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Sports Quote of the Day:
"My favorite words are possibilities, opportunities and curiosity. I think if you are curious, you create opportunities, and then if you open the doors, you create possibilities." ~ Mario Testino, World Renown Fashion and Portrait Photographer
"My favorite words are possibilities, opportunities and curiosity. I think if you are curious, you create opportunities, and then if you open the doors, you create possibilities." ~ Mario Testino, World Renown Fashion and Portrait Photographer
Trending: The Cubs are ready and rolling, rolling, rolling towards the playoffs. (See baseball section for details).
Trending: Cubs fan starts GoFundMe campaign to send Steve Bartman to wild-card game. (See the What's Your Take? article at the bottom of this blog for our opinion).
Trending: Cubs fan starts GoFundMe campaign to send Steve Bartman to wild-card game. (See the What's Your Take? article at the bottom of this blog for our opinion).
Factoid: NFL milestone: September 2015 was the first calendar month in more than 6 years to not include an NFL player arrest.
Bear Down Chicago Bears!!!!! Raiders-Bears Preview.
By JEFF MEZYDLO
In order for the Oakland Raiders to succeed, Jack Del Rio knew his team needed to focus on the present and not worry about the past.
Having bought in to their coach's uncomplicated philosophy, the visiting Raiders can match their win total from last season Sunday against a Chicago Bears team that's already begun reshaping the roster while trying to avoid its first 0-4 start in 15 seasons.
Oakland (2-1) hasn't had a winning season or been to the playoffs since 2002, but that didn't stop Del Rio from expecting things to change when he was hired in January. He believes what happens in the past should stay there.
Oakland (2-1) hasn't had a winning season or been to the playoffs since 2002, but that didn't stop Del Rio from expecting things to change when he was hired in January. He believes what happens in the past should stay there.
''This is what coach Del Rio has been talking about all offseason,'' said safety Charles Woodson, who turns 39 next week. ''We need to change the culture of football here."
That appears to be the case.
One week after Derek Carr threw a go-ahead touchdown pass with 26 seconds left in a 37-33 win over Baltimore, Woodson's interception with 38 seconds remaining helped snap an 11-game road skid with last Sunday's 27-20 victory at Cleveland.
Oakland, which didn't post its third and final victory last season until Dec. 21, hasn't won three in a row overall or consecutive road contests since 2011. A win Sunday would leave the team above .500 after four games for the first time since a 4-0 start in 2002.
''There's a lot of growth in front of us and we absolutely got to grind and push and continue to sacrifice, and as coaches we're going to continue to demand,'' Del Rio said. "And we expect to play a lot better football as we go forward in the season, and the only way you can do that is if you put in the work.''
Del Rio hopes the talented, young trio of Carr, Latavius Murray and rookie Amari Cooper continues to pace an offense that's made strides since being held to 246 yards in the opening 33-13 loss to Cincinnati.
Carr has thrown for 665 yards with five TDs and one interception in last two weeks while Cooper has 15 receptions for 243 yards and a score in those games. Murray gained 109 yards on 26 carries in the first two contests then ran for 139 on the same amount of attempts last Sunday.
Carr has thrown for 665 yards with five TDs and one interception in last two weeks while Cooper has 15 receptions for 243 yards and a score in those games. Murray gained 109 yards on 26 carries in the first two contests then ran for 139 on the same amount of attempts last Sunday.
''It's important to have weapons available,'' Del Rio said.
That's something Chicago (0-3) will again be void of if quarterback Jay Cutler (hamstring) misses a second straight game and receiver Alshon Jeffery (hamstring) sits his third in a row. With Jimmy Clausen under center, the Bears managed 146 total yards while being shut out for the first time since 2002 in last Sunday's 26-0 loss at Seattle.
"This league's about winning no matter who you line up against, so we're still in that process," said first-year Chicago coach John Fox, who employed Del Rio on his staffs in Carolina and Denver. "We haven't won our first game yet and we're doing everything in our power to get that accomplished."
Though the Bears are in danger of going 0-4 for the first time since 2000, they also seem to have an eye on the future.
This week, Chicago traded underachieving pass rusher Jared Allen to Carolina for a 2016 sixth-round pick, linebacker Jonathan Bostic to New England for an undisclosed pick and waived safety Brock Vereen. The Bears also signed safety Chris Prosinski and linebacker LaRoy Reynolds to perhaps bolster a special teams unit that's allowed a kickoff to be returned for a TD in each of the last two weeks.
"Whether it is acquiring additional picks or signing players, we will continue to be aggressive in finding ways to improve our football team," rookie general manager Ryan Pace said.
In the final year of his contract, Matt Forte remains in Chicago for the time being. He'll look to rebound after following his 141-yard season-opening rushing effort against Green Bay by gaining 135 on 35 carries in the last two games.
Clausen, meanwhile, is 23 of 40 for 184 yards with an interception and has been sacked four times since replacing the injured Cutler in Week 2.
Regardless who is under center, the Bears might have a good chance to rebound against a Raiders defense that's last in the NFL allowing 414.7 yards per contest.
Chicago yields a league-high 35 points per contest, but could get a boost if nose tackle Jeremiah Ratliff is available. The veteran's three-week suspension for a league substance abuse violation has ended but it's uncertain if the ankle injury he suffered during the preseason will prolong his return.
Oakland won the most recent meeting, 25-20 at home Nov. 27, 2011.
Bears vs. Raiders brings old coaching friends head-to-head.
By John Mullin
Raiders Head Coach Jack Del Rio and Bears Head Coach John Fox (Photo/raiders.com)
In poker, chess and certain other endeavors, you don’t so much play the cards or the board, as play the man. In the NFL coaching fraternity, maybe it’s a little bit of both.
Oakland Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio was defensive coordinator under John Fox with the Denver Broncos and even took over as interim head coach when Fox underwent heart surgery in 2013. Also on the Denver staff were Ed Donatell (Bears defensive backs coach), Adam Gase (Bears offensive coordinator), Sam Garnes (Bears assistant DB coach), Jeff Rodgers (Bears special teams coordinator) and Jay Rodgers (Bears defensive line coach).
Staff overlaps are inevitable in a population sample the size as that of NFL coaches, but this?
Still, no one will admit to any advantages based on knowing the man, or men.
“We had a good run together, most of the staff,” Del Rio said on Wednesday. “We know things about each other but I think it comes down to the players and what our players are prepared to execute on Sunday.”
Del Rio has been part of two staffs under Fox. Besides the one in Denver, Del Rio was Fox’s defensive coordinator in 2002 when Fox took over a woeful Carolina Panthers team that had gone 1-15 in 2001 and helped turn it around to a 7-9 mark their first year.
The Panthers won three games to open that season, proceeded to lose their next eight in a row, then finished with wins in four of their last five. Del Rio was hired the next year as Jacksonville Jaguars head coach but left with strong impressions from Fox that were reinforced during their time together in Denver.
“Throughout it all, John was pretty steady and that’s what you need to be,” Del Rio said. “I always appreciated the environment he created for us as a staff. And the players appreciated it as well. He’s a good person, treats people right and it was always fun to come to work.”
Del Rio served as more than just Fox’s defensive coordinator. During the 2013 season, when Fox was recovering from heart surgery, it was Del Rio who stepped in as interim coach and kept the Broncos on course to a 13-3 season and trip to the Super Bowl.
“I thought he did a great job,” Fox said. “He was the logical guy, being a head coach before, and we had to make a decision on who would do that while I was recuperating. I go way back with Jack, been with him twice as far as an assistant and he did a great job in Jacksonville, so great to see he got another opportunity in Oakland.”
Jeremiah Ratliff returns to Bears, but how much can he contribute?
By John Mullin
For once, the Bears’ near-daily injury story was about who was back at practice rather than who was missing.
The notable addition to the defense on Wednesday was end/tackle Jeremiah Ratliff, back from a three-game suspension that overlapped with an ankle injury suffered in the first quarter of the Bears’ third preseason game, on Aug. 29 at Cincinnati.
“I’m happy to be back out here with the guys and playing football again, being part of the team, feeling everything and seeing everything,” Ratliff said. “The rehab has been really strong and today was a good start and we’ll try to build off of that.”
Ratliff practiced on a limited basis and his status for Sunday against the Oakland Raiders won’t be certain until much closer to game time. And even then, exactly what Ratliff will be able to contribute materially to the defense as soon as Sunday is likely to be less than it would have had be not been effectively sidelined and out of games and hard practice for more than a month.
“You definitely lose some conditioning for two reasons,” said coordinator Vic Fangio. “One, just the inactivity. And two…he was nursing an ankle injury. He wouldn’t have played these first three games anyway, even if he wasn’t suspended. So, he’s questionable for this game. So you put those two things together, it will be a chore for him to get back into playing shape.
“He probably will not be able to play as many plays as we would normally like him to.”
With Ratliff starting all three preseason games the Bears held the Miami Dolphins to 10 points and Indianapolis Colts to 11, although the No. 1 defense was nicked for early scoring drives by Miami and Cincinnati. Without him – players under suspension may not practice with the team – the Bears allowed 31, 48 and 26 points through three games (minus 14 for kickoff returns for touchdowns by Arizona and Seattle).
Ratliff’s impact, however, was felt immediately by a unit that has struggled without one of its leaders, although still ranks No. 11 in yards allowed per game through three weeks.
“It felt so good, getting back to [Ratliff’s] communicating, the calls, and help he gives the young guys as far as what offenses are going to do,” said Eddie Goldman, who started two of the first three games with Ratliff down. “You learn a lot from a guy like that.”
Added defensive end Ego Ferguson: “He’s been in the league a long time and guys rally around him.”
Bears' Jared Allen trade a rare case of win-win-win.
By John Mullin
The exact details of every conversation will remain private, as they should. But the chain of events that led to Jared Allen being traded from the Bears to the Carolina Panthers, which began with Allen’s frank self-assessment, produced a result that benefited all parties involved. Usually a "good" deal is one where everyone leaves the table a teeny bit grumpy, feeling they could've done a little better. Not this one.
The Allen trade was less a case of the Bears dumping a veteran player as part of some rebuilding process of reshaping their roster than the organization doing the right thing for the player, itself and even another NFC team. (The Bears weren't being stupid, though; they certainly wouldn't have traded Allen to Detroit or Minnesota but someone they'd be seeing this year.)
FOX Sports’ Jay Glazer, who broke the initial trade story, spoke with Allen and reported via Twitter that Allen was happy to be putting his hand down again, meaning returning to his familiar 4-3 spot of edge rusher. But there was more:
"That's really the big thing for me,” Glazer reported from Allen. “I'm not a standup outside ‘backer, but I told Foxie (coach John Fox) and Ryan (Pace, general manager) I would even put weight on if they wanted me to in order to play that 3-4 end. I didn't want to leave Foxie and Ryan, love those guys. But in the end they knew I didn't fit, so this worked out best."
By John Mullin
The exact details of every conversation will remain private, as they should. But the chain of events that led to Jared Allen being traded from the Bears to the Carolina Panthers, which began with Allen’s frank self-assessment, produced a result that benefited all parties involved. Usually a "good" deal is one where everyone leaves the table a teeny bit grumpy, feeling they could've done a little better. Not this one.
The Allen trade was less a case of the Bears dumping a veteran player as part of some rebuilding process of reshaping their roster than the organization doing the right thing for the player, itself and even another NFC team. (The Bears weren't being stupid, though; they certainly wouldn't have traded Allen to Detroit or Minnesota but someone they'd be seeing this year.)
FOX Sports’ Jay Glazer, who broke the initial trade story, spoke with Allen and reported via Twitter that Allen was happy to be putting his hand down again, meaning returning to his familiar 4-3 spot of edge rusher. But there was more:
"That's really the big thing for me,” Glazer reported from Allen. “I'm not a standup outside ‘backer, but I told Foxie (coach John Fox) and Ryan (Pace, general manager) I would even put weight on if they wanted me to in order to play that 3-4 end. I didn't want to leave Foxie and Ryan, love those guys. But in the end they knew I didn't fit, so this worked out best."
Indeed, far from the Bears looking to unload Allen, it was Allen who brought up the obvious ("I'm not a standup outside 'backer") in the wake of the loss to the Seattle Seahawks, in which he’d too often been sealed inside on Seattle runs outside, reacting like a 4-3 defensive end rather than a 3-4 outside linebacker.
For their part, sources told CSNChicago.com that the Bears in fact might have gotten a little more than the sixth-round pick that the Panthers gave them for Allen. But the fit for Allen was a consideration in the process, and obviously it was going to be a 4-3 team and obviously not a cellar-dweller at this point of his career.
And that 4-3 team turned out to be the Panthers and coach Ron Rivera, an undefeated team suddenly confronted with the loss of starting defensive end Charles Johnson to a hamstring injury. Enter: Allen.
A team with a need. A player who fit that need and was up front about not fitting his own team’s. And a team with a surplus at the position.
Win-win-win.
For their part, sources told CSNChicago.com that the Bears in fact might have gotten a little more than the sixth-round pick that the Panthers gave them for Allen. But the fit for Allen was a consideration in the process, and obviously it was going to be a 4-3 team and obviously not a cellar-dweller at this point of his career.
And that 4-3 team turned out to be the Panthers and coach Ron Rivera, an undefeated team suddenly confronted with the loss of starting defensive end Charles Johnson to a hamstring injury. Enter: Allen.
A team with a need. A player who fit that need and was up front about not fitting his own team’s. And a team with a surplus at the position.
Win-win-win.
How 'bout them Chicago Blackhawks? Blackhawks vs. Blues preseason recap: Chicago loses 5-2.
By Brandon M. Cain
(Photo/Jasen Vinlove - USA TODAY Sports)
Former Blackhawk Troy Brouwer sparks St. Louis' four unanswered goals.
Troy Brouwer scored a power play goal in the first period to propel the Blues' four-goal comeback in a 5-2 victory over the Blackhawks on Thursday at the Scottrade Center.
Kevin Shattenkirk added another goal on the man advantage before the end of the first, and Jori Lehtera and Kyle Brodziak added short-handed scores in each of the next two frames.
Lehtera had a goal and an assist in his preseason debut after having right ankle surgery Aug. 4.Dennis Rasmussen and Brandon Mashinter scored first-period goals for Chicago (3-2).
Dmitrij Jaskin opened the scoring when he beat Viktor Svedberg to a lose puck off a faceoff outside of the offensive zone, and sent a wrister pass Scott Darling at 3:20 in the first. Rasmussen evened the scoring 14 seconds later with a tap in off his own rebound. Mashinter gave the Hawks a lead off a feed from Viktor Tikonov behind the net at 4:55 in the first.
The Hawks went 0-for-7 on the power plays and 0-for-2 on the penalty kill. Darling played the entire game, stopping 19 shots. Jake Allen made 20 saves for the Blues, who close their preseason 4-2.
Blackhawks confident new faces will yield another run.
By Brian Hedger
Space has been created in the rafters at United Center to hang another Stanley Cup championship banner, but the Chicago Blackhawks are already planning their next title run.
