win solution: Trade their surplus power forward to the Sacramento Kings (who need a "four") for Rudy Gay.
"The Bulls can acquire Gay by sending power forward Taj Gibson and second-year sniper Doug McDermott to the Kings," the site proposed. "The 30-year-old Gibson would give the Kings a legit starting power forward, while McDermott is ready to fill the slack at the wing position."
As the article also suggested, the Sacramento Kings are shopping Gay, citing Hoops Rumors earlier in the Summer.
"Kings higher-ups believe it'll be tough to find value for Cousins and believe they have a better chance to find the right trade for Rudy Gay."
The trade seems workable but both teams already have a lot of transition going on. The Bulls just ended the Tom Thibodeau era and the Kings overhauled most of their roster. At the onset, teams might choose to seek stability but if they falter early, this trade might come to fruition.
Jake Arrieta goes to another level with no-hitter for Cubs.
By Patrick Mooney
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
Jake Arrieta cemented his status as one of the game’s most dominant pitchers with this no-hitter, still hitting 96 mph in the ninth inning and the mosh pit forming around him after a 2-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Arrieta made baseball history on Sunday night at iconic Dodger Stadium in front of a national-television audience and in the middle of a pennant race that has re-energized this franchise and a starving fan base.
Arrieta is a huge reason why baseball matters in Chicago this summer, why the Cubs could be playing deep into October, this year and beyond.
What a way to end a difficult West Coast trip and return home to Wrigleyville with a 5 1/2-game lead over the San Francisco Giants for the second wild card.
The Dodgers had no chance against Arrieta, who allowed only one baserunner through the first five innings. Kike Hernandez smashed a ball at Starlin Castro in the third and it bounced off the second baseman for an error.
Castro made a nice play while grabbing Carl Crawford’s line drive to end the seventh inning. So did new franchise shortstop Addison Russell to end the eighth, smoothly fielding a chopper up the middle to throw out Hernandez.
But it’s not like the Cubs had to be extraordinary on defense or the Dodgers ever really got comfortable in the box. Jimmy Rollins drew a walk in the sixth before Chase Utley hit a ball to the warning track in left field to end the inning.
Arrieta finished with 12 strikeouts and only allowed six balls out of the infield. He now leads the majors with 17 wins in another breakthrough season.
Arrieta has now made 14 straight quality starts, and the last Cub to do that was Greg Maddux in 1992, the first of his four straight Cy Young seasons (and last one in Chicago).
Carlos Zambrano threw the franchise’s last no-hitter in 2008 against the Houston Astros at Milwaukee’s Miller Park, in a game relocated because of Hurricane Ike.
Arrieta has now made 14 straight quality starts, and the last Cub to do that was Greg Maddux in 1992, the first of his four straight Cy Young seasons (and last one in Chicago).
Carlos Zambrano threw the franchise’s last no-hitter in 2008 against the Houston Astros at Milwaukee’s Miller Park, in a game relocated because of Hurricane Ike.
Saladino's walk-off single nets White Sox extra-inning win.
By JJ Stankevitz
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
A plodding, poorly played series between two fourth-place teams found a fitting conclusion.
Tyler Saladino blooped an 11th-inning walk-off single to net the White Sox a 6-5 win over the Seattle Mariners in front of 28,031 on Sunday afternoon at U.S. Cellular Field. The game only reached extra innings because Mariners shortstop Brad Miller fired an errant throw out of the reach of first baseman Logan Morrison on a routine ground ball with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, allowing Trayce Thompson to score the equalizing run.
The White Sox had to battle back twice from Kyle Seager-induced deficits. The Mariners third baseman ripped a two-run home run in the first off White Sox starter Jose Quintana, then in the eighth delivered a go-ahead RBI single off Zach Duke.
After Morrison’s two errors gave a run back to the White Sox in the bottom of the first, Austin Jackson launched a two-run homer in the second to give the Mariners an early 4-1 cushion.
The White Sox fought back in the fourth, plating two runs against a erratic Seattle starter Edgar Olmos on Saladino’s RBI double and Adam Eaton’s run-scoring groundout. Melky Cabrera’s ninth home run of the season equalized the score in the bottom of the seventh, but Zach Duke allowed a two-out triple to Jackson and Seager’s RBI single in the top of the eighth.
Quintana lasted 4 1/3 innings, allowing four runs on nine hits with three walks and eight strikeouts. It was his shortest outing since the Detroit Tigers tagged him for nine runs in four innings April 19.
David Robertson fired two scoreless innings of relief to set up Saladino’s walk-off hit.
Tokyo wins Little League title, beating Lewisberry 18-11.
By PAT EATON-ROBB
Tokyo won the Little League World Series on Sunday, pounding out 22 hits and overcoming an eight-run first-inning deficit to beat Lewisberry, Pennsylvania, 18-11.
The Kitasuna Little League team, also the winner in 2001 and 2012, gave Japan its 10th title.
Lewisberry scored 10 times and sent 14 batters to the plate in the bottom of the first after falling behind 2-0. But Tokyo, which had given up a total of 10 runs in its other tournament games, responded with seven runs in the second, four in the third inning and five in the sixth.
Masafuji Nishijima had four hits and six RBIs, and Shingo Tomita hit two of Tokyo's five home runs.
Tokyo's third pitcher, Nobuyuki Kawashima, held Lewisberry in check most of the game, giving up just one run and two hits over five innings.
