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"Success is almost totally dependent upon drive and persistence. The extra energy required to make another effort or try another approach is the secret of winning." ~ Denis Waitley, Motivational Speaker, Writer, Consultant and Author
Trending: Toews scores in OT as Blackhawks beat Sharks 4-3. (See hockey section for Blackhawks updates).
Trending: Players, not coaches, at fault of core problems in loss. (See the football section for Bears updates).
Trending: Cubs-Cardinals rivalry will keep escalating in 2016. (See the baseball section for Cubs updates).
NFL Scoreboard, Sunday, 12/20/2015.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 23
St. Louis Rams 31
New York Jets 19
Dallas Cowboys 16
Chicago Bears 17
Minnesota Vikings 38
Atlanta Falcons 23
Jacksonville Jaguars 17
Houston Texans 16
Indianapolis Colts 10
Carolina Panthers 38
New York Giants 35
Tennessee Titans 16
New England Patriots 33
Buffalo Bills 25
Washington Redskins 35
Kansas City Chiefs 34
Baltimore Ravens 14
Cleveland Browns 13
Seattle Seahawks 30
Green Bay Packers 30
Oakland Raiders 20
Denver Broncos 27
Pittsburgh Steelers 34
Miami Dolphins 14
San Diego Chargers 30
Cincinnati Bengals 24
San Francisco 49ers 14
Arizona Cardinals 40
Philadelphia Eagles 17
Detroit Lions Monday night's game
New Orleans Saints 12/21/2015
Red denotes winning teams
Red denotes winning teams
Bear Down Chicago Bears!!!!! Teddy Bridgewater scores five touchdowns as Vikings fly by Bears.
By David La Vaque
Improved effort has been noticed despite a 5-8 record entering Sunday's game. But a lack of execution could not be overcome. The willing but unable Bears, who dropped to 5-9 with the loss, were swept by Minnesota (9-5) for the first time since 2007.
The teams’ passing offenses were stark contrasts. Jay Cutler endured five sacks, completed 26-of-37 passes for 231 yards and two touchdowns and threw a short interception to a defensive lineman. Cutler’s counterpart, Teddy Bridgewater, tallied 231 yards on 17-for-20 passing, a career-high four touchdown throws and a rushing touchdown.
Cutler capped the Bears’ lone touchdown drive with a 10-yard scoring pass to Alshon Jeffery. An injury to cornerback Xavier Rhodes, who rendered Jeffery ineffective much of the first half, provided an opportunity the Bears did not miss.
Two plays after Rhodes limped off the field, Cutler zipped career touchdown pass No. 200 into Jeffery’s hands.
The play cut Minnesota’s lead to 10-7 with 5:40 to play the second quarter.
Injury seemed to favor the Bears again on the Vikings’ next drive. Running back Adrian Peterson, who entered the game as the NFL’s leading rusher this season, went off with an ankle injury.
But the Bears’ defense surrendered receptions of 34 and 17 yards, the latter good for Jerick McKinnon’s first NFL touchdown,
The Bears trailed 17-7 at halftime. They were out-gained by the Vikings 207-96.
Their hopes to cut the lead faded as they produced a turnover rather than a touchdown to start the third quarter.
A strip sack of Cutler gave Minnesota the ball at its 45-yard line. The drive ended with a touchdown pass from Bridgewater to Stefon Diggs for a 24-7 lead. Diggs most recent scoring reception came Nov. 1 at Chicago.
Cutler and Bridgewater capped their contrasting afternoons with telling fourth-quarter plays. Cutler threw a short interception to defensive lineman Justin Trattou, and Bridgewater ended the ensuing Vikings’ drive with a 12-yard touchdown run.
Each added a fourth-quarter touchdown pass, with Cutler finding Matt Forte for a score and Bridgewater throwing a touchdown pass to Zach Line in the game's final minutes.
Players, not coaches, at fault of core problems in loss.
By John Mullin
Coaches will be hit with blame for poor starts (which the Bears have done nearly all season) and sloppy play (everywhere on Sunday). The core problems of the Bears’ 38-17 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, however, belongs squarely at the feet of players on offense and defense in particular whose failed execution doomed the organization to another year eliminated from the playoffs.
“It’s about individual plays when it’s one on one,” said linebacker Pernell McPhee, “making plays when it’s time to make plays.”
As has been the case through much of this season, players were frequently in positions to make plays and just did not. Plays on offense were blocked and then undone by an individual breakdown or penalty. Defensively, receivers and backs rarely were running wide open (a common sign of schematic breakdowns) but Bears defensive players were consistently slow to react, a step behind breaking on balls and in coverage, with the result that they were constantly chasing Vikings and rarely catching them.