They will have new faces filling some key roles after yet another offseason of significant roster reshuffling, but most of the core group that has won the Cup three times in the past six seasons returns.
The coaching staff, again led by Joel Quenneville, also returns intact to lead a group that's expecting an early-season energy boost from some new players.
"The feelings that you get after you win is something that you want to do again and you want to keep repeating," said Corey Crawford, who's been the No. 1 goalie for Chicago's past two championships. "It definitely feels great be a champion, but now it doesn't mean anything anymore. We've got to build towards another one."
FORWARDS
Most teams couldn't lose the amount of talent Chicago did in the offseason. The Blackhawks, however, aren't like most teams; they've been through this before and kept winning.
The Blackhawks no longer have Brandon Saad, Patrick Sharp, Antoine Vermette, Brad Richards and Kris Versteeg, but they do have a group of forwards led by captain Jonathan Toews, right wing Patrick Kane, right wing Marian Hossa and center Artem Anisimov.
They have skilled forward Teuvo Teravainen, and highly touted newcomers Marko Dano and Artemi Panarin. A solid group of veteran forwards will help fill out the third and fourth lines.
"I think there's plenty of talent," Hossa, 36, said. "We lost so many key members of our team from the last year, but on the plus side, we've got lots of great young players coming in to give us lots of enthusiasm and energy, which could be our motor."
The new players have big roles to fill.
Saad, Sharp and Richards finished the 2015 Stanley Cup Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning playing on the Blackhawks' top two lines; Vermette and Versteeg made up two-thirds of an effective third line.
Dano has the inside track at Saad's former spot with Toews and Hossa. Acquired with Anisimov in the trade that sent Saad to the Columbus Blue Jackets, Dano has impressed. Quenneville said the 20-year-old hit the lottery with that first-line spot, sparking the nickname "The Lottery Line," but his play so far is worthy of top minutes.
Hopes are also high for Teravainen and Panarin, who hasn't played in a preseason game because of an upper-body injury. Each draws comparisons in his playing style to Kane and could fill a top-six roles at some point. The third and fourth lines will be filled by Andrew Desjardins, Marcus Kruger, Andrew Shaw, Bryan Bickell and Ryan Garbutt.
"We've still got a good core group, and the guys we got in [trades] are great players as well," Shaw said. "Hopefully, they learn from us as much as we learn from them. I think that will help us through this stretch. They've got a lot of energy coming into this season, and we've got to feed off that as well."
DEFENSEMEN
The Blackhawks proved during their latest title run that a Stanley Cup can be won while leaning heavily on four defensemen.
They played their top four almost 90 percent of the time in the final two playoff series last season, and it paid off. They know that can't continue during a full season.
"I'm never going to complain about ice time, but I don't think we want to have to [lean on four players]," said Niklas Hjalmarsson, one of Chicago's top defensemen. "We have a lot of depth here, so I don't think we're going to have that problem."
The challenge got even tougher in the offseason, when veteran Johnny Oduya signed with the Dallas Stars. That happened after Chicago traded former top defense prospect Stephen Johns to Dallas in the Sharp trade, which returned Garbutt and veteran defenseman Trevor Daley.
Daley will get the first crack at Oduya's former spot on the second pairing. Daley should bring some added offensive punch after he had career highs in goals (16), assists (22) and points (38) last season.
The third pairing is where things need to be shored up most. Among those vying for roles are Trevor van Riemsdyk, David Rundblad and Michal Rozsival, the 37-year-old veteran who signed a one-year contract for a reported $600,000 plus potential bonus money early into training camp.
Rozsival is still adding strength back in his left ankle, which he fractured in Game 4 of the Western Conference Second Round last season. Quenneville said he's doubtful to start the season and will likely land on long-term injured reserve.
That would clear a roster spot that could be filled by 28-year-old Kyle Cumiskey or Erik Gustafsson, a 23-year-old rookie signed out of the Swedish Hockey League on April 30.
GOALIES
Goaltending should be one of the Blackhawks' biggest strengths.
Crawford, who had a 2.27 goals-against average and .924 save percentage in 57 games last season, earned a share of the William M. Jennings Trophy for the second time in the past three seasons in 2014-15.
Backup Scott Darling had a 1.95 GAA and .936 save percentage in 14 regular-season games, and started four games in the Western Conference First Round against the Nashville Predators.
Darling and Crawford each takes up a lot of space, moves fluidly, plays angles well, and, perhaps most importantly, pushes the other to stay sharp.
"You never want to get complacent," Crawford said. "You're always looking for more. That's what we try to do with each other, push each other to get better."
SPECIAL TEAMS
The collection of highly skilled players the Blackhawks use on the power play should produce more goals than it usually does, but it usually doesn't.
Last season, Chicago converted 17.6 percent of its power-play chances in the regular season (20th in the NHL) and 17.9 percent of its chances in the postseason.
The Blackhawks also struggled while shorthanded for the final segment of the regular season and into the first round, but things turned around in their final three series.
Still, Chicago finished with a lower penalty-kill success rate in the playoffs (79 percent, 10th among playoff qualifiers) than the regular season (83.4 percent, 10th in the NHL).
COACHES
Quenneville has guided the Blackhawks to their three Cup wins in six seasons. Despite already being a legend in the Windy City, Quenneville isn't content.
"When we look at it, I think we'll have a very exciting team," Quenneville said. "I think we'll be fast, I think we'll be competitive with a great core that leads the charge, but we can't think of winning the Cup. We've got to make sure our thought process is to get off to a strong start and look to try and make the playoffs, because I know how good and tough our division and conference [will be]. It's going to be a great achievement making the playoffs. Sounds simple, but it's not going to be easy."
Quenneville has his entire coaching staff back. Kevin Dineen and Mike Kitchen return to the bench, and Jimmy Waite returns as goaltending coach.
One minute remaining: Opening game indicators.
By Harvey Wittenberg
(Photo/blackhawks.nhl.com)
With six Stanley Cups captured in 88 NHL seasons, the Blackhawks are setting their aim on number seven and are trying to become the first to repeat since Detroit turned the trick in 1997 and 1998, prior to the start of the hard salary cap.
It is interesting to note that when the Blackhawks won their first three Cups in 1934, 1938 and 1961, they opened the season at home. The most recent three Cup-winning campaigns in 2010, 2013 and 2015 saw the Blackhawks begin their schedule on the road.
Naturally, there is a ton of hockey with an 82-game schedule that will be decided before the regular campaign ends on April 9.
Taking nothing for granted, Coach Joel Quennville has repeatedly said the toughest task is making the playoffs. After all, the Los Angeles Kings failed to reach the playoffs last season after winning the Stanley Cup in 2014.
The Blackhawks are 38-31-17 (including two overtime losses) all-time in openers. The 1934 and 1961 Blackhawks teams both tied their openers, while the 1938 Cinderella team—which won the Stanley Cup, despite a losing regular-season record—was shut out in their first game.
The 2010 team lost in a shootout at a game played in Finland, but in the 2012-13 opener, the Blackhawks spoiled L.A.'s banner-raising ceremony; last season the Blackhawks beat Dallas 3-2 in a shootout.
Winning the first game of the season after enjoying the banner-raising ceremony against the Rangers would be great, but the long-term plan remains "One Goal" in retaining the coveted Stanley Cup for Blackhawk fans!
Teravainen's progress among Blackhawks' X-factors.
By Brian Hedger
The Chicago Blackhawks have been down this path twice before, having attempted to defend their 2010 and 2013 Stanley Cup championships with a reworked roster the following season.
Neither effort was successful, but they're hopeful the third time is the charm in another effort to hoist the Cup in back-to-back seasons. No team has accomplished the feat since the Detroit Red Wings in 1997 and 1998, but the Blackhawks go into this season with a fair shot.
Here are three X-factors that will help determine the outcome of that effort:
It's Teuvo Teravainen's time: The Blackhawks are counting on a breakout season from Teravainen, who used the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs as a sneak peek into his vast stockpile of skill.
Teravainen, 21, had four goals, six assists and a plus-2 rating in 18 postseason games, playing primarily right wing on the third line with center Antoine Vermette and left wing Patrick Sharp. The line became one of Chicago's most dangerous forward groups as the playoffs progressed.
"He's at that stage where you'd like to see him keep getting better," coach Joel Quenneville said of Teravainen. "We like what we've seen. He's had a nice progression and nice [training camp]."
Quenneville also liked what he saw from Teravainen in the later stages of the playoffs last season, starting with his assist on Vermette's overtime goal to defeat the Anaheim Ducks in Game 4 of the Western Conference Final.
He followed it up by scoring a goal in Game 5 of that series, and his confidence continued to rise from there.
In the Stanley Cup Final, the Tampa Bay Lightning quickly learned not to leave Teravainen alone; he scored the game-tying goal late in the third period of Game 1 and set up Vermette 1:58 later for the game-winner.
That performance earned him the nickname "Finnish Cold" from Blackhawks right wing Marian Hossa, but he wasn't finished. Teravainen had a goal and an assist in the remaining five Cup Final games and enters the season with hopes of adding much more to the mix.
He likely will fill Vermette's role as center of the third line to start out the season, but Teravainen is flexible enough to play any of the three forward spots on any line.
Newfound motivation from new faces: The roster retooling this offseason was the most extensive the Blackhawks have been through since after they won the championship in 2010, when nearly half of the roster that won the Cup was either traded or not re-signed.
This time, they're returning without seven players who skated in the Cup-clinching Game 6 win against the Lightning and nine who were listed on the postseason roster. Taking over those roles will be three veterans acquired in trades plus a couple of young, unproven players with high skill levels.
The veterans are center Artem Anisimov, defenseman Trevor Daley and forward Ryan Garbutt, and the talented young players are forward Marko Dano and left wing Artemi Panarin.
The Blackhawks' core group, which has played a lot of minutes the past three seasons, is counting on the new names for a lift emotionally and physically.
"Those new players could keep us driving during the season, when it gets a little tough for us sometimes," Hossa said. "Those guys are excited to be here and they're going to bring lots of energy."
Working overtime: Quenneville said the Blackhawks' main goal is to qualify for the playoffs, which is tougher than it sounds in the Western Conference, and then they'll worry about winning the Cup again.
Every point matters, but they're especially valuable in the Central Division. All seven Central teams had 90 or more points last season, and some appear to have improved during the offseason.
It remains to be seen how the NHL's new 3-on-3 overtime format will play out during regular-season games, but the Blackhawks have looked good in it during the preseason.
Skill players will have even more open ice to set up plays, and Chicago still has a collection of high-end players.
The Blackhawks have a two-time winner of the William M. Jennings Trophy in goalie Corey Crawford, and Quenneville can send out three winners of the Conn Smythe Trophy to join him: defenseman Duncan Keith, center Jonathan Toews and right wing Patrick Kane.
That's something few, if any, opponents can match, and that's without mentioning Hossa, Teravainen, Panarin, Dano, Daley or Brent Seabrook.
"Yeah, we've got some options for OT," Crawford said. "I'm sure we'll be set for that."
Last season, the Blackhawks were 4-3 in regular-season games that ended in overtime and went 9-4 in their shootouts. It will be interesting to see if they can match or exceed those 13 extra points under the new OT format.
Just Another Chicago Bulls Session... Bulls to celebrate 50th year with season-long celebration.
#BULLSTALK
The Bulls announced on Thursday that the organization will celebrate 50 years of Chicago Bulls basketball during the 2015-16 NBA season.
"Chicago Basketball is Golden" will serve as the season-long theme honoring the 50th year of Bulls basketball during live game broadcasts, along with a new TV commercial campaign, community and grassroots events and through social media and Bulls.com.
“Since the team was founded in 1966, the Chicago Bulls have been fortunate to be a part of moments and memories that are not only part of NBA and sports history, but are also part of people’s personal histories," Bulls President and COO Michael Reinsdorf said in a press release. "This season we will celebrate both those big milestones and individual connections. Fans will have the opportunity to relive their favorite highlights from Bulls teams over the years and share their own stories with others. This season-long campaign will capture the passion of our fans, the personalities of our teams, and the heartbeat of the city of Chicago, which has continually helped shape the Bulls’ identity and values. It has been the stage for our biggest celebrations for accomplishments on the court, but it has also been a place where we have achieved some of our finest moments by helping those in need. Everyone who has ever been part of the Bulls organization knows that just as the community supports the team, a team must also show unwavering support for its community. We are proud to be a part of the fabric of Chicago and look forward to celebrating our history with the city that we love and the fans that have helped make the team what it is today."
"Chicago Basketball is Golden" will serve as the season-long theme honoring the 50th year of Bulls basketball during live game broadcasts, along with a new TV commercial campaign, community and grassroots events and through social media and Bulls.com.
“Since the team was founded in 1966, the Chicago Bulls have been fortunate to be a part of moments and memories that are not only part of NBA and sports history, but are also part of people’s personal histories," Bulls President and COO Michael Reinsdorf said in a press release. "This season we will celebrate both those big milestones and individual connections. Fans will have the opportunity to relive their favorite highlights from Bulls teams over the years and share their own stories with others. This season-long campaign will capture the passion of our fans, the personalities of our teams, and the heartbeat of the city of Chicago, which has continually helped shape the Bulls’ identity and values. It has been the stage for our biggest celebrations for accomplishments on the court, but it has also been a place where we have achieved some of our finest moments by helping those in need. Everyone who has ever been part of the Bulls organization knows that just as the community supports the team, a team must also show unwavering support for its community. We are proud to be a part of the fabric of Chicago and look forward to celebrating our history with the city that we love and the fans that have helped make the team what it is today."
The Bulls also unveiled a special logo commemorating the 50th season.
Each month of the season a different decade of Bulls basketball will be celebrated at one home game with "Decade Nights," featuring limited edition commemorative giveaways and themed halftime performances by artists during that era. The Bulls will also wear Hardwood Classics jerseys during those games.
2015-2016 Decade Nights presented by BMO Harris Bank:
11/5 vs. Oklahoma City (60's Night)
12/16 vs. Memphis (70's Night)
1/20 vs. Golden State (80's Night/50th Birthday celebration)
2/19 vs. Toronto (90's Night)
3/7 Milwaukee (2000's Night)
4/9 Cleveland (2010's Night)
Bulls fans can take part in the 50th season festivities by sharing their favorite Bulls memories on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram using “#Bulls50" in their posts.
Bulls' Jimmy Butler setting tone in camp with his play and his mouth.
By Vincent Goodwill
Wake-up calls at 5 a.m. for summer workouts in San Diego forged camaraderie between Jimmy Butler and the visiting Doug McDermott, but it didn’t stop Butler from incessantly trash talking his teammate in Bulls practice, leading McDermott to believe Butler forgot whose side he’s ultimately on.
“It didn't feel like he was on our team for a second,” McDermott said. “Talking crap to all of us. That's just kind of the way he is. He has a completely different mindset. He really wants to win. It's been really obvious the first few days of practice.”