By the third inning, the teams had broken the previous Little League record of 23 combined runs in a championship game - a mark that had stood since 1947. Lewisberry's 10-run first inning also was a record, as was the teams' combined 30 hits. The eight-run deficit was the largest overcome in any Little League World Series game.
Lewisberry knocked out starting pitcher Daiki Fukuyama before an out was recorded in the first. Dylan Rodenhaber made his first hit of the tournament count, hitting the ball over the right-field fence for a grand slam. Jaden Henline added a three-run homer, a shot that went deep into the shrubbery in straightaway center field.
The Red Land Little League, which draws players from several central Pennsylvania towns around Lewisberry, scored three more times sending what amounted to a hometown crowd of more than 42,000 fans into a frenzy.
Tokyo responded quickly. Yugo Aoki hit a three-run homer in the top of the second, which was followed with solo shots from twin brothers Kengo and Shingo Tomita.
Daiki Fukuyama added a two-run double up the middle to bring Tokyo back within a run.
Shingo Tomita tied it at 10 in the third inning with a solo home run to left field. Three batters later, Masafuji Nishijima hit a three-run homer to make it 13-10.
Lewisberry got one back in the bottom of the third. Braden Kolmansberger hit the ball over the head of Japan's center fielder and eventually scored when third baseman Koki Jo could not handle a slow roller by Henline.
Tokyo had not one a game by more than two runs all tournament, and had won its last two in the team's final at-bat.
It used the final inning in the championship game to add five insurance runs, highlighted by Kengo Tomita's triple that scored Aoki and opened the floodgates.
Pennsylvania came in with four World Series titles, but the last was in 1960 when a team from Levittown accomplished that feat. Lewisberry is the first in-state team to win the U.S. title since a team from Shippensburg did it in 1990.
The Red Land team helped set a tournament attendance record of 499,964, well over the previous mark of 414,905 set in 2011 when a team from Keystone, Pennsylvania, was in the tournament.
Golf: I got a club for that..... Day (62) walks to six-shot Barclays win.
By Nick Menta
Jason Day (Photo/NBCSports.com)
Jason Day on Sunday fired a final-round 8-under 62 to cruise to a six-shot victory at The Barclays and take the first event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Here’s how Day ran away at Plainfield Country Club:
Leaderboard: Day (-19), Henrik Stenson (-13), Bubba Watson (-11), Zac Blair (-10), Zach Johnson (-10)
What it means: This is Day’s sixth PGA Tour victory and fourth this year, following wins at the Farmers Insurance Open, RBC Canadian Open and PGA Championship. Sunday marks his third win in his last four events. He joins Jordan Spieth as the only players to win four times this season and Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods as the only players to win four or more times in a season after 2009. Since missing the cut at the Memorial, Day’s last six finishes look like this: T-9, T-4, 1, T-12, 1, 1. He has broken par in each of his last 20 rounds and is a combined 73 under during that stretch. Per Golf Channel research, with a win next week at the Deutsche Bank Championship, Day can potentially jump both Spieth and McIlroy to take over as No. 1 in the world.
Round of the day: Day matched the round of the tournament, first posted on Saturday by rookie Carlos Ortiz, making eight birdies without a single dropped shot. He needed just 125 strokes over the weekend at Plainfield, going 63-62.
Best of the rest: Stenson picked up his second runner-up finish of the year, following a solo second at Bay Hill in March. Stenson made six birdies against two bogeys to shoot a final-round 66. The 2013 FedEx Cup champion will move to fourth in this year's points race, behind Day, Spieth, and Watson.
Biggest disappointment: Sangmoon Bae, who started the round tied for the lead and in the final pairing with Day, finished 10 shots worse than his playing partner in the final round. At one point 4 over on Sunday, Bae posted finished with a 2-over 72.
Shot of the day: Two of them, both from Brian Harman, who became the third player in Tour history to record two aces in the same round. Watch his second hole-in-one of the day, from 228 yards at the par-3 14th below. Read more on Harman’s history-making day right here.
Harman makes pair of aces at The Barclays.
Reuters; Reporting by Larry Fine, Editing by Andrew Both
Brian Harman never had a hole-in-one in 121 PGA Tour events but at The Barclays on Sunday he made up for lost time by achieving the rare feat of posting a pair of aces during the final round.
The American left-hander hit a seven-iron from 183 yards at the third hole, and struck a four-hybrid from 218 yards into the cup on 14 for his second hole-in-one to become only the third player ever to enjoy that double in a PGA Tour event.
"That was pretty wild," said Harman, who had five bogeys on his card to shoot 68 and finish at two-under 278.
"It's pretty crazy to play a hundred-some-odd tournaments and never have one, but to have two in the same tournament is pretty awesome."
Harman matched the feat previously accomplished by Japan's Yusaku Miyazato at the Barracuda Championship in 2006, and by U.S. amateur Bill Whedon at the 1955 Insurance City Open.
Harman's aces raised the total to 40 holes-in-one this season on the PGA Tour.
The 28-year-old Georgian, whose lone tour victory came at John Deere Classic last year, began the day 11 shots off the lead at Plainfield Country Club.
"I'd trade both of them to be in contention," said Harman.
Daly back on course a day after collapsing in Mississippi
By DAVID BRANDT
John Daly was out of the hospital and playing golf again Sunday less than 24 hours after he was stricken on the course with what he says was a collapsed lung.