The case of wide receiver Stefon Diggs running by two Bears defenders on the way to getting open on his way to his 33-yard TD reception in the third quarter was a case study. Diggs ran by a linebacker and defensive back to make an uncontested catch and then pick his way through the rest of the defense for the score.
“We did not execute, since one of their leading receivers went unnoticed across the whole field,” said coach John Fox, adding pointedly, “It is not by design.”
The special-teams unit under coordinator Jeff Rodgers was the exception, blocking precisely to spring Deonte Thompson for a 49-yard return on the opening kickoff, executing and recovering an onside kick to start the second half and covering three of Pat O’Donnell’s four punts inside the Minnesota 20.
The idea of an onside kick, recovered by Sherrick McManis, to start the second half was the sort of bold stroke both worth taking strategically and as a chance to ignite the offense after an abysmal 96 yards in the first half. But the gambit was wasted when the offense gave up the ball on a strip-sack and the Vikings turned the takeaway into seven points.
But the near-constant inability of the Bears to start a game with fire and execution either offensively or defensively has become a chronic condition, which obviously traces to poor jobs by players, but reached the point Sunday of being systemic. It is simply what the Bears do.
“We have not lost three in a row all season long,” Fox said. “It does a little to thwart your confidence. But we are all professionals. We will get this out of our system and get ready for Tampa Bay.”
Bears tumble to new lows, into an abyss, in loss to Vikings.
By John Mullin
(Photo/mycubstoday.com)
About this time a year ago the Bears were leaving TCF Bank Stadium having lost 13-9 to the Minnesota Vikings, failing a final time under Marc Trestman and leaving questions as to whether Trestman, GM Phil Emery or team president Ted Phillips - or some combination thereof - might be relieved of their duties (Phillips was not).
Coach, general manager and president didn’t leave TCF this time in any job jeopardy. But few Bears (5-9) likely could say the same after the embarrassing 38-17 loss to the Minnesota Vikings (9-5) that finally extinguished the playoff thoughts the Bears have all but snuffed out the past two Sundays.
In something befitting BizzaroWorld, the team that slunk out of Minneapolis last year played a better football game than the one that left late Sunday afternoon. This one has lost four of its last five, this game by more points (21) than the combined margins (17) of all five losses since seemingly righting themselves after the 0-3 start to the season.
“Other teams are wanting it more than we do, and that’s the end of the story,” said linebacker Pernell McPhee. “When you want something, you go and take it. Right now, everybody’s not trying to take it; everybody’s just trying to fill it out.
“Me and everybody else has just got to look in the mirror and point at ourselves. We can’t point at each other. What can we have done better to help our team win. That’s what it all about.”
The Bears were in search of an identity for much of the early season. They thought they’d established one as fighters and finishers after the rebound wins over Oakland and Kansas City. Those have become hollow, distant echoes, the exceptions rather than the rules.
Coach, general manager and president didn’t leave TCF this time in any job jeopardy. But few Bears (5-9) likely could say the same after the embarrassing 38-17 loss to the Minnesota Vikings (9-5) that finally extinguished the playoff thoughts the Bears have all but snuffed out the past two Sundays.
In something befitting BizzaroWorld, the team that slunk out of Minneapolis last year played a better football game than the one that left late Sunday afternoon. This one has lost four of its last five, this game by more points (21) than the combined margins (17) of all five losses since seemingly righting themselves after the 0-3 start to the season.
“Other teams are wanting it more than we do, and that’s the end of the story,” said linebacker Pernell McPhee. “When you want something, you go and take it. Right now, everybody’s not trying to take it; everybody’s just trying to fill it out.
“Me and everybody else has just got to look in the mirror and point at ourselves. We can’t point at each other. What can we have done better to help our team win. That’s what it all about.”
The Bears were in search of an identity for much of the early season. They thought they’d established one as fighters and finishers after the rebound wins over Oakland and Kansas City. Those have become hollow, distant echoes, the exceptions rather than the rules.
The Bears have on an almost weekly basis in John Fox’s first year to be a team few would confuse with fighters or finishers, or even an average football team at this point.
Their identity now?
“We’re going to find out,” said quarterback Jay Cutler, “We're going to find out. We’re going to find out where we’re at with two games left. We’ll find out who in that locker room has character and wants to finish and who doesn’t.”
Sunday's catastrophe may have answered some of those "find outs," and the answers were ominous. Players already had pegged the last four games as a collective test of character; the Washington loss was one, this was another.
This loss was one thing; the Vikings right now are a better football team than the Bears. It was the manner of the loss, the things that a seemingly demoralized team did and didn’t do after the stunning losses to San Francisco and Washington.
In another in a string of these kinds of games, the Bears destroyed themselves, this time taking what was left of their season with it.
Three times the Bears had chances this season to reach .500 and position themselves for a genuine playoff push. All three times they lost. Sunday was a situation in which the Bears could not be eliminated from the playoffs if they won the game; they did not.