Whether it’s showing little to no mercy on poor McDermott on the defensive end or showing off even more improvement on the offensive end, Butler is making good on his word that his new maximum contract would only make him work harder as opposed to relaxing.
“I knew Jimmy was good (before). But he’s been awesome,” Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said. “He’s so strong right now. He’s in great shape and another guy where the amount of work he put in in the summer is paying off.
“He’s probably in the best shape of anybody out here. He’s all over the floor, offensively, defensively. There aren’t a lot of two-way players in this league but he’s definitely one of them.”
Who knows where Butler ranks in the hierarchy of two-way swingmen in the class of a healthy Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, but it’s clear he’s not resting on the laurels of having two significant jumps in his game in the first four years.
It wasn’t long ago when the Bulls balked at giving Butler a nearly $50 million deal in camp this time last year, unsure of whether he could improve enough as a consistent offensive weapon.
But now, Hoiberg is openly stating he believes Butler has yet another leap to go, after last season’s leap that netted him an All-Star appearance and discussion among the league’s top 20 players.
“I think so. In talking to him, he wants to add to his game,” Hoiberg said. “Every offseason, he’s in here working on stepbacks, one-footers, runners. His 3-ball looks great right now. He’s such a well-rounded player. And when you have a guy who has that type of drive and desire and work ethic, he’ll continue to get better.”
Being impressive in the first couple days of training camp certainly differs from doing it when the lights are brightest, but Butler has made quite the impression on his coach and teammates.
McDermott came to San Diego to train with Butler for a couple weeks, under the watchful eye of Butler’s trainer, Chris Johnson. It appears to be another step in the maturation of a player now validated but not spoiled by stardom, becoming more vocal on an everyday basis.
“I know going into this camp he really talked a lot about that,” Hoiberg said. “With the amount of veteran guys we have, we should be able to lead by committee with this group. That’s something he wanted to do going into this camp.”
And even if it’s playing point guard, as Butler is wont to do, Hoiberg won’t set any limits on the player who came into camp clearly on a mission.
“He has the confidence,” Hoiberg said. “There’s no doubt about that. You can put him anywhere on the floor and he can make plays, make baskets. So, yeah, if he’s got that feeling, we do as well.”
Joakim Noah wants another shot at pairing with Pau Gasol.
By Vincent Goodwill
When the Bulls made their expected coaching change, one of the on-court changes many expected was to break up the tandem of Joakim Noah and Pau Gasol in the frontcourt.
In fact, when Fred Hoiberg had his availability on Media Day, the new Bulls coach anticipated it would be among the first three questions. The notion stemmed around Noah limping around last season and to a lesser extent, Gasol advancing in age. With Gasol being an All-Star player, the speculation was growing louder that Noah should come off the bench to balance out the floor.
But Noah feels Hoiberg should hold off on making a decision based off the tape from last year. The film doesn’t lie that the duo looked uneven last season, despite the gaudy record posted by the starting five for the few games they played together (16-5).
“I think we should give it an honest evaluation while I’m healthy,” Noah said. “Last year, I wasn’t healthy. Let’s see how it goes and then coaches can make a decision from there.”
In some respects, Noah was kept on the floor due to loyalty and a level of comfort from Tom Thibodeau, even as his left knee affected virtually every aspect of his game, including his confidence.
The numbers fell across the board, which have been well-documented. And he wasn’t able to cover Gasol’s back defensively, contributing to his 102-point defensive rating, his highest in the Thibodeau era by far.
So Gasol, who underwent nasal surgery in June to alleviate breathing issues, is keeping an open mind to the pairing, although he knows he’ll see considerable time with Nikola Mirotic as a way to maximize the Bulls’ offensive prowess.
“That's got to be the coaching staff's decision, obviously, not ours,” Gasol said. “I think each player will do the best he can to be on the floor as long as possible and have significant minutes. It's good to see Jo healthy and moving well.”
Everything should be prefaced with saying it’s the first days of camp so bodies don’t have the wear-and-tear on it that will be around in February, but Noah won’t be limited by minute restrictions or the mental fears that he can’t do it physically.
“He looks fresh,” Gasol said. “He looks like he's in really good shape, has worked hard during the summer. Now he does feel and look bouncier. It's great to see him that way. From what I've seen so far, yes. The day and a half I've seen him, he looks really good.”
Moving well means lateral movement being the biggest improvement for Noah, allowing him to cover ground quicker baseline to baseline and on high screen-rolls, should the Bulls decide to trap up high in an aggressive setting.
“I just feel bouncier, just lighter on my feet,” Noah said. “Just waking up in the morning and moving good, that’s a good feeling. Doing a lot of yoga every morning before I come in. Just taking care of myself a little different. This isn’t my first rodeo.”
Of course Noah has been through it before, and Gasol is a veteran of many training camps, so one wonders how much Hoiberg can experiment with the two playing together in the preseason, especially when the plan is to limit Gasol’s usage to under the 34.4 minutes he played per game last season, his highest mark since the 2011-12 season when he was a much younger man.
“Well, we'll see how the season goes,” Gasol said. “Ideally, I'll play less than I did last year and that's kind of the plan, I guess. But we'll see what happens. I've just got to be ready. Seasons are long, are tough, are demanding and as a professional, you have to stay ready. It's not going to be ideal all the time. It's never ideal. You just have to work through it and do the best you can.”
Bulls announce Derrick Rose can resume activities in two weeks, opening night likely.
By Vincent Goodwill
Derrick Rose will be able to resume basketball activities in two weeks after undergoing a surgical procedure on his face, as a result of the elbow felt all around Chicago.
Which means after all the consternation stemming from it, he’ll presumably be on track for a return on opening night, which falls on Oct. 27 against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“All we know right now is Derrick went into the procedure this morning early, and the surgery went as expected,” Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said. “He’s in recovery now, but yeah, the surgery did go as expected.”
It’s likely he’ll be wearing a mask of some sort or even shades when he does return. In Hoiberg’s rookie year in Indiana, Reggie Miller had the exact same injury late in the 1995-96 season, missed the final five games of the regular season and returned, with the red-tinted shades, for the deciding Game 5 of their first-round series against the Atlanta Hawks.
“I don’t know. It reminds me a little of Reggie when he had his little bone fracture, and Reggie opted for the cool Oakley shades is what he did,” Hoiberg said. “But I remember that, at least back in those days. I don’t know if the surgery has improved from back when he had it, but he was very sensitive to light in the beginning of the recovery. I can’t remember to be honest with you how long he had to wear the glasses. But we’ll evaluate that as we continue to get more information."
Hoiberg spoke to Rose and Joakim Noah exchanged texts with him yesterday after news of his procedure became public.
“You know in talking to Derrick last night, he’s still in great spirits,” Hoiberg said. “He had a really good day going until he took a really unfortunate elbow, so he’s still in a good place. The great thing is it’s not structural damage to keep him out. As soon as he’s healed, ready to go, he’ll be able to get back in there 100 percent.”
Noah has been around for all of the Rose injury chronicles, so he feels for him in a way many may not be able to. And considering it’s not a knee or severe leg injury, there’s not the sadness that accompanies the usual Rose situation.
“It’s unfortunate. First play, takes an elbow, goes down,” he said. “But it’s not the end of the world. He’ll be back in no time. I think he’s good. I mean, as good as can be. It always sucks to be injured and not be able to play the game that you love. But he’ll be all right.”
Life goes on in the meantime, especially considering they don’t feel he’ll miss much activity as far as picking up the offense.
“Well, he’s still going to be here in practice, he’ll still be learning,” Hoiberg said. “Hopefully it’s an injury that won’t keep him out too long. He’s in great shape. We don’t know how much he’ll be able to do even when he’s in his recovery mode, but he’ll still be here learning. So we’ll go as expected, as far as putting our stuff in. We added a few new ones in his absence today, and again, guys seem to be picking up things very well.”
Whether it’s Aaron Brooks, Kirk Hinrich, E’Twaun Moore or even Jimmy Butler, there won’t be any shortage of players willing to step forward as a playmaker in practice or in preseason, which will be used for experimentation anyways.
“We’ll get a lot of guys a lot of reps at that position,” Hoiberg said. “Again, they are guys that have played in this league a long time.”
He wasn’t in a dour mood by any stretch, but Hoiberg sounds fully indoctrinated into dealing with life without Rose—perhaps a bit too early for his liking.
Bulls announce signing of Chicago native Stefhon Hannah.
CSN STAFF
The Bulls made an addition to their roster Thursday.
The Bulls announced the signing of 6-foot-1 guard Stefhon Hannah, bringing the team's roster to 19 players.
Hannah played 22 games in the D-League last season, playing with both the Grand Rapids Drive and the Reno Bighorns.
In those 22 contests, he averaged 5.9 points per game, 2.1 assists per game and 1.05 steals per game in 16.6 minutes per game.
Hannah is a Chicago native and product of Hyde Park Career Academy. He spent two seasons at Missouri, averaging 15.1 points in 50 games in 2006-07 and 2007-08 and winning the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year award in 2007.
He's played professionally in Cyprus, Lithuania, the Philippines, Poland, Venezuela, Italy and Colombia, as well as multiple stints in the D-League, where he twice was the D-League Defensive Player of the Year in 2012 and 2013.
In fact, when Fred Hoiberg had his availability on Media Day, the new Bulls coach anticipated it would be among the first three questions. The notion stemmed around Noah limping around last season and to a lesser extent, Gasol advancing in age. With Gasol being an All-Star player, the speculation was growing louder that Noah should come off the bench to balance out the floor.
But Noah feels Hoiberg should hold off on making a decision based off the tape from last year. The film doesn’t lie that the duo looked uneven last season, despite the gaudy record posted by the starting five for the few games they played together (16-5).
“I think we should give it an honest evaluation while I’m healthy,” Noah said. “Last year, I wasn’t healthy. Let’s see how it goes and then coaches can make a decision from there.”
In some respects, Noah was kept on the floor due to loyalty and a level of comfort from Tom Thibodeau, even as his left knee affected virtually every aspect of his game, including his confidence.
The numbers fell across the board, which have been well-documented. And he wasn’t able to cover Gasol’s back defensively, contributing to his 102-point defensive rating, his highest in the Thibodeau era by far.
So Gasol, who underwent nasal surgery in June to alleviate breathing issues, is keeping an open mind to the pairing, although he knows he’ll see considerable time with Nikola Mirotic as a way to maximize the Bulls’ offensive prowess.
“That's got to be the coaching staff's decision, obviously, not ours,” Gasol said. “I think each player will do the best he can to be on the floor as long as possible and have significant minutes. It's good to see Jo healthy and moving well.”
Everything should be prefaced with saying it’s the first days of camp so bodies don’t have the wear-and-tear on it that will be around in February, but Noah won’t be limited by minute restrictions or the mental fears that he can’t do it physically.
“He looks fresh,” Gasol said. “He looks like he's in really good shape, has worked hard during the summer. Now he does feel and look bouncier. It's great to see him that way. From what I've seen so far, yes. The day and a half I've seen him, he looks really good.”
Moving well means lateral movement being the biggest improvement for Noah, allowing him to cover ground quicker baseline to baseline and on high screen-rolls, should the Bulls decide to trap up high in an aggressive setting.
“I just feel bouncier, just lighter on my feet,” Noah said. “Just waking up in the morning and moving good, that’s a good feeling. Doing a lot of yoga every morning before I come in. Just taking care of myself a little different. This isn’t my first rodeo.”
Of course Noah has been through it before, and Gasol is a veteran of many training camps, so one wonders how much Hoiberg can experiment with the two playing together in the preseason, especially when the plan is to limit Gasol’s usage to under the 34.4 minutes he played per game last season, his highest mark since the 2011-12 season when he was a much younger man.
“Well, we'll see how the season goes,” Gasol said. “Ideally, I'll play less than I did last year and that's kind of the plan, I guess. But we'll see what happens. I've just got to be ready. Seasons are long, are tough, are demanding and as a professional, you have to stay ready. It's not going to be ideal all the time. It's never ideal. You just have to work through it and do the best you can.”
Bulls announce Derrick Rose can resume activities in two weeks, opening night likely.
By Vincent Goodwill
Derrick Rose will be able to resume basketball activities in two weeks after undergoing a surgical procedure on his face, as a result of the elbow felt all around Chicago.
Which means after all the consternation stemming from it, he’ll presumably be on track for a return on opening night, which falls on Oct. 27 against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“All we know right now is Derrick went into the procedure this morning early, and the surgery went as expected,” Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said. “He’s in recovery now, but yeah, the surgery did go as expected.”
It’s likely he’ll be wearing a mask of some sort or even shades when he does return. In Hoiberg’s rookie year in Indiana, Reggie Miller had the exact same injury late in the 1995-96 season, missed the final five games of the regular season and returned, with the red-tinted shades, for the deciding Game 5 of their first-round series against the Atlanta Hawks.
“I don’t know. It reminds me a little of Reggie when he had his little bone fracture, and Reggie opted for the cool Oakley shades is what he did,” Hoiberg said. “But I remember that, at least back in those days. I don’t know if the surgery has improved from back when he had it, but he was very sensitive to light in the beginning of the recovery. I can’t remember to be honest with you how long he had to wear the glasses. But we’ll evaluate that as we continue to get more information."
Hoiberg spoke to Rose and Joakim Noah exchanged texts with him yesterday after news of his procedure became public.
“You know in talking to Derrick last night, he’s still in great spirits,” Hoiberg said. “He had a really good day going until he took a really unfortunate elbow, so he’s still in a good place. The great thing is it’s not structural damage to keep him out. As soon as he’s healed, ready to go, he’ll be able to get back in there 100 percent.”
Noah has been around for all of the Rose injury chronicles, so he feels for him in a way many may not be able to. And considering it’s not a knee or severe leg injury, there’s not the sadness that accompanies the usual Rose situation.
“It’s unfortunate. First play, takes an elbow, goes down,” he said. “But it’s not the end of the world. He’ll be back in no time. I think he’s good. I mean, as good as can be. It always sucks to be injured and not be able to play the game that you love. But he’ll be all right.”
Life goes on in the meantime, especially considering they don’t feel he’ll miss much activity as far as picking up the offense.
“Well, he’s still going to be here in practice, he’ll still be learning,” Hoiberg said. “Hopefully it’s an injury that won’t keep him out too long. He’s in great shape. We don’t know how much he’ll be able to do even when he’s in his recovery mode, but he’ll still be here learning. So we’ll go as expected, as far as putting our stuff in. We added a few new ones in his absence today, and again, guys seem to be picking up things very well.”
Whether it’s Aaron Brooks, Kirk Hinrich, E’Twaun Moore or even Jimmy Butler, there won’t be any shortage of players willing to step forward as a playmaker in practice or in preseason, which will be used for experimentation anyways.
“We’ll get a lot of guys a lot of reps at that position,” Hoiberg said. “Again, they are guys that have played in this league a long time.”
He wasn’t in a dour mood by any stretch, but Hoiberg sounds fully indoctrinated into dealing with life without Rose—perhaps a bit too early for his liking.