The two-time major champion was taken by ambulance to Baptist Medical Center on Saturday after he collapsed on the 18th tee during an outing at Deerfield Country Club. Daly said doctors ran tests and X-rays but found no other serious problems besides the lung.
''I was having a great time and then suddenly - boom - I'm falling down while on the 18th tee and the next thing I know I'm in an ambulance,'' Daly said. ''It was scary.''
But Daly was back at Deerfield on Sunday, smoking cigarettes on the clubhouse patio while mingling with some of the other players before his round. The tournament is a small, local gathering that includes some of Daly's friends.
Daly's agent, Bud Martin, said in an email earlier Saturday that the 49-year-old golfer has been coping with a lingering rib injury dating to 2007. The injury recently was causing pain and affected his breathing.
''I was having a great time and then suddenly - boom - I'm falling down while on the 18th tee and the next thing I know I'm in an ambulance,'' Daly said. ''It was scary.''
But Daly was back at Deerfield on Sunday, smoking cigarettes on the clubhouse patio while mingling with some of the other players before his round. The tournament is a small, local gathering that includes some of Daly's friends.
Daly's agent, Bud Martin, said in an email earlier Saturday that the 49-year-old golfer has been coping with a lingering rib injury dating to 2007. The injury recently was causing pain and affected his breathing.
Daly's right hand was heavily taped on Sunday. He said he hurt it while putting a new tire on his son's golf cart earlier this week, which indirectly led to Saturday's problems.
''I had to change my swing some to get a good grip and the doctor said the changed motion is likely what led to the collapsed lung,'' Daly said.
Deerfield club pro Leigh Brannan says Daly was having trouble with the heat Saturday and had difficulty breathing before being taken to the hospital. Temperatures were near 90 degrees.
''It was just kind of a freak injury,'' Daly said.
Daly's hard-living ways have been well documented during a turbulent career on the PGA Tour. He recently threw his 6-iron into Lake Michigan during the PGA Championship after hitting three balls into the water.
Date: September 6, 2015
NASCAR.com
| Car # | Driver | Hometown | Manufacturer | Sponsor | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jamie McMurray | Joplin, Missouri |  | McDonald's/Cessna | Felix Sabates |
| 2 | Brad Keselowski | Rochester Hills, Michigan |  | Miller Lite | Roger Penske |
| 3 | Austin Dillon | Welcome, North Carolina | | American Ethanol | Richard Childress |
| 4 | Kevin Harvick | Bakersfield, California | | Budweiser / Jimmy John's | Tony Stewart |
| 5 | Kasey Kahne | Enumclaw, Washington | | HendrickRideAlong.com | Linda Hendrick |
| 6 | Trevor Bayne | Knoxville, Tennessee | | Advocare Ford Fusion | John Henry |
| 7 | Alex Bowman | Tucson, Arizona | | Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet | Tommy Baldwin Jr |
| 9 | Sam Hornish Jr | Defiance, Ohio | | Winn Dixie | Richard Petty |
| 10 | Danica Patrick | Roscoe, Illinois | | GoDaddy | Tony Stewart |
| 11 | Denny Hamlin | Chesterfield, Virginia |  | Sport Clips | J.D. Gibbs |
| 13 | Casey Mears | Bakersfield, California | | No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet SS | Bob Germain |
| 14 | Tony Stewart | Columbus, Indiana | | Bass Pro Shops / Mobil 1 | Margaret Haas |
| 15 | Clint Bowyer | Emporia, Kansas | | Buddy Baker Tribute Toyota Camry | Rob Kauffman |
| 16 | Greg Biffle | Vancouver, Washington | | Ortho Ford Fusion | Jack Roush |
| 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr | Olive Branch, Mississippi | | Cargill Ford Fusion | John Henry |
| 18 | Kyle Busch | Las Vegas, Nevada | | M&M's Crispy | Joe Gibbs |
| 19 | Carl Edwards | Columbia, Missouri | | Arris | J.D. Gibbs |
| 20 | Matt Kenseth | Cambridge, Wisconsin | | Dollar General | Joe Gibbs |
| 21 | Ryan Blaney | High Point, North Carolina | | Snap-On Tools | Glen Wood |
| 22 | Joey Logano | Middletown, Connecticut | | Shell Pennzoil | Walter Czarnecki |
| 23 | Jeb Burton | Halifax, Virginia | | Estes | Ron Devine |
| 24 | Jeff Gordon | Vallejo, California | | 3M | Rick Hendrick |
| 25 | Chase Elliott | Dawsonville, Georgia | | NAPA Auto Parts | Rick Hendrick |
| 26 | J.J. Yeley | Phoenix, Arizona | | Beds For Kids | Anthony Marlowe |
| 27 | Paul Menard | Eau Claire, Wisconsin | | Moen / Menards | Richard Childress |
| 31 | Ryan Newman | South Bend, Indiana | | Caterpillar | Richard Childress |
| 32 | Josh Wise | Riverside, California | | CORVETTEPARTS.NET/BEERFROST.COM | Archie St. Hilaire |
| 33 | Travis Kvapil | Janesville, Wisconsin | | TBA | Joe Falk |
| 34 | Brett Moffitt | Grimes, Iowa | | Dockside | Jerry Freeze |
| 35 | Cole Whitt | Alpine, California | | Speed Stick | Bob Jenkins |
| 38 | David Gilliland | Riverside, California | | Love's Travel Stops | Brad Jenkins |
| 40 | Landon Cassill | Fairfax, Iowa | | #Snap Honor | Mike Hillman Sr. |
| 41 | Kurt Busch | Las Vegas, Nevada | | Haas Automation | Gene Haas |
| 42 | Kyle Larson | Elk Grove, California | | Mello Yello | Chip Ganassi |
| 43 | Aric Almirola | Tampa, Florida | | STP | Richard Petty |
| 46 | Michael Annett | Des Moines, Iowa | | Pilot Flying J | Harry Scott Jr. |
| 47 | AJ Allmendinger | Los Gatos, California | | Kroger/House-Autry | Tad Geschickter |
| 48 | Jimmie Johnson | El Cajon, California | | Lowe's | Jeff Gordon |
| 51 | Justin Allgaier | Riverton, Illinois | | Brandt | Harry Scott Jr. |
| 55 | David Ragan | Unadilla, Georgia | | Ol' Aaron's Dream Machine | Michael Waltrip |
| 62 | Reed Sorenson | Peachtree City, Georgia | | TBA | Jay Robinson |
| 78 | Martin Truex Jr | Mayetta, New Jersey | | Furniture Row/Visser Precision | Barney Visser |
| 83 | Matt DiBenedetto | Grass Valley, California | | Cosmo Motors | Ron Devine |
| 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr | Kannapolis, North Carolina | | Valvoline | Rick Hendrick |
| 98 | Timmy Hill | Port Tobacco, Maryland | | Premium Motorsports | Mike Curb |
Scott Dixon wins IndyCar title by winning at Sonoma.
By Nick Bromberg
Scott Dixon was a bit surprised while in victory lane after Sunday's IndyCar Series finale.
Dixon entered the race third in the IndyCar Series points standings and needed some misfortune from both Juan Pablo Montoya, the points leader when the race started, and Graham Rahal, who was in second, to get the series title.
That misfortune happened and Dixon won the championship over Montoya, who finished sixth, via a tiebreaker after he won at Sonoma for the second straight year.
The tiebreaker was season victories. Dixon's win on Sunday was his third of the season. Montoya, the Indianapolis 500 winner, had two. After the race, Montoya said he felt like he threw the championship away. Sunday's race was for double the normal race points, which allowed Dixon to sneak in for the title. Montoya's win in the 500 was also for double points.
Dixon entered the race 47 points behind Montoya.
The turning point in the title race happened when Montoya made contact with teammate Will Power, who was also eligible for the championship. Montoya was on the inside of Power entering a corner and Power came down on him. The impact spun Power around and Montoya had front wing damage. He was forced to pit for a new nose and lost valuable track position while Dixon's pit strategy worked like a charm up front.
SOCCER: USMNT releases 23-man roster for September friendlies.
By Nick Bromberg
Scott Dixon wins IndyCar title by winning at Sonoma.
Scott Dixon was a bit surprised while in victory lane after Sunday's IndyCar Series finale.
Dixon entered the race third in the IndyCar Series points standings and needed some misfortune from both Juan Pablo Montoya, the points leader when the race started, and Graham Rahal, who was in second, to get the series title.
That misfortune happened and Dixon won the championship over Montoya, who finished sixth, via a tiebreaker after he won at Sonoma for the second straight year.
The tiebreaker was season victories. Dixon's win on Sunday was his third of the season. Montoya, the Indianapolis 500 winner, had two. After the race, Montoya said he felt like he threw the championship away. Sunday's race was for double the normal race points, which allowed Dixon to sneak in for the title. Montoya's win in the 500 was also for double points.
Dixon entered the race 47 points behind Montoya.
The turning point in the title race happened when Montoya made contact with teammate Will Power, who was also eligible for the championship. Montoya was on the inside of Power entering a corner and Power came down on him. The impact spun Power around and Montoya had front wing damage. He was forced to pit for a new nose and lost valuable track position while Dixon's pit strategy worked like a charm up front.
Montoya got back towards the front of the field and was eighth after the race's final restart. He gained two positions after Rahal, who was in sixth, was spun by Sebastian Bourdais. The spin ended any chances of Rahal getting the title and Bourdais was penalized by IndyCar officials for avoidable contact. Montoya officially moved up to sixth with four laps to go but had too much ground to make up on fifth-place Ryan Briscoe before the checkered flag fell.
The title was Dixon's fourth IndyCar championship. He previously won the 2003, 2008 and 2013 championships. Montoya, in his second IndyCar season since he last raced full-time in American open-wheel racing in 2000, was looking for his first American open-wheel title since 1999. That season he beat Dario Franchitti for the championship via a tiebreaker.
While the series will be celebrating Dixon – one of its all-time greats while still perhaps being an underrated driver – over the upcoming months, it will also be answering questions about the death of driver Justin Wilson, who was killed last week at Pocono when he was struck in the head by debris. The series will undoubtedly investigate the possibility of increased head protection for its drivers before the 2016 season begins and while not guaranteed, it's possible that the cockpit area of an IndyCar will look quite different when the season begins next season.
SOCCER: USMNT releases 23-man roster for September friendlies.
By Kyle Lynch
(Photo/AP)
Jurgen Klinsmann has announced the 23-man roster for the United States’ upcoming friendlies against Peru and Brazil.