Bulls announce signing of Chicago native Stefhon Hannah.
CSN STAFF
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
The Bulls made an addition to their roster Thursday.
The Bulls announced the signing of 6-foot-1 guard Stefhon Hannah, bringing the team's roster to 19 players.
Hannah played 22 games in the D-League last season, playing with both the Grand Rapids Drive and the Reno Bighorns.
In those 22 contests, he averaged 5.9 points per game, 2.1 assists per game and 1.05 steals per game in 16.6 minutes per game.
Hannah is a Chicago native and product of Hyde Park Career Academy. He spent two seasons at Missouri, averaging 15.1 points in 50 games in 2006-07 and 2007-08 and winning the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year award in 2007.
He's played professionally in Cyprus, Lithuania, the Philippines, Poland, Venezuela, Italy and Colombia, as well as multiple stints in the D-League, where he twice was the D-League Defensive Player of the Year in 2012 and 2013.
Jason Hammel sees Cubs ready for playoffs: ‘We’re good and we know it’.
By Patrick Mooney
(Photo/battingleadoff.com)
Jason Hammel had always been optimistic about the rebuild, twice signing with the Cubs as a free agent, first on a flip deal and then the multiyear contract that was supposed to help bridge the team into contention.
But to win 94 games and have the third-best record in the majors by 2015?
“I think everybody would be a little surprised at that,” Hammel said after Thursday’s 5-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds. “But that’s not to say it wasn’t in the cards. We’re good. And we know it."
The rookie hazing meant franchise-level players – Kris Bryant, Addison Russell, Kyle Schwarber, Jorge Soler – had to put on dresses and pose for a group photo inside Great American Ball Park’s visiting clubhouse.
The youth movement accelerated this year, but to make a long postseason run, the Cubs will need a veteran starter like Hammel to step forward.
For five scoreless innings, Hammel (10-7, 3.74 ERA) shut down a last-place team that has lost 12 games in a row. Hammel looked sharper against a Reds lineup that still included Joey Votto, Brandon Phillips, Jay Bruce and Todd Frazier, finishing with five strikeouts and zero walks.
Manager Joe Maddon – who has frustrated Hammel at times with the quick hook – worked off a pregame script and wanted to give his bullpen some work.
“I was obviously surprised,” Hammel said. “I think the only way I wouldn’t have made a stink about it was because I felt so good. I wanted to continue to go out there and feel it. It’s been a little while.
“Any time you’re working yourself out of a funk, you want to keep doing it and keep doing it.”
Hammel might have needed that boost of confidence for October. A leg injury clearly disrupted his rhythm and impacted his performance before (2.86 ERA) and after (5.10 ERA) the All-Star break.
“A tale of two halves,” Hammel said. “Post-injury, I wasn’t very good. That’s the honest view of it, but sometimes those things can derail you a little bit. Not to make excuses, but I battled and did the best that I could with what I had.”
If the Cubs survive the wild-card game against the Pittsburgh Pirates and advance to face the St. Louis Cardinals, do you expect to be a playoff starter?
“I’m going to prepare that way,” Hammel said.
Jake Arrieta gets one more shot to make Cy Young case.
By Patrick Mooney
Jake Arrieta has meant so much to the Cubs that he should be in the National League MVP discussion and not just a Cy Young Award frontrunner.
With a questionable rotation and as many as four rookies in the everyday lineup, the Cubs have won 75 percent of Arrieta’s starts (24-8), making the leap from fringe wild-card team to 94-win contender during his second-half transformation.
Arrieta (21-6, 1.92 ERA) will get the chance to make a final impression on the Baseball Writers’ Association of America voters on Friday against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park (7:10 p.m./CSN).
Arrieta has made 19 consecutive quality starts, going 15-1 with a 0.89 ERA. He’s hit as many homers (two) as he’s given up (two) during that stretch. His 0.80 ERA since the All-Star break would be the lowest in major-league history.
Arrieta – a great talker and a deep thinker – might be preparing his acceptance speech if not for the Los Angeles Dodgers and their 1-2 punch.
Zack Greinke is 18-3 and leads the majors in ERA (1.68) and WHIP (0.85). Clayton Kershaw (16-7, 2.16 ERA) – the reigning Cy Young/MVP winner – leads the majors in innings (229) and strikeouts (294).
“I know what (Greinke’s) doing,” Arrieta said. “He’s pitched at a super-high level his whole career. The same thing with Kershaw. It’s fun to see, because you have such a great deal of respect for Kershaw and Greinke. You understand how difficult it is to do what they’ve done for such a long period of time. It’s been a great year for those guys, absolutely.”
This will be a final tune-up for Arrieta before next week’s wild-card game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, with the Cubs planning to limit their ace to around 85 or 95 pitches before unleashing him in the playoffs.
Whatever happens, Greinke and Kershaw will get the chance to answer, making their final starts on Saturday and Sunday against San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium, with a division title already won.
And Arrieta is envisioning a much bigger prize – a World Series ring.
“The individual awards are nice,” Arrieta said. “But when you’re a part of a group of guys like this, and you’re able to win for the team and perform at a high level to propel your team forward (into) a playoff environment, that’s more meaningful to me, because that’s an experience that we’ll all receive together as a group.
“Those types of things are rare. Not a lot of people get to be in an environment like this even once in their career. So that’s what I want all of us to take advantage of and really, really focus on.”
Quintana pitches nine innings, but White Sox fall to Royals in 10.
By Dan Hayes
Jose Quintana did everything he could Wednesday night to earn a 10th victory for the first time in his career.
But one mistake to Mike Moustakas and a boatload of stranded White Sox base runners left him one win shy of double digits for a third straight season. Quintana pitched nine strong innings only to watch the White Sox fall to the Kansas City Royals 5-3 in 10 innings. Eric Hosmer’s two-run homer off David Robertson in the 10th lifted the Royals to the victory.
Jose Abreu hit his 30th homer in the losing effort.
“It doesn't diminish what Q did out there,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. “It comes down to we don't score enough for him. That's pretty obvious. Again, that means nothing as far as how good he is. We know how good he is and we just wish we'd score more for him.”
Quintana completed nine innings for only the second time in his career.
He gave up a third-inning homer to Alex Gordon that tied the score at 1. And he left a curveball up to Moustakas in the sixth that was hit for a two-run homer as Kansas City pulled ahead 3-1.
But that was it.
He threw strikes on 71.8 percent of his pitches (that’s good) and allowed three runs and five hits with two walks and eight strikeouts. But the effort ended Quintana up shy of what he considers an important victory once again as he earned his 13th no decision of the season and 52nd of his career.
“It’s important for me because I’ve never had it,” Quintana said. “But my point is to try to get as many wins as you can for the team. Everything is about the team. I’ll try to keep going. The season is done for me right now, but I’ll try to focus on the next season. I’ll rest right now and work hard for the next one.”
Quintana finished the season 9-10 with a 3.36 ERA in a career high 206 1/3 innings. He started 32 games and struck out 177 against only 44 walks. Quintana’s 1.92 walks-per-nine total is the lowest of his career.
When he surpassed 200 innings in the third, Quintana became the first White Sox pitcher to reach 200 innings, 30-plus starts and 160-plus strikeouts in three straights seasons since Javier Vazquez in 2006-08.
“He just doesn’t get rattled out there,” Robertson said. “He just keeps going, he pounds the zone. He keeps the ball down. He’s a competitor. He’s the kind of guy you want out there every five days because you know he will give you something special.
“I haven’t helped him out. I’ve blown a couple of his games so he should have 10. It’s unfortunate. I wish I would have been better at my job so that he had 10 wins but, his innings, his ERA, strikeouts, walks, everything shows he’s a quality pitcher and he gets the job done.”
The White Sox grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second inning on an RBI single by Adam Eaton — one of the team’s six singles in the first two frames. But Edinson Volquez didn’t break as he left the bases loaded in the first and struck out Abreu and retired Melky Cabrera on a hard groundout in the second.
The White Sox stranded two more in the fifth inning, another in the sixth and two in the eighth.
Volquez did surrender Abreu’s solo homer in the seventh inning as the White Sox pulled within a run.
With his homer, Abreu became the first American Leaguer, and third player ever, to hit 30 in each of his first two seasons. Abreu’s blast helped him match the starts of Albert Pujols and Ryan Braun. With his next RBI, Abreu would join Pujols as the only players in baseball history to start their careers with 30-homer, 100-RBI seasons.
Abreu had an opportunity in the bottom of the eighth to break the 3-all tie, pick up his 100th RBI and help Quintana to his 10th victory but grounded out with the go-ahead run at third with two outs.
The White Sox stranded 11 base runners in the loss.
“(Quintana) was great, outstanding, you can use all of them,” Ventura said. “We thought we had a chance there to get him one. Again, just his consistency is always the impressive part and you feel bad because this guy pitched great. He always goes out there and gives you a chance. It's unfortunate.”
“It’s important for me because I’ve never had it,” Quintana said. “But my point is to try to get as many wins as you can for the team. Everything is about the team. I’ll try to keep going. The season is done for me right now, but I’ll try to focus on the next season. I’ll rest right now and work hard for the next one.”
Quintana finished the season 9-10 with a 3.36 ERA in a career high 206 1/3 innings. He started 32 games and struck out 177 against only 44 walks. Quintana’s 1.92 walks-per-nine total is the lowest of his career.
When he surpassed 200 innings in the third, Quintana became the first White Sox pitcher to reach 200 innings, 30-plus starts and 160-plus strikeouts in three straights seasons since Javier Vazquez in 2006-08.
“He just doesn’t get rattled out there,” Robertson said. “He just keeps going, he pounds the zone. He keeps the ball down. He’s a competitor. He’s the kind of guy you want out there every five days because you know he will give you something special.
“I haven’t helped him out. I’ve blown a couple of his games so he should have 10. It’s unfortunate. I wish I would have been better at my job so that he had 10 wins but, his innings, his ERA, strikeouts, walks, everything shows he’s a quality pitcher and he gets the job done.”
The White Sox grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second inning on an RBI single by Adam Eaton — one of the team’s six singles in the first two frames. But Edinson Volquez didn’t break as he left the bases loaded in the first and struck out Abreu and retired Melky Cabrera on a hard groundout in the second.
The White Sox stranded two more in the fifth inning, another in the sixth and two in the eighth.
Volquez did surrender Abreu’s solo homer in the seventh inning as the White Sox pulled within a run.
With his homer, Abreu became the first American Leaguer, and third player ever, to hit 30 in each of his first two seasons. Abreu’s blast helped him match the starts of Albert Pujols and Ryan Braun. With his next RBI, Abreu would join Pujols as the only players in baseball history to start their careers with 30-homer, 100-RBI seasons.
Abreu had an opportunity in the bottom of the eighth to break the 3-all tie, pick up his 100th RBI and help Quintana to his 10th victory but grounded out with the go-ahead run at third with two outs.
The White Sox stranded 11 base runners in the loss.
“(Quintana) was great, outstanding, you can use all of them,” Ventura said. “We thought we had a chance there to get him one. Again, just his consistency is always the impressive part and you feel bad because this guy pitched great. He always goes out there and gives you a chance. It's unfortunate.”
Golf: I got a club for that..... Presidents Cup Rosters.
AP
Rosters for the Presidents Cup, to be played Oct. 8-11 at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea (c-captain's pick):
INTERNATIONAL
Captain: Nick Price
c-Sang-moon Bae, South Korea
INTERNATIONAL
Captain: Nick Price
c-Sang-moon Bae, South Korea
Thongchai Jaidee, Thailand
Anirban Lahiri, India
Danny Lee, New Zealand
Marc Leishman, Australia
Hideki Matsuyama, Japan
Louis Oosthuizen, South Africa
Charl Schwartzel, South Africa
Adam Scott, Australia
c-Bill Haas
c-Phil Mickelson
PGA of America CEO says golf must concentrate on diversity.
By RONALD BLUM
Pete Bevacqua, right, CEO of the PGA of America, gestures during a golf industry news conference at The Players Championship golf tournament Wednesday, May 6, 2015, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Looking on is Tim Finchem, Commissioner of the PGA Tour. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
The chief executive officer of the PGA of America says golf must concentrate on diversity to compete for fans.
Speaking at the Sports Diversity & Inclusion Symposium on Wednesday on Citi Field, Pete Bevacqua told the audience ''golf realizes it has to really make some fundamental changes and unbelievable progress in this area if the game is going to continue to be healthy.''
''If we're not more diverse in the next 25, 50, 100 years, the sport's in trouble,'' he said. ''So instead of hiding from that, we're embracing that, and we're trying to institute those changes at every aspect of our organization.''
While praising young stars such as Jordan Spieth, Jason Day, Rory McElroy and Inbee Park, Bevacqua said ''we need more people playing golf, more diversity in that regard, and more people watching golf.''
''We have a history that maybe we have to live down a little,'' he said.
Suzy Whaley last year was elected secretary of the PGA of America, becoming the first woman officer in the history of the organization that began in 1916.
Bevacqua maintained the PGA of America can only do so much to persuade private golf clubs to admit more diverse members.
''Do we go into clubs and say you need to change your membership policies? You know, we don't influence them in that direct way,'' he said. ''But many of those clubs obviously want to attract our championship, the PGA Championship, the Women's PGA Championship, things like the Ryder Cup, and we have very clear rules that we won't bring any of our events, let along our marquee events ... to clubs that don't have a very open membership roster. That's one of the fundamental tenets of who we are.''
NASCAR lengthens restart zones for Dover.
By Nick Bromberg
Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Ditech Chevrolet, and Brad Keselowski, driver of the #2 Miller Lite Ford, lead the field to a restart during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series SYLVANIA 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on September 27, 2015 in Loudon, New Hampshire. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
The restart zone at Dover will be twice the size it was previously scheduled to be.
NASCAR said Thursday that the restart zone would be 140 feet instead of 70 feet. The lengthening comes a week after Brad Keselowski was penalized for jumping a restart at New Hampshire. Keselowski, who restarted in second alongside race leader Greg Biffle, was the first car to the start/finish line. Keselowski was disciplined with a pass-through penalty on pit road.
Keselowski's penalty came after NASCAR had threatened to treat restarts differently than it had all season. The sanctioning body had been incredibly lenient when it comes to the games that drivers play on restarts throughout the 2015 season. While it's understandable that the sanctioning body wanted to crack down on the games in the Chase, it should never have allowed the restart shenanigans to get to the point where restarts were the dominant topic at the Chase media day.
In a perfect world, the longer restart zone gives the leader more of an opportunity to choose when he restarts the race. The zone is placed at the exit of turn four and the leader, when the race is about to go green after a caution flag, has control of the restart. Instead of starting the race via the starter in the flagstand and when he waives the green flag, the leader has the opportunity to start the race by being the first to accelerate.
With a longer restart zone, the second-place car has twice as long to anticipate the start and the leader would theoretically have a greater advantage. The restart zones will be lengthened for the rest of the 2015 races too.
Will it work? We'll find out, though it may not be this weekend. With the possible track of Hurricane Joaquin and a storm system heading towards Dover for the weekend, Sunday's race may be in jeopardy. NASCAR has not made any official and public contingency plans for the race and is likely hoping Joaquin heads out to sea and there's enough of a break in the weather to run the race.
Harvick has championship defense on line at Dover.
By DAN GELSTON
With a NASCAR championship defense at stake, Kevin Harvick tried to spin Dover as just another race. He even compared the pressure ahead to a walk in the park.
Win at Dover and the back-to-back bid is alive. Fall short, and Harvick likely could be relegated to a spoiler role for the rest of NASCAR's playoffs.
Win at Dover and the back-to-back bid is alive. Fall short, and Harvick likely could be relegated to a spoiler role for the rest of NASCAR's playoffs.
Harvick has two wins and a series-best 18 top fives, but is mired at 15th in the 16-driver Chase for the Sprint Cup championship field. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver has gone from boom to bust in the Chase, finishing 42nd in the Chase opener at Chicagoland and 21st last week at New Hampshire.
Ahead is the concrete mile track at Dover where Harvick is 0 for 29.
''I like these types of situations,'' Harvick said Thursday. ''I think they're different and fun and it's all in the approach and how you react to them.''
Harvick has had the No. 4 Chevy up against the wall before - he was eighth out of eight teams and had to win last season at Phoenix International Raceway to advance into the championship finale. He won the race, then won it all the next week when his second straight checkered flag gave him the highest finish among four championship drivers to earn the crown.
Under NASCAR's playoff format, the bottom four drivers in the Chase field are eliminated after Dover. He'll earn an automatic berth into the championship round with a victory. Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth have secured the first two spots.
It was only three weeks ago when a confident Harvick said of the JGR drivers, ''We're going to pound them into the ground.''
So far Harvick has taken a beating on the track, and dished one out in the motorhome. Harvick was unwilling on Thursday to discuss if he's talked with Jimmie Johnson in the wake of their post-race skirmish at Chicagoland.
Kyle Busch, Paul Menard, Harvick and Clint Bowyer are the final four drivers on the brink of elimination. They would advance with a victory, but Johnson stands at the No. 1 contender in their way at Dover, where he has a track-record 10 victories.
Kyle Busch, Paul Menard, Harvick and Clint Bowyer are the final four drivers on the brink of elimination. They would advance with a victory, but Johnson stands at the No. 1 contender in their way at Dover, where he has a track-record 10 victories.
Harvick was runner-up to Johnson in May in the first Dover race. Good, though probably not good enough on Sunday.
''I know the Gibbs guys are fast, but watching practice, he's really embarrassing the (heck) out of everybody,'' Chase driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. said Thursday. ''It's going to be a shame more than anything because he's got the potential to win the whole thing.''
The surprise isn't that Harvick is in this precarious position because poor finishes can happen to any driver. The surprise is that a championship team, with an ace crew chief in Rodney Childers, has watched gambles on tire and fuel strategy backfire in each race.
At Chicagoland, Johnson connected with Harvick and created a tire rub on the SHR Chevy. The call was made for Harvick to stay out instead of making a pit stop for tires and falling a lap down. Harvick spun and hit the wall, ending his race and sparking a confrontation with Johnson.
Harvick thought he had enough fuel to last all 300 miles at New Hampshire, only to lose the lead with three laps left when the Chevy was dry and tumbled to 21st. Childers said Sunday that data showed Harvick had enough fuel and it should have been a ''non-issue.''
''It looks like for some reason it must not have got full on our last pit stop of the race or the fuel cell bladder is coming apart,'' he said. ''If anything showed we were taking a chance, we would have pitted.''
Harvick defended both calls.
On tires: ''The tire rub is hard to see and I think with the smoke going away, you obviously didn't know it was as bad as it was.''
On fuel: ''It shouldn't have even been close with the pace that we had to run and the mileage that we had gathered from everything that we had in the pit box. I don't think anybody views last week as a risk, just for the fact that the mileage wasn't even close.''
Harvick would love to repeat, not just for himself, but for his friend and team owner Tony Stewart. Stewart announced this week he will retire from Sprint Cup racing after the 2016 season. Harvick was one of the people Stewart had confided in about his decision to call it quits.
''I haven't really known how to react to it, just for the fact that it's real now,'' he said.
SOCCER; Week 8: Top Premier League headlines – Arsenal vs. United, Merseyside derby.
By Joe Prince-Wright
Ahead of Week 8 in the Premier League there are so many great games to look forward to.
From local rivalries, to the big dogs clashing and teams at the top and bottom of the standings shuffling ahead of the two-week international break, it should provide some mouth-watering matches as we enter the first week of October and the sun is still shining (for now) in England.
Here are five storylines to keep an eye on this weekend.
Title pretenders clash at the Emirates: Arsenal vs. Manchester United
Manchester United sit top of the tree as they head to the Emirates Stadium to face Arsenal on Sunday (Watch live, 11 a.m. ET on NBCSN and online via Live Extra). Louis Van Gaal‘s side dispatched Wolfsburg 2-1 in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday but the Dutchman said his side were “tired” and must be more clinical. With Anthony Martial and Memphis continuing to gel but Wayne Rooney looking short in confidence, United’s toughest test of the season so far provides a good yard-stick for just how good they are.
The same can be said for Arsenal, as the Gunners are still reeling from their 3-2 midweek UCL defeat to Olympiakos. Arsene Wenger has come under plenty of criticism for playing David Opsina in goal over Petr Cech in the Champions League, especially as the former produced a howler to leave Arsenal with a very slim chance of qualifying for the last 16 as they’ve lost both of their opening UCL games and now face Bayern Munich back-to-back. All is not well at the Emirates, but if they beat United on Sunday, maybe it will breathe new life into a season which hasn’t unfolded as anybody expected. Last season United won 2-1 at the Emirates, before Arsenal grabbed a late point at Old Trafford and sealed a 2-1 win in the FA Cup quarterfinal away to United. This will be tight and tense, as two teams who aren’t seen as legit title contenders try to suggest they are ready to return to past glories and win the PL trophy. A fascinating encounter awaits.
Chelsea must rebound against stubborn Saints
Here are five storylines to keep an eye on this weekend.
Title pretenders clash at the Emirates: Arsenal vs. Manchester United
Manchester United sit top of the tree as they head to the Emirates Stadium to face Arsenal on Sunday (Watch live, 11 a.m. ET on NBCSN and online via Live Extra). Louis Van Gaal‘s side dispatched Wolfsburg 2-1 in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday but the Dutchman said his side were “tired” and must be more clinical. With Anthony Martial and Memphis continuing to gel but Wayne Rooney looking short in confidence, United’s toughest test of the season so far provides a good yard-stick for just how good they are.
The same can be said for Arsenal, as the Gunners are still reeling from their 3-2 midweek UCL defeat to Olympiakos. Arsene Wenger has come under plenty of criticism for playing David Opsina in goal over Petr Cech in the Champions League, especially as the former produced a howler to leave Arsenal with a very slim chance of qualifying for the last 16 as they’ve lost both of their opening UCL games and now face Bayern Munich back-to-back. All is not well at the Emirates, but if they beat United on Sunday, maybe it will breathe new life into a season which hasn’t unfolded as anybody expected. Last season United won 2-1 at the Emirates, before Arsenal grabbed a late point at Old Trafford and sealed a 2-1 win in the FA Cup quarterfinal away to United. This will be tight and tense, as two teams who aren’t seen as legit title contenders try to suggest they are ready to return to past glories and win the PL trophy. A fascinating encounter awaits.
Chelsea must rebound against stubborn Saints
Jose Mourinho wasn’t too unhappy with his side despite the midweek 2-1 defeat at FC Porto in the UEFA Champions League. Good finishing from an impressive home side was the difference, but poor defending once again cost Chelsea as Mourinho continues to harmfully tinker with his lineup, with John Terry still on the sidelines. Eden Hazard and Nemanja Matic were also on the bench for the midweek match, and heading in Saturday’s clash with Southampton at Stamford Bridge (Watch live, 12:30 p.m. ET on NBC and online via Live Extra) the Blues need a big performance after stalling again. When they beat Arsenal 2-0 at home in Week 6, everyone said “here we go, Chelsea is back in business.” But a stumbling display in a 2-2 draw away at Newcastle proved that they weren’t and now they come up against a team who they failed to beat on both occasions last season.
It will not be easy for Chelsea against a Southampton side who is working towards regaining their defensive solidity. With Ryan Bertrand returning from injury, Virgil Van Dijk settling in at center back and Ronald Koeman‘s men increasingly looking more like the team who finished in seventh last season and flirted with the top four, this will be a tough test. Last season Chelsea drew 1-1 with Saints home and away. The same result this season would mean the pressure continues to mount on Mourinho.
Sturridge ready to roll for Merseyside derby
For the first time in over six months, last week Daniel Sturridge‘s wacky goal celebration returned to Anfield. Sturridge, 26, has been out injured for most of the last 12 months and it has hit Liverpool and Brendan Rodgers hard. Pressure has been mounting on Rodgers, as he believes there is “hysteria” from the media and former players surrounding his position at Anfield If Sturridge can stay fit for the rest of this season, it is great news for Liverpool and Rodgers.
The England international has recovered from his hip and thigh problems to return and lead the line. Against Everton on Sunday (Watch live, 8:30 a.m. ET on NBCSN and online via Live Extra) he will be the focal point of Liverpool’s attack, with Adam Lallana, Philippe Coutinho, Danny Ings and maybe Roberto Firmino making runs off him. The importance of Sturridge — who long with Luis Suarez delivered 52 of Liverpool’s goals as they came agonizingly close to winning the PL title in 2013-14 — is not lost on Rodgers as he’s wrapped the forward in cotton wool and rested him for the Europa League game against Sion in midweek. If Everton is to get anything from this, they must stop Sturridge, but as they proved away at West Brom last week, they have quality attacking talents of their own. Romelu Lukaku bagged a brace and Ross Barkley is regaining his best form. The Toffees sit in fifth and could go second with a win. Liverpool would leapfrog their city rivals with a derby-day win. There’s plenty on the line as these fierce rivals collide.
Battle of the newly-promoted boys: Bournemouth vs. Watford
As you know if you watched the video above, it’s been a rough few weeks for AFC Bournemouth and their manager Eddie Howe. The Cherries, like their opponents on Saturday, Watford (Watch live, 10 a.m. ET online via Live Extra) have adapted superbly to life in the PL but have been hit by three hammer blows. First up their two most expensive signings of the summer both went down with ACL injuries. Promising left back Tyrone Mings is out for the season, Max Gradel out for six months. Then, the biggest blow of them all arrived last weekend as striker and top goalscorer with five goals, Callum Wilson, crumpled in a heap against Stoke City. Wilson ruptured his ACL too, leaving Bournemouth without three key men for the next six months, at least. Howe will have to find a solution to those injury issues, but all of a sudden — unless they spend big in January — Bournemouth’s hopes of staving off relegation have taken a monumental hit.
As for Watford, they suffered defeat at home for the first time this season last week, and against Palace Quique Sanchez Flores’ team seemed to struggle with self-belief. Especially in the final third as they now scored just one goal at home all season and fired three blanks in four matches. Both Watford and Bournemouth have shown they can survive in the PL, but different issues are impacting both squads heading into a game which could provide either side with a vital three points when all is said and done at the end of the season.
Can Pardew take Palace where Pulis hoped to?
Last week I asked Crystal Palace’s manager Alan Pardew how he assessed the Eagles’ start to the season which sees them currently sitting in sixth place.
Fire notes: Razov ROF induction, CHIvNE preview, Nyarko fit.
By Danny Michallik
Saturday's Eastern Conference bout at Toyota Park between the Fire and New England Revolution is an opportunity for the Men in Red to salvage self-pride from a displeasing season.
But for the fans who have endured the ups and downs in recent years and remember the team's successful run during the early 2000s, a special halftime ceremony will accompany matchday proceedings to commemorate a player who championed the club's three, core values: tradition, honor and passion.
Former Fire Original and forward Ante Razov will become the eighth inductee into the Ring of Fire, and will be joined by fellow members Peter Nowak (inducted in 2003), Frank Klopas (2004), Luboš Kubík (2005) and Peter Wilt (2006). The image of his No. 9 jersey, in which Razov netted a club-record 76 goals in two stints in Chicago, will hang from the east façade of the stadium for all to see.
“He was ice-cold around the box. He could finish," Fire interim head coach Brian Bliss said Thursday. "When we talk about guys whose pulse goes up around the box, I think his went down in the box. He was calm, cool and could bury the difficult shot, but he could also hit the precision and placement shot as well. Decent size, always, and could get his head on a few balls as well. We all like lefties, so anything a lefty does always looks better.”
A key component of head coach Bob Bradley's group in 1998, Razov helped the Fire win MLS Cup and the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in the inaugural year. Razov currently serves as the assistant coach for Seattle Sounders FC.
Preview: Chicago Fire vs. New England Revolution (Saturday, Oct. 3; 7:30 p.m. CT on My50 Chicago)
With postseason aspirations out of the picture, the Fire return to Toyota Park for the penultimate home match of the 2015 campaign.
Having just two days to work with players prior to a two-game road swing (a 2-1 loss to the Montreal Impact and 3-2 defeat to Toronto FC), Bliss is more reassured this time around after getting a full week of training under his belt.
“I’d call it a luxury, yeah,” he said after training Thursday, “because we’re able to implement a little bit more on the mindset. We’re not moving mountains in the short amount of time, but we’re trying to get the collective group to be thinking in the same way about the game, and about how we want to play the game. You’re not going to execute everything, but if we can get the majority thinking the same way, it’s very helpful.”
The Fire's 21-19-11 all-time regular season record against the Revolution includes a 12-5-8 record in fixtures played at home. Saturday marks the third and final meeting between both sides this season. Jay Heaps' group dealt the Men in Red a comprehensive 2-0 defeat in Foxborough on June 13 before escaping from Toyota Park with a point in the teams' 2-2 draw on July 25.
Injury update
- Midfielder Patrick Nyarko emerged from the setback at Toronto with a knock to his knee, but will be fit and available against New England. "He took two days off here to take the pressure off a little bit," Bliss said. "He came back out today (Thursday) and looked fine.”
- Defender Ty Harden was a late scratch with an adductor strain, and will be held out of Saturday's encounter vs. the Revolution. “He probably could suit up, but I don’t think it makes sense to run him out there," Bliss said. "We’ll give him the extra time needed, and hopefully he’s available for selection the next game.”
NCAAFB: SEC East facing golden opportunity to take power back from West.
It will not be easy for Chelsea against a Southampton side who is working towards regaining their defensive solidity. With Ryan Bertrand returning from injury, Virgil Van Dijk settling in at center back and Ronald Koeman‘s men increasingly looking more like the team who finished in seventh last season and flirted with the top four, this will be a tough test. Last season Chelsea drew 1-1 with Saints home and away. The same result this season would mean the pressure continues to mount on Mourinho.