Tim Howard makes his return to the USMNT after his hiatus from the national team, but Klinsmann has already said he will have to earn his starting role back from Brad Guzan.
Stoke City defender Geoff Cameron is also back in the side after being given some rest over the summer during the Gold Cup. Overall, 15 players from the Gold Cup roster will be returning for the September friendly matches.
For now, two of the USMNT’s most important players, Clint Dempsey and Michael Bradley, are not present on the 23-man roster for the match against Peru. However, both will be added after that match to face Brazil.
Klinsmann said these friendlies will mainly serve as warm-up matches to the one that everyone has circled on the calendar, October 10 against Mexico. The winner of that match will get to represent CONCACAF in the 2017 Confederations Cup.
The bigger picture is to get some answers for how we put things together for the Mexico game a month from now.
Obviously we want to continue to have a good flow of guys from the Gold Cup, but also to bring back guys who are in position to compete for a spot on the roster for Oct. 10. Our message to these guys is simple: prove a point that you want to be at the Rose Bowl.”While most of the players are familiar faces around the U.S. camp, there is one new addition as Andrew Wooten received his first call-up. The German-born striker has scored five goals in the opening five matches of the season for SV Sandhausen, who play in the second division of German football.
COMPLETE ROSTER
Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), William Yarbrough (Club Leon)
Defenders: Ventura Alvarado (Club America), Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City), John Brooks (Hertha Berlin), Geoff Cameron (Stoke City), Greg Garza (Atlas), Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy), Michael Orozco (Club Tijuana), Tim Ream (Fulham)
Midfielders: Alejandro Bedoya (Nantes), Joe Corona (Veracruz), Mix Diskerud (New York City FC), Jermaine Jones (New England Revolution), Alfredo Morales (FC Ingolstadt), Danny Williams (Reading), DeAndre Yedlin (Tottenham Hotspur)
Forwards: Jozy Altidore (Toronto FC), Aron Johannsson (Werder Bremen), Bobby Wood (Union Berlin), Andrew Wooten (SV Sandhausen), Gyasi Zardes (LA Galaxy)
Swansea City 2-1 Manchester United: Swans comeback stuns Red Devils.
By Kyle Bonn
A pair of goals in six minutes gave Swansea City a stunning comeback as they down Manchester United by a 2-1 score line for the third straight time in Premier League play.
Juan Mata had given Manchester United the lead shortly after halftime when Bafetimbi Gomis and Andre Ayew grabbed the game by its horns and set the Liberty Stadium alight after an hour.
Off the opening whistle, with Swansea initially looking to play on the break, Manchester United held much of the possession in the opening 20 minutes. Mata came closest when he picked up a loose ball in the box and lashed it just wide of the near post.
Swansea nearly caught United’s high back line off guard but Bafetimbi Gomis ripped his effort well over the bar on the 24th minute break. Moments later Gylfi Sigurdsson should have put the Swans one-up but he put his low shot just wide. The Swans continued their bright spell as a clearance by Sergio Romero went right to Jonjo Shelvey, and the midfielder tried an audacious chip that Romero just got his hands to. Gomis then hit the outside of the post with a strong shot under pressure.
Rain began to pour down near the half-hour mark, and both sides looked bogged down as the first half wound down.
But just three minutes into the second half, Manchester United went ahead with their third goal of the season. Luke Shaw burst down the left side and delivered a cross into the box. Wayne Rooney, waiting at the near post, stuck a foot out but missed the ball, and with the defenders converging on Rooney, Juan Mata was left alone at the far post to punch the ball home from close range.
Manchester United settled in to preserve their lead, but Swansea had been dangerous on the counter, and Garry Monk brought on Ki Sung-Yeung to change the home side’s shape. It worked to perfection.
They equalized on the hour mark with a brilliant header by Andre Ayew. A cross from the right came into the box with Ayew and Gomis out-gunning just one defender on the counter, and the Ghanan cannoned his header into the ground and over Sergio Romero’s head on the bounce.
With United back-pedaling, they stunned the Red Devils by taking the lead just six minutes later. Ayew got the ball down the right and sent a ball forward to Gomis one-on-two. The Red Devil defense somehow let it through, and Gomis poked a ball past Romero from a tight angle for the lead and his trademark panther celebration.
Manchester United brought on Marouane Fellaini and began to hoof it forward, but the attacking intent seemed more out of desperation than inspiration. There was one last big chance, but referee Martin Atkinson waved away a penalty shout from Wayne Rooney after the English international was clean through on goal but waited too long before going down under pressure from Ashley Williams.
The loss is Manchester United’s first of the season, but they remain without more than one goal in any game thus far and sit on seven points. Swansea, thanks to Gomis’s fourth goal in four games, move into the Premier League table’s top four.
NCAAFB: Illinois fires coach Tim Beckman 1 week before season opener.
By DAVID MERCER
A week before the start of the football season, a difficult summer for the University of Illinois became chaotic as coach Tim Beckman was fired after an investigation found he tried to influence medical decisions and pressure players to play with injuries.
Beckman's firing follows the unexpected resignations this month of the top two officials on campus, revelations that they'd used private emails accounts to avoid public scrutiny of school business, and a pair of lawsuits in which former women's basketball and women's soccer players claim they were mistreated by coaches.
And the rocky times may not be over: The investigation that led athletic director Mike Thomas - a defendant named in those lawsuits - to fire Beckman continues.