Sturridge ready to roll for Merseyside derby
For the first time in over six months, last week Daniel Sturridge‘s wacky goal celebration returned to Anfield. Sturridge, 26, has been out injured for most of the last 12 months and it has hit Liverpool and Brendan Rodgers hard. Pressure has been mounting on Rodgers, as he believes there is “hysteria” from the media and former players surrounding his position at Anfield If Sturridge can stay fit for the rest of this season, it is great news for Liverpool and Rodgers.
The England international has recovered from his hip and thigh problems to return and lead the line. Against Everton on Sunday (Watch live, 8:30 a.m. ET on NBCSN and online via Live Extra) he will be the focal point of Liverpool’s attack, with Adam Lallana, Philippe Coutinho, Danny Ings and maybe Roberto Firmino making runs off him. The importance of Sturridge — who long with Luis Suarez delivered 52 of Liverpool’s goals as they came agonizingly close to winning the PL title in 2013-14 — is not lost on Rodgers as he’s wrapped the forward in cotton wool and rested him for the Europa League game against Sion in midweek. If Everton is to get anything from this, they must stop Sturridge, but as they proved away at West Brom last week, they have quality attacking talents of their own. Romelu Lukaku bagged a brace and Ross Barkley is regaining his best form. The Toffees sit in fifth and could go second with a win. Liverpool would leapfrog their city rivals with a derby-day win. There’s plenty on the line as these fierce rivals collide.
Battle of the newly-promoted boys: Bournemouth vs. Watford
As you know if you watched the video above, it’s been a rough few weeks for AFC Bournemouth and their manager Eddie Howe. The Cherries, like their opponents on Saturday, Watford (Watch live, 10 a.m. ET online via Live Extra) have adapted superbly to life in the PL but have been hit by three hammer blows. First up their two most expensive signings of the summer both went down with ACL injuries. Promising left back Tyrone Mings is out for the season, Max Gradel out for six months. Then, the biggest blow of them all arrived last weekend as striker and top goalscorer with five goals, Callum Wilson, crumpled in a heap against Stoke City. Wilson ruptured his ACL too, leaving Bournemouth without three key men for the next six months, at least. Howe will have to find a solution to those injury issues, but all of a sudden — unless they spend big in January — Bournemouth’s hopes of staving off relegation have taken a monumental hit.
As for Watford, they suffered defeat at home for the first time this season last week, and against Palace Quique Sanchez Flores’ team seemed to struggle with self-belief. Especially in the final third as they now scored just one goal at home all season and fired three blanks in four matches. Both Watford and Bournemouth have shown they can survive in the PL, but different issues are impacting both squads heading into a game which could provide either side with a vital three points when all is said and done at the end of the season.
Can Pardew take Palace where Pulis hoped to?
Last week I asked Crystal Palace’s manager Alan Pardew how he assessed the Eagles’ start to the season which sees them currently sitting in sixth place.
“It’s a good return, whichever way you look at it,” Pardew said. “We find ourselves on 12 points with a game at home coming up. We are going to try and exploit that because we’ve not always done that. It’s Tony [Pulis] coming as well so we know there will be extra resilience in that West Brom team. It’s a big game for us. We kick off early and it is a chance to find ourselves in a very nice position if we can win it.”That early kick off against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday (Watch live, 7:45 a.m. ET on NBCSN and online via Live Extra) provides Palace with the chance to go second in the standings. They’d need a monster win to achieve that, but if Pardew can get one over former Palace boss Pulis, his side will more than likely be in the top four with just and a quarter of the season gone. There is, of course, history there between Pulis and Palace. The man who kept them in the PL during the 2013-14 season, then left on the eve of the 2014-15 campaign due to differences with Chairman Steve Parish, left Palace in the lurch. They rushed to appoint Neil Warnock as manager but he lasted under December when Pardew arrived to take the Eagles up to 11th. Many would argue Pulis started this resurgence as the south London club are in their third-straight PL season for the first time in their history. The big difference between Pulis and Pardew at Palace (lot of P’s flying around here) is that Pardew was backed by Parish and the board as he signed Yohan Cabaye for a club-record $20 million over the summer and has huge backing from the fans as a former Palace player. There is a little resentment for Pulis from Palace’s fans, but also appreciation for how he helped kick-start their recent resurgence. However on Saturday, Pardew, Palace and Parish would love to get one over on Pulis to show him what he’s missing out on at Selhurst Park.
Fire notes: Razov ROF induction, CHIvNE preview, Nyarko fit.
By Danny Michallik
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
Saturday's Eastern Conference bout at Toyota Park between the Fire and New England Revolution is an opportunity for the Men in Red to salvage self-pride from a displeasing season.
But for the fans who have endured the ups and downs in recent years and remember the team's successful run during the early 2000s, a special halftime ceremony will accompany matchday proceedings to commemorate a player who championed the club's three, core values: tradition, honor and passion.
Former Fire Original and forward Ante Razov will become the eighth inductee into the Ring of Fire, and will be joined by fellow members Peter Nowak (inducted in 2003), Frank Klopas (2004), Luboš Kubík (2005) and Peter Wilt (2006). The image of his No. 9 jersey, in which Razov netted a club-record 76 goals in two stints in Chicago, will hang from the east façade of the stadium for all to see.
“He was ice-cold around the box. He could finish," Fire interim head coach Brian Bliss said Thursday. "When we talk about guys whose pulse goes up around the box, I think his went down in the box. He was calm, cool and could bury the difficult shot, but he could also hit the precision and placement shot as well. Decent size, always, and could get his head on a few balls as well. We all like lefties, so anything a lefty does always looks better.”
A key component of head coach Bob Bradley's group in 1998, Razov helped the Fire win MLS Cup and the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in the inaugural year. Razov currently serves as the assistant coach for Seattle Sounders FC.
Preview: Chicago Fire vs. New England Revolution (Saturday, Oct. 3; 7:30 p.m. CT on My50 Chicago)
With postseason aspirations out of the picture, the Fire return to Toyota Park for the penultimate home match of the 2015 campaign.
Having just two days to work with players prior to a two-game road swing (a 2-1 loss to the Montreal Impact and 3-2 defeat to Toronto FC), Bliss is more reassured this time around after getting a full week of training under his belt.
“I’d call it a luxury, yeah,” he said after training Thursday, “because we’re able to implement a little bit more on the mindset. We’re not moving mountains in the short amount of time, but we’re trying to get the collective group to be thinking in the same way about the game, and about how we want to play the game. You’re not going to execute everything, but if we can get the majority thinking the same way, it’s very helpful.”
The Fire's 21-19-11 all-time regular season record against the Revolution includes a 12-5-8 record in fixtures played at home. Saturday marks the third and final meeting between both sides this season. Jay Heaps' group dealt the Men in Red a comprehensive 2-0 defeat in Foxborough on June 13 before escaping from Toyota Park with a point in the teams' 2-2 draw on July 25.
Injury update
- Midfielder Patrick Nyarko emerged from the setback at Toronto with a knock to his knee, but will be fit and available against New England. "He took two days off here to take the pressure off a little bit," Bliss said. "He came back out today (Thursday) and looked fine.”
- Defender Ty Harden was a late scratch with an adductor strain, and will be held out of Saturday's encounter vs. the Revolution. “He probably could suit up, but I don’t think it makes sense to run him out there," Bliss said. "We’ll give him the extra time needed, and hopefully he’s available for selection the next game.”
NCAAFB: SEC East facing golden opportunity to take power back from West.
By Paul Forde
Will Nick Chubb get his 13th consecutive 100-yard rushing game at home against Alabama? (Photo/Getty)
The Southeastern Conference Eastern Division has the Southeastern Conference Western Division right where it wants it this Saturday.
On home soil. In the Eastern Time Zone. And at least theoretically with a chance to turn the lopsided tables.
Alabama goes between the hedges to play Georgia. Mississippi dips its toes into The Swamp against Florida. And Arkansas limps onto Neyland Stadium to face similarly wounded Tennessee.
That’s three interdivisional games that present an opportunity for the East to look the West in the eye and be competitive. For the first time in, oh, six years.
Since 2009, when Tim Tebow and Charlie Strong left Florida and Tennessee hired Derek Dooley, the balance of power in the SEC didn’t just shift from East to West. It fled. And it hasn’t come back.
From 2010-14, the West won every conference title game and owned a 66-36 advantage in interdivisional matchups. Last year it was 10-4 West over East.
On paper, 2015 was shaping up pretty much the same way. Everyone believed the West was the best, and the preseason top 25 reflected that: West teams were ranked third (Alabama), sixth (Auburn), 14th (LSU), 17th (Mississippi) and 18th (Arkansas); East teams were ranked eighth (Georgia), 24th (Missouri) and 25th (Tennessee).
It has played out a little more evenly so far. There has been just one East-West matchup so far, and the West won it: Ole Miss 27, Vanderbilt 16. But that was closer than many anticipated. And now this weekend will give us our first real returns to analyze.
Alabama is an underdog at Georgia, the first time the Crimson Tide hasn’t been favored in seven years – the longest streak in the nation. Of course, the last time the Tide was a ‘dog was in this very stadium against this very opponent, in 2008. And Alabama hit Georgia with a 31-0 haymaker out of the gate on the way to an easy victory.
That game tangibly started Nick Saban’s great run at ‘Bama. It’s a run that could be in danger of grinding to a halt if the Tide lose Saturday – it would effectively eliminate them from playoff contention, with two early losses.
So expect Alabama to play with desperation. But expect Georgia to play something like a Saban team.
The East’s new method for catching the West is basically imitation. Or, perhaps, Sabanation. Georgia coach Mark Richt has hired a handful of former Saban staffers – defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt, offensive line coach Rob Sale, linebackers coach Kevin Sherrer, and director of strength and conditioning Mark Hocke.
“It’s not a surprise to see any of those guys doing extremely well,” Saban said Wednesday. “Always happy to see guys who do a good job for us get a better opportunity. But you also know that they know a lot about what you do and how you do it, and that’s something that makes you uncomfortable.”
Every bit as important as knowing Saban’s system is copying his ability to produce physical, fast, disciplined teams. The mentality and methodology is being grafted as much as anything.
Florida’s answer has also been to look for Saban influence at hiring time. It didn’t work with Will Muschamp – who had more recently coached under Mack Brown, and wasn’t much of a Saban clone. We’ll see whether it will work with new coach Jim McElwain.
The former Saban offensive coordinator at Alabama came in with a more Saban-centric approach. So far the implementation is going well – he’s 4-0, and kept alive the school’s mandatory winning streaks over Kentucky (now 29 games) and Tennessee (now 11).
He didn’t keep them alive by much, however. A total of six points. McElwain has an elite defense that should be able to keep it close against Mississippi, but the greater question is how a young and balky offensive line is going to deal with the Robert Nkemdiche & Co.
“They deserve every bit of the accolades they’re getting,” McElwain said of the Rebels. “I think arguably, the way they’re playing, I think they are the best team in the country. ... This is going to tell us a lot about where we’re at and how we’re building it.”
The third game matches a pair of programs thought to be building but are now in danger of falling down. Arkansas at Tennessee was supposed to be the SEC’s Breakthrough Bowl, with the winner perhaps going on to a special season. That’s no longer the storyline, after the Volunteers blew a second double-digit fourth-quarter lead in four games and the Razorbacks lost their third in a row.
“The good news is, we all survived the plane ride home,” was Arkansas coach Bret Bielema’s chipper assessment coming out of an overtime loss to Texas A&M.
But even with an 0-9 record at Arkansas in games decided by seven points or less, Bielema might be catching less heat than Tennessee's Butch Jones. The pain of a squandered 13-point lead against nemesis Florida was exacerbated by a series of mystifying decisions Jones made in terms of play calls, clock management and simply understanding time and score.
Jones said this week that he “welcomes” criticism. Which is probably a good outlook, because the criticism is coming regardless of whether it’s welcome or unwelcome.
The only way to stop the criticism is to win Saturday. And the only way for the East to regain respect from its Western overlords is to beat them. They have three big opportunities in front of them.
UAB Everywhere: Ex-Blazers stay connected as they branch out.
By RALPH D. RUSSO
UAB football is both nowhere and everywhere this season.
UAB football is both nowhere and everywhere this season.
The Blazers are on hiatus after the school announced it was shutting down the program in December only to reinstate it in June. UAB and coach Bill Clark will field a team again in 2017, but the NCAA allowed UAB's players to transfer without restrictions after the program was initially discontinued. This season more than two dozen former Blazers are on the rosters of 15 FBS teams, from UMass to San Diego State.
Another 21 are scattered throughout FCS and Division II.
This Saturday looks like the biggest of the season so far in college football, with five games matching ranked teams and another three in which a ranked squad plays an undefeated team. Former Blazers will be involved in some of those big games, giving a glimpse of what could have been at UAB this season.
UAB AT IU
The undefeated Hoosiers (4-0) take on No. 1 Ohio State in the most anticipated game in Bloomington in years, putting Howard on the big stage for the first time in his career.
''It's going to be a challenge, but everybody welcomes a challenge,'' Howard said.
Howard was one of the nation's best kept secrets for the Blazers last season, finishing seventh in the nation in rushing at 132.25 yards per game.
Howard was one of the nation's best kept secrets for the Blazers last season, finishing seventh in the nation in rushing at 132.25 yards per game.
The 6-foot-1, 228-pound junior was maybe the most sought after player to leave UAB last winter, and he is living up to his billing. He is averaging 168.75 yards per game, second in the nation. He was co-Big Ten player of the week after running for 168 yards on 33 carries against Wake Forest last Saturday.
''I had very high expectations for myself and so far things have gone well,'' he said. ''I feel like I'm making that impact, but I'm not doing it alone.''
Howard said the breakup of UAB's team has strengthened the bond he has with his former teammates.
''Even though we're separated and we're away from each other, it has helped us become closer because we talk and things, and we're doing things that we might not have gotten a chance to do if we were still at UAB,'' he said.
Such as trying to take down the No. 1 team in the nation.
UAB AT USA
UAB AT USA
The largest contingent of former UAB players landed at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, about a 4-hour drive down I-65 from Birmingham.
Eight ex-Blazers followed former UAB offensive coordinator Bryant Vincent to the Jaguars. Vincent had previously been quarterbacks coach at South Alabama under Joey Jones, and when the UAB program folded, Jones brought him back.
Former Blazers make up about half of South Alabama's starting offense, including quarterback Cody Clements and three receivers.
''We had talked about staying together and keeping the UAB family,'' receiver Josh Magee said.
He added: ''I wish we would have got more guys.''
All those familiar faces helped the transfers acclimate to their new surroundings, though Jones said it was important for team chemistry to get the new and old players better acquainted. That took some time.
''When we found out they were going back to Birmingham (on weekends during the offseason) I talked to some of my players about getting those guys to stay with them and make them feel welcome,'' Jones said.