Thomas said Friday that he received some preliminary results of the investigation earlier this week, and despite timing he called ''unfortunate,'' saw enough to fire Beckman just before his fourth season started.
''I was shocked and angry when I became aware of the preliminary firings,'' Thomas said. ''Certainly that's what led to me making this decision swiftly, before the final report became due.''
In a statement Friday evening, Beckman denied any wrongdoing and hinted that he might take legal action, calling the decision to fire him ''a rush to judgment that confirms the university's bad faith.''
''I firmly deny the implications in Mike's statements that I took any action that was not in the best interests of the health, safety and well-being of my players,'' Beckman said, noting that many of his players today indicated their support.
''I will vigorously defend both my reputation and my legal rights,'' he added.
Beckman will not receive $3.1 million remaining on the final two years of his original five-year contract, or the $743,000 buyout it includes.
Offensive coordinator Bill Cubit, who was head coach at Western Michigan from 2005-12 and the coach of Beckman's first win at Illinois in 2012, has been named interim coach. The Illini open at home against Kent State Sept. 4.
The allegations against Beckman first surfaced on May 10, Mother's Day, when former starting lineman Simon Cvijanovic claimed in a long series of messages on Twitter that the head coach and his staff had tried to shame him into playing hurt, and had misled him about medical procedures following a knee injury.
''All I can say right now is I think it's a step in the right direction,'' Cvijanovic told the AP by phone. ''It seems like there's more than just Beckman that needs to be held accountable.''
The university hired the Chicago law firm Franczek Radelet to investigate the allegations.
The university said Friday that the investigation found evidence of ''efforts to deter injury reporting,'' as well as attempts to influence medical decisions ''that pressured players to avoid or postpone medical treatment and continue playing.'' The investigation also found instances in which some players were ''treated inappropriately with respect to whether they could remain on scholarship'' in the spring semester of their senior year.
Thomas declined to discuss specifics or say how many players were involved in either of those findings. So far, he said, no other coaches have been implicated, but he added he doesn't know how much longer the investigation will last.
Thomas said the law firm had so far interviewed more than 90 people and reviewed 200,000 documents, along with a large volume of practice and game video from Beckman's three-plus years in Champaign.
The athletic director said he had never seen or heard anything that indicated Beckman was treating players poorly.
Beckman was Thomas' first major hire after he came to Illinois from Cincinnati in 2011.
Beckman had been head coach at Toledo and replaced Ron Zook, who Thomas fired after the 2011 season.
The Illini went 12-25 under Beckman, including 2-10 in his first season and 6-7 last year, when they reached the Heart of Dallas Bowl.
A number of former and present players have supported Beckman.
''Coach Beck gave myself and a lot of guys a shot when a lot of other people didn't,'' senior linebacker Mason Monheim said Friday, adding that players learned Beckman had been fired during a meeting with Thomas.
Beyond just wins and losses, though, Beckman had several public missteps.
The Illini went 12-25 under Beckman, including 2-10 in his first season and 6-7 last year, when they reached the Heart of Dallas Bowl.
A number of former and present players have supported Beckman.
''Coach Beck gave myself and a lot of guys a shot when a lot of other people didn't,'' senior linebacker Mason Monheim said Friday, adding that players learned Beckman had been fired during a meeting with Thomas.
Beyond just wins and losses, though, Beckman had several public missteps.
He was criticized for aggressively trying to recruit Penn State players after sanctions came down on the Nittany Lions for the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Later, he was spotted by television cameras during one game using smokeless tobacco on the sideline, a violation of NCAA rules.
And under Beckman, Illinois' attendance has continued a slide. Last year Illinois drew 41,549 a game.
The football accusations were just the first to be raised this year.
And under Beckman, Illinois' attendance has continued a slide. Last year Illinois drew 41,549 a game.
The football accusations were just the first to be raised this year.
Seven former women's basketball players sued the university last month amid claims that coach Matt Bollant and some staff used race to divide the team and force out unwanted players. Bollant and current staff members have denied the allegations.
And former women's soccer player Casey Conine sued the school in June, claiming she had been improperly cleared to play after a concussion.
This month, Chancellor Phyllis Wise, Thomas' boss, resigned just before the private email use was disclosed by the school. Provost Ilesanmi Adesida, the No. 2 administrator on campus, then announced his resignation.
Beckman is not the first coach to be fired for player mistreatment. Rutgers fired basketball coach Mike Rice after video became public of him screaming obscenities, pushing players and throwing basketballs at them. Texas Tech fired Mike Leach in 2009 amid accusations he mistreated a player suffering a concussion. Leach later sued.
How do schools calculate new stipends for college athletes?
By RALPH D. RUSSO
For the first time, the NCAA is allowing college athletes to receive money in their scholarships to cover the so-called cost of attendance, those expenses beyond tuition, room and board, books and fees that come with attending school.
Depending on the school, it could mean an extra $1,500 to as much as $6,000 for an athlete.
For decades, universities and colleges have been required by the U.S. Department of Education to make public a good-faith estimate on cost of attendance.
But the arrival of cost of attendance stipends, and the fact that their value varies greatly from school to school, has some coaches - notably Alabama's Nick Saban and Clemson's Dabo Swinney - and fans worried. They are concerned about competitive balance and schools inflating their figures to give out bigger bucks to athletes.