Receiver D.J. Vinson, a UAB transfer who grew up near Birmingham, said going bowling with his new teammates helped break the ice.
''It took about three or four weeks, but I felt after that point it was really a moot issue,'' Jones said.
For Magee, it was the second time he transferred to South Alabama. He was a walk-on redshirt at Alabama in 2012 and transferred to Jaguars the next year, but never played. He got an NCAA waiver to transfer to UAB and play immediately in 2014 to be closer to his father who was dealing with serious health problems.
Magee was able to give his once and future teammates the lowdown on South Alabama.
''I just kept it real with them,'' Magee said.
For Magee, it was the second time he transferred to South Alabama. He was a walk-on redshirt at Alabama in 2012 and transferred to Jaguars the next year, but never played. He got an NCAA waiver to transfer to UAB and play immediately in 2014 to be closer to his father who was dealing with serious health problems.
Magee was able to give his once and future teammates the lowdown on South Alabama.
''I just kept it real with them,'' Magee said.
Magee, Vinson and fellow UAB transfer Gerald Everett are the top three receivers for the Jaguars (2-2) heading into Saturday's game against Sun Belt Conference and in-state rival Troy, when the receivers will line up against another UAB transfer in defensive back Lamarcus Farmer.
Magee and Vinson said they keep in regular contact with Farmer and several other former UAB teammates, including Howard.
''I sent out a tweet Saturday saying Jordan for Heisman,'' Vinson said.
The UAB players have mixed feelings about what has transpired the last 10 months. Getting the program pulled out from under them was awful, but they feel fortunate to have gotten exciting new opportunities. Seeing the program restored was frustrating, but they were happy for Clark.
UAB went 6-6 last year, its best season in 10 years. When the former Blazers see how well their ex-teammates are doing at other schools, they can't help but believe they would have contended for a Conference USA title this year.
They take solace in knowing their success helped save UAB football.
UAB went 6-6 last year, its best season in 10 years. When the former Blazers see how well their ex-teammates are doing at other schools, they can't help but believe they would have contended for a Conference USA title this year.
They take solace in knowing their success helped save UAB football.
''We know we changed the program,'' Vinson said.
NCAABKB: Court shuts down plan to pay athletes, says NCAA violates antitrust law.
By Jon Solomon
In a significant opinion from the Ed O'Bannon case, the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court's decision that NCAA rules restricting payment to college athletes violate antitrust laws, but also determined that a federal judge erroneously allowed players to be paid up to $5,000 per year in deferred compensation.
The panel vacated US District Judge Claudia Wilken's injunction from August 2014 related to athletes receiving extra compensation for the use of their names, images and likenesses. The Ninth Circuit upheld Wilken's ruling giving schools the choice to give athletes scholarships that cover the full cost of attendance -- money that is currently being applied throughout college sports.
"The NCAA is not above the antitrust laws, and courts cannot and must not shy away from requiring the NCAA to play by the Sherman Act's rules," the three-person panel wrote. "In this case, the NCAA's rules have been more restrictive than necessary to maintain its tradition of amateurism in support of the college sports market. The Rule of Reason requires that the NCAA permit its schools to provide up to the cost of attendance to their student athletes. It does not require more."
The NCAA won a victory by avoiding Wilken's injunction that would have allowed deferred payments to players. But the appellate decision related to antitrust laws could set the stage for the NCAA to attempt to appeal O'Bannon to the Supreme Court. The Ninth Circuit disagreed with the NCAA's interpretation of a 1984 Supreme Court decision that the association has used as a defense for decades in relation to its amateurism rules.
The opinion, written by Judge Jay Bybee, offered support to the NCAA's amateurism principles. “The difference between offering student-athletes education-related compensation and offering them cash sums untethered to educational expenses is not minor; it is a quantum leap,” the opinion stated. “Once that line is crossed, we see no basis for returning to a rule of amateurism and no defined stopping point; we have little doubt that plaintiffs will continue to challenge the arbitrary limit imposed by the district court until they have captured the full value of their (names, images and likenesses). At that point the NCAA will have surrendered its amateurism principles entirely and transitioned from its 'particular brand of football' to minor league status.”
The opinion also stressed “we wish to emphasize the limited scope of the decision that we have reached,” meaning invalidating Wilken's plan to allow NCAA schools to pay athletes up to $5,000. The panel wrote that “in finding that paying students cash compensation would promote amateurism as effectively as not paying them, the district court ignored that not paying student-athletes is precisely what makes them amateurs.”
Chief Judge Sidney Thomas concurred in part and dissented in part with the opinion. He disagreed with the majority's conclusion that Wilken erred in ordering the NCAA to permit up to $5,000 in deferred payment for use of athletes' names, images and likenesses (NILs).
Rutgers law professor Michael Carrier, who has closely followed the case for years, said the O'Bannon plaintiffs got very strong rulings that NCAA amateurism rules are subject to antitrust scrutiny, meaning future challenges of NCAA rules can still exist. The NCAA, meanwhile, got a "strong win" on the issue of NILs that will make it hard for the Shawne Alston and Martin Jenkins lawsuits that seek the allowance of money above cost of attendance for college athletes, Carrier said. The Jenkins case, led by attorney Jeffrey Kessler, wants a free market for football and men's basketball players and has a class certification hearing along with Alston on Thursday before Wilken.
"Not only did the Ninth Circuit strike this down but it did so in a way that makes it hard to see how (if upheld) future attempts to get even more money for students (like in Alston and Jenkins) would be successful," Carrier wrote via email. "If even this deferred $5K doesn't fly, nor would greater amounts that have even less to do with educational expenses."
Steve Berman, the lead attorney for the Alston plaintiffs, said the O'Bannon ruling strengthens his damages case seeking past money for decades of the NCAA restricting cost of attendance payments. "If we get it certified, it will be a slam dunk on damages," Berman said.
The panel vacated US District Judge Claudia Wilken's injunction from August 2014 related to athletes receiving extra compensation for the use of their names, images and likenesses. The Ninth Circuit upheld Wilken's ruling giving schools the choice to give athletes scholarships that cover the full cost of attendance -- money that is currently being applied throughout college sports.
"The NCAA is not above the antitrust laws, and courts cannot and must not shy away from requiring the NCAA to play by the Sherman Act's rules," the three-person panel wrote. "In this case, the NCAA's rules have been more restrictive than necessary to maintain its tradition of amateurism in support of the college sports market. The Rule of Reason requires that the NCAA permit its schools to provide up to the cost of attendance to their student athletes. It does not require more."
The NCAA won a victory by avoiding Wilken's injunction that would have allowed deferred payments to players. But the appellate decision related to antitrust laws could set the stage for the NCAA to attempt to appeal O'Bannon to the Supreme Court. The Ninth Circuit disagreed with the NCAA's interpretation of a 1984 Supreme Court decision that the association has used as a defense for decades in relation to its amateurism rules.
The opinion, written by Judge Jay Bybee, offered support to the NCAA's amateurism principles. “The difference between offering student-athletes education-related compensation and offering them cash sums untethered to educational expenses is not minor; it is a quantum leap,” the opinion stated. “Once that line is crossed, we see no basis for returning to a rule of amateurism and no defined stopping point; we have little doubt that plaintiffs will continue to challenge the arbitrary limit imposed by the district court until they have captured the full value of their (names, images and likenesses). At that point the NCAA will have surrendered its amateurism principles entirely and transitioned from its 'particular brand of football' to minor league status.”
The opinion also stressed “we wish to emphasize the limited scope of the decision that we have reached,” meaning invalidating Wilken's plan to allow NCAA schools to pay athletes up to $5,000. The panel wrote that “in finding that paying students cash compensation would promote amateurism as effectively as not paying them, the district court ignored that not paying student-athletes is precisely what makes them amateurs.”
Chief Judge Sidney Thomas concurred in part and dissented in part with the opinion. He disagreed with the majority's conclusion that Wilken erred in ordering the NCAA to permit up to $5,000 in deferred payment for use of athletes' names, images and likenesses (NILs).
Rutgers law professor Michael Carrier, who has closely followed the case for years, said the O'Bannon plaintiffs got very strong rulings that NCAA amateurism rules are subject to antitrust scrutiny, meaning future challenges of NCAA rules can still exist. The NCAA, meanwhile, got a "strong win" on the issue of NILs that will make it hard for the Shawne Alston and Martin Jenkins lawsuits that seek the allowance of money above cost of attendance for college athletes, Carrier said. The Jenkins case, led by attorney Jeffrey Kessler, wants a free market for football and men's basketball players and has a class certification hearing along with Alston on Thursday before Wilken.
"Not only did the Ninth Circuit strike this down but it did so in a way that makes it hard to see how (if upheld) future attempts to get even more money for students (like in Alston and Jenkins) would be successful," Carrier wrote via email. "If even this deferred $5K doesn't fly, nor would greater amounts that have even less to do with educational expenses."
Steve Berman, the lead attorney for the Alston plaintiffs, said the O'Bannon ruling strengthens his damages case seeking past money for decades of the NCAA restricting cost of attendance payments. "If we get it certified, it will be a slam dunk on damages," Berman said.
Berman said the uncertain question is whether the Alston/Jenkins plaintiffs can force the NCAA to allow compensation above the cost of attendance. Berman cited a footnote from the Ninth Circuit that said “there is little evidence in the record about the impact of $5,000 NIL payments. There is evidence only that small payments will be less harmful than larger payments, and that a single witness would not be as trouble by $5,000 payments.”
Said Berman: "The NCAA is going to say the opinion says you can absolutely not go above cost of attendance. I don't read the opinion that way. We believe we can develop a record that shows payments above cost of attendance will meet that standard. If we can show that consumers are kind of angry about the disparity between what coaches and schools make versus what players make and that action actually enhances consumer demand, I think we can win."
Berman said he and Kessler are "on the same page" to develop a record that shows cash payments are OK. Where they disagree, Berman said, is Kessler wants no rules on how to pay players and Berman wants rules at the conference level that would allow cash payments. Kessler declined to comment Wednesday.
"Our theory is each conference would set its own compensation rules, and as a matter of economics, the conferences would be restrained to the extent they worry paying too much would hurt consumer demand," Berman said.
Panel disagrees with NCAA on Board of Regents
The Ninth Circuit made a significant ruling on what the 1984 NCAA vs. Board of Regents Supreme Court case may mean about NCAA amateurism rules and what can be challenged. The NCAA's appeal relied heavily on a 1984 Supreme Court ruling that the NCAA believes protects amateurism in college sports. The appellate court disagreed with the NCAA's opinion of the 1984 case, which ended the NCAA's monopoly on television broadcasts and had little to do with paying players. The 1984 ruling included language that “athletes must not be paid” and the NCAA has used this defense for decades. “But we are not bound by Board of Regents to conclude that every NCAA rule that somehow relates to amateurism is automatically valid,” the appellate judges wrote. “What is more, even if the language in Board of Regents addressing amateurism were not dicta, it would not support the tremendous weight that the NCAA seeks to place upon it.”
The appellate judges wrote that that they “accept Board of Regents' guidance as informative with respect to the pro competitive purposes served by the NCAA's amateurism rules, but we will go no further than that. The amateurism rules' validity must be proved, not presumed.”
In the opinion, the panel acknowledged that “the Board of Regents Court certainly discussed the NCAA's amateurism rules at great length, but it did not do so in order to pass upon the rules' merits, given that they were not before the Court. Rather, the Court discussed the amateurism rules for a different and particular purpose: to explain why NCAA rules should be analyzed under the Rule of Reason, rather than held to be illegal per se. The point was a significant one.”
The appellate judges wrote that the 1984 Supreme Court case “did not approve the NCAA's amateurism rules as categorically consistent with the Sherman Act. Rather, it held that, because many NCAA rules (among them, the amateurism rules) are part of the ‘character and quality of the [NCAA's] product … no NCAA rule should be invalidated without a Rule of Reason analysis. The Court's long encomium to amateurism, though impressive-sounding, was therefore dicta.”
The opinion could set up an attempt by the NCAA or the O'Bannon plaintiffs to have O'Bannon heard before the Supreme Court. NCAA chief legal officer Donald Remy said it's not clear yet what impact the O'Bannon appellate decision will have on the Kessler and Alston cases.
On a conference call with reporters, NCAA leaders expressed satisfaction with some of the O'Bannon opinion, particularly the elimination of the allowance of $5,000 per year to athletes.
"I think the ruling does provide greater clarity on a number of fronts," NCAA president Mark Emmert said. "… The fundamental notion of pay for play, as it's often referred to, is at odds with the notion of amateurism and at odds with the fundamental underpinnings of collegiate athletics. The ruling has those statements in there in pretty direct language. I hope that will, in some ways limit some of the legal arguments that are being made.”
Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said the decision "provides some level of uncertainty but also a welcome level of certainty. I think it's the affirmation of our belief that these are students and this is an educational enterprise. Even though it has some elements that look like business, these are not employees, these are students."
Remy said it's too soon to determine if the NCAA will try to appeal portions of the Ninth Circuit's decision to the Supreme Court or seek an en banc review before all of the Ninth Circuit's judges instead of a panel. NCAA attorney Seth Waxman said the O'Bannon ruling creates “flat conflict” with decisions in other circuits and strengthens the NCAA's possible bid for a Supreme Court review.
Waxman noted that the Ninth Circuit acknowledged that it was creating a circuit split with the Seventh Circuit over the 1984 Board of Regents ruling in Agnew v. NCAA. That case involved former college football players challenging the NCAA's rules on prohibiting multi-year scholarships and capping the number per team. The Ninth Circuit opinion stated that only the Seventh Circuit "comes close to agreeing with the NCAA's interpretation of Board of Regents, and we find it unpersuasive."
O'Bannon attorney Michael Hausfeld said he was "thrilled" with the decision and has no interest appealing to the Supreme Court. He noted that it was Wilken's idea to allow $5,000 per year to players, not O'Bannon's.
"I think this is an even worse position than the NCAA has been in," Hausfeld said. "Remember, the court did not strike down the unlawfulness of the regulation. They just said the relief wasn't necessarily a less-restrictive restraint. So is there other relief? Now they've opened it up to us to propose reforms of relief. This opinion shakes up the entirety of the relationship that the NCAA has had with the athletes. They can no longer exercise economic dominion over athletes' values. it clearly underscores the responsibility of the schools and the association to make sure athletic participation does not diminish academic success."
Hausfeld is also the attorney in the Rashanda McCants lawsuit against the NCAA and North Carolina over the academic fraud scandal at UNC. Hausfeld said the O'Bannon ruling will help him in McCants.
"In McCants, the NCAA says they have no obligation to academics," Hausfeld said. "This court says that's your very reason for existing."
Elsewhere in the Ninth Circuit's opinion
* Two of the three judges disagreed with an expert for O'Bannon who showed the public continued to watch baseball despite opinion surveys opposing rising baseball salaries, and the public still watched the Olympics with professional athletes. “But professional baseball and the Olympics are not fit analogs to college sports,” the panel wrote. “The Olympics have not been nearly as transformed by the introduction of professionalism as college sports would be.”
The lack of a strong rebuttal study by the O'Bannon plaintiffs was cited during the trial and may have played a role in the decision. The consumer demand language by the Ninth Circuit could impact the Kessler case, which would need to show consumer demand wouldn't be impacted by athletes getting paid in a free market.
* Two of the three judges wrote that an “offhand comment” by former CBS Sports president Neal Pilson appears to be the only reason for Wilken's $5,000 figure. At the O'Bannon trial, Pilson was asked under cross-examination whether there was a line that should not be crossed in paying players, and eventually commented that “a million dollars would trouble me and $5,000 wouldn't, but that's a pretty good range.”
However, the majority opinion determined Pilson made clear he was not prepared to give an opinion on whether pure cash compensation would affect amateurism and his “casual comment” is not enough to reach Wilken's “far-reaching conclusion” that paying athletes $5,000 per year will be as effective at preserving amateurism as the NCAA's current policy. Thomas, the chief judge, said Pilson was a credible expert for the NCAA whose comments supported the O'Bannon plaintiffs' position.
* Thomas disagreed with the majority opinion that courts should determine the difference between amateur and professional sports. “It is a line for consumers to draw,” he wrote. “If consumers believe that paying college football players $5,000 to be held in trust for use of their (names, images and likenesses) will convert college football into professional football, and as a consequence they stop watching college football, then the proposed alternative will not be virtually as effective as the current rule.” Thomas wrote that the idea that "'if you're paid for performance, you're not an amateur' ... does not reflect consumer behavior."
* The appellate court rejected the NCAA's argument that its rules preventing compensation aren't subject to antitrust law. “The NCAA's argument that its compensation rules are ‘eligibility' restrictions, rather than substantive restrictions on the price terms of recruiting agreements, is but a sleight of hand,” the panel wrote. “There is real money at issue here.”
* The Ninth Circuit disagreed with the NCAA's argument that its rules preventing athletes from being paid makes college sports more attractive to recruits. “Nothing in the plaintiffs' prayer for compensation would make student-athletes something other than students and thereby impair their ability to become student-athletes,” the panel wrote. “Indeed, if anything, loosening or abandoning the compensation rules might be the best way to ‘widen' recruits' range of choices; athletes might well be more likely to attend college, and stay there longer, if they knew that they were earning some sort of (names, images and likenesses) income while they were in school.”
* The panel agreed with Wilken's conclusion that the NCAA's commitment to amateurism is a “concrete” procompetitive effect and increases college sports' appeal to consumers.
* The panel agreed that the O'Bannon plaintiffs showed they were injured for not being able to get paid for appearing in video games. But they judges said they did not tackle the “thornier questions” of whether athletes on live TV broadcasts have enforceable rights of publicity.
Said Berman: "The NCAA is going to say the opinion says you can absolutely not go above cost of attendance. I don't read the opinion that way. We believe we can develop a record that shows payments above cost of attendance will meet that standard. If we can show that consumers are kind of angry about the disparity between what coaches and schools make versus what players make and that action actually enhances consumer demand, I think we can win."
Berman said he and Kessler are "on the same page" to develop a record that shows cash payments are OK. Where they disagree, Berman said, is Kessler wants no rules on how to pay players and Berman wants rules at the conference level that would allow cash payments. Kessler declined to comment Wednesday.
"Our theory is each conference would set its own compensation rules, and as a matter of economics, the conferences would be restrained to the extent they worry paying too much would hurt consumer demand," Berman said.
Panel disagrees with NCAA on Board of Regents
The Ninth Circuit made a significant ruling on what the 1984 NCAA vs. Board of Regents Supreme Court case may mean about NCAA amateurism rules and what can be challenged. The NCAA's appeal relied heavily on a 1984 Supreme Court ruling that the NCAA believes protects amateurism in college sports. The appellate court disagreed with the NCAA's opinion of the 1984 case, which ended the NCAA's monopoly on television broadcasts and had little to do with paying players. The 1984 ruling included language that “athletes must not be paid” and the NCAA has used this defense for decades. “But we are not bound by Board of Regents to conclude that every NCAA rule that somehow relates to amateurism is automatically valid,” the appellate judges wrote. “What is more, even if the language in Board of Regents addressing amateurism were not dicta, it would not support the tremendous weight that the NCAA seeks to place upon it.”
The appellate judges wrote that that they “accept Board of Regents' guidance as informative with respect to the pro competitive purposes served by the NCAA's amateurism rules, but we will go no further than that. The amateurism rules' validity must be proved, not presumed.”
In the opinion, the panel acknowledged that “the Board of Regents Court certainly discussed the NCAA's amateurism rules at great length, but it did not do so in order to pass upon the rules' merits, given that they were not before the Court. Rather, the Court discussed the amateurism rules for a different and particular purpose: to explain why NCAA rules should be analyzed under the Rule of Reason, rather than held to be illegal per se. The point was a significant one.”
The appellate judges wrote that the 1984 Supreme Court case “did not approve the NCAA's amateurism rules as categorically consistent with the Sherman Act. Rather, it held that, because many NCAA rules (among them, the amateurism rules) are part of the ‘character and quality of the [NCAA's] product … no NCAA rule should be invalidated without a Rule of Reason analysis. The Court's long encomium to amateurism, though impressive-sounding, was therefore dicta.”
The opinion could set up an attempt by the NCAA or the O'Bannon plaintiffs to have O'Bannon heard before the Supreme Court. NCAA chief legal officer Donald Remy said it's not clear yet what impact the O'Bannon appellate decision will have on the Kessler and Alston cases.
On a conference call with reporters, NCAA leaders expressed satisfaction with some of the O'Bannon opinion, particularly the elimination of the allowance of $5,000 per year to athletes.
"I think the ruling does provide greater clarity on a number of fronts," NCAA president Mark Emmert said. "… The fundamental notion of pay for play, as it's often referred to, is at odds with the notion of amateurism and at odds with the fundamental underpinnings of collegiate athletics. The ruling has those statements in there in pretty direct language. I hope that will, in some ways limit some of the legal arguments that are being made.”
Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said the decision "provides some level of uncertainty but also a welcome level of certainty. I think it's the affirmation of our belief that these are students and this is an educational enterprise. Even though it has some elements that look like business, these are not employees, these are students."
Remy said it's too soon to determine if the NCAA will try to appeal portions of the Ninth Circuit's decision to the Supreme Court or seek an en banc review before all of the Ninth Circuit's judges instead of a panel. NCAA attorney Seth Waxman said the O'Bannon ruling creates “flat conflict” with decisions in other circuits and strengthens the NCAA's possible bid for a Supreme Court review.
Waxman noted that the Ninth Circuit acknowledged that it was creating a circuit split with the Seventh Circuit over the 1984 Board of Regents ruling in Agnew v. NCAA. That case involved former college football players challenging the NCAA's rules on prohibiting multi-year scholarships and capping the number per team. The Ninth Circuit opinion stated that only the Seventh Circuit "comes close to agreeing with the NCAA's interpretation of Board of Regents, and we find it unpersuasive."
O'Bannon attorney Michael Hausfeld said he was "thrilled" with the decision and has no interest appealing to the Supreme Court. He noted that it was Wilken's idea to allow $5,000 per year to players, not O'Bannon's.
"I think this is an even worse position than the NCAA has been in," Hausfeld said. "Remember, the court did not strike down the unlawfulness of the regulation. They just said the relief wasn't necessarily a less-restrictive restraint. So is there other relief? Now they've opened it up to us to propose reforms of relief. This opinion shakes up the entirety of the relationship that the NCAA has had with the athletes. They can no longer exercise economic dominion over athletes' values. it clearly underscores the responsibility of the schools and the association to make sure athletic participation does not diminish academic success."
Hausfeld is also the attorney in the Rashanda McCants lawsuit against the NCAA and North Carolina over the academic fraud scandal at UNC. Hausfeld said the O'Bannon ruling will help him in McCants.
"In McCants, the NCAA says they have no obligation to academics," Hausfeld said. "This court says that's your very reason for existing."
Elsewhere in the Ninth Circuit's opinion
* Two of the three judges disagreed with an expert for O'Bannon who showed the public continued to watch baseball despite opinion surveys opposing rising baseball salaries, and the public still watched the Olympics with professional athletes. “But professional baseball and the Olympics are not fit analogs to college sports,” the panel wrote. “The Olympics have not been nearly as transformed by the introduction of professionalism as college sports would be.”
The lack of a strong rebuttal study by the O'Bannon plaintiffs was cited during the trial and may have played a role in the decision. The consumer demand language by the Ninth Circuit could impact the Kessler case, which would need to show consumer demand wouldn't be impacted by athletes getting paid in a free market.
* Two of the three judges wrote that an “offhand comment” by former CBS Sports president Neal Pilson appears to be the only reason for Wilken's $5,000 figure. At the O'Bannon trial, Pilson was asked under cross-examination whether there was a line that should not be crossed in paying players, and eventually commented that “a million dollars would trouble me and $5,000 wouldn't, but that's a pretty good range.”
However, the majority opinion determined Pilson made clear he was not prepared to give an opinion on whether pure cash compensation would affect amateurism and his “casual comment” is not enough to reach Wilken's “far-reaching conclusion” that paying athletes $5,000 per year will be as effective at preserving amateurism as the NCAA's current policy. Thomas, the chief judge, said Pilson was a credible expert for the NCAA whose comments supported the O'Bannon plaintiffs' position.
* Thomas disagreed with the majority opinion that courts should determine the difference between amateur and professional sports. “It is a line for consumers to draw,” he wrote. “If consumers believe that paying college football players $5,000 to be held in trust for use of their (names, images and likenesses) will convert college football into professional football, and as a consequence they stop watching college football, then the proposed alternative will not be virtually as effective as the current rule.” Thomas wrote that the idea that "'if you're paid for performance, you're not an amateur' ... does not reflect consumer behavior."
* The appellate court rejected the NCAA's argument that its rules preventing compensation aren't subject to antitrust law. “The NCAA's argument that its compensation rules are ‘eligibility' restrictions, rather than substantive restrictions on the price terms of recruiting agreements, is but a sleight of hand,” the panel wrote. “There is real money at issue here.”
* The Ninth Circuit disagreed with the NCAA's argument that its rules preventing athletes from being paid makes college sports more attractive to recruits. “Nothing in the plaintiffs' prayer for compensation would make student-athletes something other than students and thereby impair their ability to become student-athletes,” the panel wrote. “Indeed, if anything, loosening or abandoning the compensation rules might be the best way to ‘widen' recruits' range of choices; athletes might well be more likely to attend college, and stay there longer, if they knew that they were earning some sort of (names, images and likenesses) income while they were in school.”
* The panel agreed with Wilken's conclusion that the NCAA's commitment to amateurism is a “concrete” procompetitive effect and increases college sports' appeal to consumers.
* The panel agreed that the O'Bannon plaintiffs showed they were injured for not being able to get paid for appearing in video games. But they judges said they did not tackle the “thornier questions” of whether athletes on live TV broadcasts have enforceable rights of publicity.
Cubs fan starts GoFundMe campaign to send Steve Bartman to wild-card game. What's Your Take?
By Tony Andracki
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
Of course.
A true Steve Bartman reference was the only thing this magical Cubs season was missing.
With Kobayashi eating a goat to try to help reverse the curse, now a Cubs fan wants to try to atone for all the Bartman hate from 12 years ago.
Keque Escobedo wants to raise money for Bartman to get to the National League wild-card game next Wednesday (likely in Pittsburgh).
Here is what Escobedo describes:
Lifelong Cubs fan wants to make amends for 2003, lets make it happen. First we need to find him to get him to the big game. If anyone knows where he is at, tell him we are looking for him. The money would pay for his expenses including his ticket, hotel room, flights and a little spending money.
If he cannot be found by time of the big game all the proceeds raised will be donated to the Alzheimer's Association.
First off, good move at the end to throw in the qualifier of "if he cannot be found by time of the big game." That's a very real possibility.
There's a reason Bartman hasn't shown his face in over a decade. A lot of Cubs fans made his life absolutely miserable in 2003 after that fateful foul ball.
I highly doubt Bartman would ever accept this offer by Cubs fans, but it's a valiant attempt from Escobedo, nonetheless.
There's a reason Bartman hasn't shown his face in over a decade. A lot of Cubs fans made his life absolutely miserable in 2003 after that fateful foul ball.
I highly doubt Bartman would ever accept this offer by Cubs fans, but it's a valiant attempt from Escobedo, nonetheless.
My favorite part of all this:
Classic.
Chicago Sports & Travel, Inc./AllsportsAmerica Take: It's a shame that this poor Cubs fan was blamed because the Cubs didn't advance in the playoffs in 2003. He didn't pitch a game, (Woods and Prior lost games #6 and #7 when the Cubs were up in the series 3-2), he didn't boot a game winning routine out, (Shortstop Gonzales did), and he didn't interfere with Moises Alou catching the ball for an out. He was the scapegoat for piss poor Cubs play. His life was ruined, he received many threats on his life and had to move out of state. Horrific just horrific and now someone would like to make amends by sending him to a wildcard game in Pittsburgh. Brother, you're a few years late and a few dollars short. At this point, I can't imagine what would be acceptable to repair the damage this diehard Cubs fan has gone through and all unjustly.
Do yourselves a favor and leave this poor guy alone. He's had many offers to capitalize on his notoriety and refuses to do so, he just would like to be left alone. His life has been disrupted so let him be. I can't say for sure but he's probably still a diehard Cubs fan. Anyway, we wish him the best ., whatever he is doing now. Just leave the guy alone.
As usual, you now know what we think and how we feel. We'd love to hear your thoughts and what's your take? Please go to the comments section at the bottom of this blog and share your opinion with us. We look forward to hearing from you as we really value thoughts.
The Chicago Sports & Travel, Inc./AllsportsAmerica Editorial Staff.
Memoriesofhistory.com
1908 - Addie Joss (Cleveland Indians) pitched the fourth perfect game in major league baseball history.
1920 - The Cincinnati Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates played the only triple-header in baseball history. The Reds won 2 of the 3 games.
1947 - The Federatino Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) formally established Formula One racing in Grand Prix competition.
1948 - The first automobile race to use asphalt, cement and dirt roads took place in Watkins Glen in New York. It was the first road race in the U.S. following World War II.
1996 - Mark Fuhrman was given three years' probation and fined $200 after he pled no contest to perjury at O.J. Simpson's trial.
1920 - The Cincinnati Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates played the only triple-header in baseball history. The Reds won 2 of the 3 games.
1947 - The Federatino Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) formally established Formula One racing in Grand Prix competition.
1948 - The first automobile race to use asphalt, cement and dirt roads took place in Watkins Glen in New York. It was the first road race in the U.S. following World War II.
1996 - Mark Fuhrman was given three years' probation and fined $200 after he pled no contest to perjury at O.J. Simpson's trial.
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