Also, as Virginia Tech coaches showed this week, some seem a little confused about how it works. Hokies defensive coordinator Bud Foster talked about fining players for minor transgressions out of their cost of attendance money. Not so fast. The NCAA has rules prohibiting schools from withholding scholarship funds.
It has been a learning experience on campuses this summer.
''We are working to try to continuously reinforce what those numbers are and where they came from and what it really does cover,'' said Maggie McKinley, senior associate athletic director for the University of Cincinnati.
To help cut through the confusion, here are some answers from experts about cost of attendance.
Q: Who calculates cost of attendance and how is it regulated on campus?
A: The financial aid office.
Q: How is a cost-of-attendance figure used?
A: The calculation serves two purposes. It gives those paying for college a realistic expectation of what they will spend. Even more important, it sets a limit on the amount of financial aid a student can receive during an academic year.
Q: What expenses are factored into cost of attendance?
A: ''It's really divided into what we consider direct costs, what (a student) will have to pay directly to the university, and then other indirect costs that they might incur, like obviously they're going to have to do laundry,'' said Jeff Gerkin, assistant dean and director of financial aid at the University of Tennessee.
Tennessee's cost of attendance increase adds $5,666 to an athletic scholarship, most in the SEC.
Direct costs include tuition, fees, room and board and books.
Indirect costs include travel and other miscellaneous personal expenses, which could cover clothes, entertainment, food and sundries.
Gerkin said travel often accounts for most of the indirect costs. At Tennessee, three round trips from Knoxville, in the northeast part of the state, to Memphis, in the southwest corner, are used to set a baseline figure.
Q: How are miscellaneous costs calculated?
A: There is some subjectivity here, but financial aid officials are not just pulling numbers out of the air. The figures are research-based. ''To help determine this figure, we use resources such as the College Board, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, costs from local and national businesses and/or student surveys,'' said Richard Ritzman, director of financial aid at the University of Memphis.
For Memphis, the cost of attendance increase to an athletic scholarship will be $5,373 per year. Miscellaneous costs accounted for $1,983, Ritzman said.
''What a student will actually spend on miscellaneous will depend on the lifestyle of each student,'' Ritzman said.
So, yes, students can use that money any way they want - but then they will have to explain to Mom and Dad why they needed to hit them up for new shoes.
Q: Does every student at a school have the same cost of attendance?
A: No. ''Institutions can have a wide array of cost of attendance figures in terms of various classifications of students that they want to target,'' Gerkin said. ''So some schools may have a lot of very specific cost of attendance across a broad category of students or they may use averages that the majority of students that fall into those categories are assessed those costs.''
Generally, most schools have a different cost of attendance for in-state students and out-of-state students. The cost of attendance can also vary for undergraduate and graduate students. Individual students can also petition a school to have their cost of attendance increased.
The SEC has passed a rule that requires its schools to report how miscellaneous expenses are determined and any instances when an individual's cost of attendance varies from the norm at a school.
Q: How often does a school's cost of attendance change?
A: Most schools make adjustments from year-to-year.
Q: Could athletic departments try to have the cost of attendance raised as a way to benefit recruiting?
A: Corruption is always possible, but the financial aid office crunches the numbers and they must be approved at the upper levels of administration.
''Our numbers are vetted through our provost office which is over on the academic side of the house along with our chancellor's office,'' Gerkin said. ''We've received no undue pressure.''
Inflating the numbers to help recruiting could do far more harm to a school. Too much borrowing can lead to borrowers defaulting on their loans and that can be a problem for schools.
''If too many of our students were to default on their student loan as they go through the repayment period that does reflect back on the institution and could hamper the institution and our eligibility as a whole to provide financial aid to students,'' Gerkin said.
NCAABKB: Four takeaways from the newly released Big Ten schedule.
By Jeff Eisenberg
Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan reacts to a call during the second half of the NCAA Final Four college basketball tournament championship game against Duke Monday, April 6, 2015, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
When the Big Ten released its schedule for next season on Thursday evening, it proved once again that not all league slates are created equally. Here's a look at which contenders caught breaks with the teams they'll see twice and which contenders drew the short straw.
1. WHO DID BO RYAN MAKE MAD?: If Bo Ryan is going to extend his remarkable streak of finishing in the top four in the Big Ten every season he has been at Wisconsin, he might receive some national coach of the year consideration. Not only did the Badgers lose Frank Kaminsky, Sam Dekker and Josh Gasser from last year's national runner-ups, they also drew maybe the toughest conference schedule of any Big Ten team. The five Big Ten teams Wisconsin will face twice next season? Maryland, Michigan State, Indiana, Purdue and Illinois. That's the preseason league favorite, three other top contenders, a fifth NCAA tournament hopeful and none of the league's bottom-tier programs. Ouch. Other players will have to step up to support returning standouts Nigel Hayes and Bronson Koenig for the Badgers to survive that gauntlet.
2. MARYLAND'S ROAD IS ROUGH TOO: Maryland enters the season as a leading contender nationally, but the Terps will be challenged plenty in league play. They drew a difficult Big Ten schedule in which some of their toughest games come on the road. The five teams they'll play twice are Michigan, Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin and Northwestern, the first four of which are projected to reach the NCAA tournament. And while Northwestern probably won't be one of the league's elite teams next season, the Wildcats do return their four leading scorers from last season. Of the Big Ten teams Maryland only plays once, the Terps will face the two toughest on the road. Maryland visits fellow league title contenders Michigan State on Jan. 23 and Indiana on either March 5 or 6.
3. PROTECT THE RIVALRY GAMES: The biggest downside to the Big Ten's unbalanced league schedule is that many of the league's premier rivalry games only happen once a year now. In the first season in years that Purdue and Indiana are expected to both contend for the league crown, the Boilermakers' lone game against the Hoosiers will be Feb. 20 in Bloomington. Michigan State and Michigan will meet for the only time in Ann Arbor on Feb. 6. Illinois-Northwestern, Wisconsin-Minnesota and Ohio State-Michigan also will take place only once apiece next season. One way that the league could avoid this problem would be to protect its biggest rivalries by designating one opponent each team will play twice every year. That might be a disadvantage for programs whose rivals are strong every season, but it would be beneficial for fans.
4. INDIANA CATCHES A BREAK: Of the leading contenders for the Big Ten title, Indiana may have gotten the most favorable path. The Hoosiers only face one of the teams expected to finish in the upper half of the league twice, and that's a Wisconsin team that lost a lot of talent from last year. The other four teams Indiana will see twice are respectable Iowa and Illinois and rebuilding Minnesota and Nebraska. That's certainly not a cakewalk of a schedule by any means, but it's much more favorable than it could have been. And in a year when the league title chase should be more wide-open than it was last year when Wisconsin was dominant, that could be the break that Indiana needs.
Keen Ice defeats American Pharoah in Travers Stakes.
2. MARYLAND'S ROAD IS ROUGH TOO: Maryland enters the season as a leading contender nationally, but the Terps will be challenged plenty in league play. They drew a difficult Big Ten schedule in which some of their toughest games come on the road. The five teams they'll play twice are Michigan, Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin and Northwestern, the first four of which are projected to reach the NCAA tournament. And while Northwestern probably won't be one of the league's elite teams next season, the Wildcats do return their four leading scorers from last season. Of the Big Ten teams Maryland only plays once, the Terps will face the two toughest on the road. Maryland visits fellow league title contenders Michigan State on Jan. 23 and Indiana on either March 5 or 6.
3. PROTECT THE RIVALRY GAMES: The biggest downside to the Big Ten's unbalanced league schedule is that many of the league's premier rivalry games only happen once a year now. In the first season in years that Purdue and Indiana are expected to both contend for the league crown, the Boilermakers' lone game against the Hoosiers will be Feb. 20 in Bloomington. Michigan State and Michigan will meet for the only time in Ann Arbor on Feb. 6. Illinois-Northwestern, Wisconsin-Minnesota and Ohio State-Michigan also will take place only once apiece next season. One way that the league could avoid this problem would be to protect its biggest rivalries by designating one opponent each team will play twice every year. That might be a disadvantage for programs whose rivals are strong every season, but it would be beneficial for fans.
4. INDIANA CATCHES A BREAK: Of the leading contenders for the Big Ten title, Indiana may have gotten the most favorable path. The Hoosiers only face one of the teams expected to finish in the upper half of the league twice, and that's a Wisconsin team that lost a lot of talent from last year. The other four teams Indiana will see twice are respectable Iowa and Illinois and rebuilding Minnesota and Nebraska. That's certainly not a cakewalk of a schedule by any means, but it's much more favorable than it could have been. And in a year when the league title chase should be more wide-open than it was last year when Wisconsin was dominant, that could be the break that Indiana needs.
Keen Ice defeats American Pharoah in Travers Stakes.
Associated Press, NBCSports.com
Triple Crown winner American Pharoah came up short in the $1.6 million Travers Stakes on Saturday, losing to Keen Ice by three-quarters of a length before a sold-out and stunned crowd at Saratoga Race Course.
American Pharoah came into the race as the overwhelming favorite, but the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years lost the lead entering the far turn.
He pulled closer to Keen Ice, but was unable to muster the extra energy he usually finds to overtake the powerful stretch run of the 16-1 long shot.
The upset solidified Saratoga's reputation as the "Graveyard of Champions." Only one of 12 Triple Crown winners has been able to go on and win the Travers - Whirlaway in 1941.
Keen Ice, a three-time loser, to American Pharoah entering the Travers was ridden by Javier Castellano, who won a record-setting fifth "Mid-Summer Derby."
"I feel bad for the horse getting beat like that," a disappointed trainer Bob Baffert said. "You can tell he wasn't on his `A' game. Pharoah dug in, but Keen Ice ran a great race."
Trained by Dale Romans, Keen Ice ran 1 1/4 miles in 2:01.57 and returned $34, $6.50 and $3.80.
American Pharoah, losing for the first time after eight straight magnificent wins, paid $2.40 and $2.10 as the 1-5 favorite in the 10-horse field.
Memoriesofhistory.com
1881 - The first tennis championships in the U.S. were played.
1950 - Gil Hodges of the Brooklyn Dodgers hit four home runs in a single game off of four different pitchers.
1959 - Sandy Koufax set a National League record by striking out 18 batters.
1968 - At the Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mike Powell set a record when he jumped 29'4½" in the long jump.
1969 - The boxer Rocky Marciano died in an airplane crash in Iowa.
1995 - Judge Lance Ito ruled that only two tapes of racist comments by Mark Fuhrman could be played in the trial of O.J. Simpson.
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