For all of the progress shown by Jay Cutler, the game marked the 12th time in 14 games the offense has been unable to score more than 23 points. The defense has been unable to prevent demoralizing long opening touchdowns in six of the last nine games.
The offense had the football at midfield to start the first and third quarters by virtue of exceptional special teams plays: a 49-yard return of the opening kickoff, a recovered surprise onside kick for the second. Both those possessions were undone by sacks, with a holding penalty on center Hroniss Grasu nullifying a 35-yard run by Matt Forte on the Bears’ first snap of the game; somehow fitting.
That missed chance to wrest momentum from the outset was exceeded in the third quarter when right tackle Kyle Long was beaten on a straight rush by defensive end Brian Robison, whose strip-sack of Jay Cutler cost the Bears the football and yet another platinum opportunity to do more than just play out the string, in a game or this season.
If there were a need to choose two possessions emblematic of the 2015 seasons, start with those.
A familiar and deadly pattern began almost immediately Sunday in what has become something of a defensive template for Bears failures as this season has wound down: the inability to stop numbing, morale-sapping long drives on opponents’ first possessions.
Besides surrendering a touchdown after the lost fumble to start the half – which combined with the squandered field position to put the Bears down 24-7 instead of perhaps standing 17-14 – the defense allowed the Vikings methodically, almost effortlessly, to go 93 yards in 13 plays for their first touchdown.
That made the Vikings the sixth Bears opponent in the last nine to drive at least 68 yards on their first possession for a touchdown. They also became the 11th of the Bears’ 14 opponents to outscore them in the first quarter, with the Bears 3-8 in those games and now very much a team not good enough, or tough enough mentally or physically, to take the game back.
“It doesn’t matter who we were going to play today,” Cutler said. “We weren’t going to win with our offensive football.”
Cutler need not have limited himself only to the offense.
How 'bout them Chicago Blackhawks? Blackhawks' Jonathan Toews nets game-winning OT goal vs. Sharks.
By Tracey Myers
And instead of talking about that mantra on Sunday night, the Blackhawks practiced it.
Patrick Kane scored his 21st goal of the season and Jonathan Toews recorded the overtime winner as the Blackhawks beat the San Jose Sharks 4-3 at the United Center. The Blackhawks have now won seven of their last nine and remain in third place in the Central Division entering Tuesday night’s game against the first-place Dallas Stars.
One player who won’t be headed to Dallas is Marian Hossa. The right wing missed Sunday’s game with an upper-body injury and coach Joel Quenneville said Hossa will hopefully be back for the Blackhawks’ Dec. 27 game against the Carolina Hurricanes. Quenneville said that Hossa’s injury “isn’t serious at all.” Given the upcoming break, it’s just more a good chance to let Hossa rest.
Corey Crawford, who Quenneville picked to start both games this weekend, stopped 33 of 36 for the victory.
Artem Anisimov scored his 12th of the season, which snapped an eight-game point-less streak for the center. Andrew Shaw added his sixth of the season. What do those two goals, as well as Kane’s and Toews’ have in common? They all came from about five feet within the Sharks’ net.
“There are some chances at both ends,” Quenneville said. “They go to the net hard and traffic at our net, but we need to be more assertive when we go to the net, knowing that’s where the rewards are.”
And for Toews, overtime continues to be aboon. Sunday marked Toews’ third overtime winner of the season.
“You have to be smart, pick your spots and take advantage of the opportunities you get,” Toews said. “Tonight was one of those scenarios where we were able to catch them tired and maybe changing and I think we did a pretty good job of managing that and making sure we have fresh guys on the ice maintaining puck possession even though we might not be attacking with it.”
Crawford did the rest, making some of his biggest stops in the third period when the Sharks outshot the Blackhawks 11-5. Crawford said starting back-to-backs was fine with him – “It’s almost like you don’t lose it at all, playing again that quick,” he said.
“Obviously it was a tough way to start on the first shot, I got deked out of my jock,” Crawford said of Joonas Donskoi’s early goal. “But I stuck with it. I was seeing pucks pretty well. That team has been pretty streaky this year but when they’re playing hard, they’re a tough team to beat. That was a really good hockey game tonight.”
The Blackhawks have been playing pretty good hockey lately. They’re getting great goaltending from Crawford. They’re getting more scoring from everyone. And on Sunday they got the kinds of goals they’ll need the rest of the way.
“I mean, it shows when you get in those dirty areas you find those goals,” Shaw said. “They’re tough to come by. You have to work hard and get dirty once in a while.”
Patrick Kane tallies shootout winner in return to Buffalo. (Saturday night's game, 12/19/2015.
By Tracey Myers
(Photo/Gary Wiepert/The Associated Press)
The boos Patrick Kane heard from the hometown crowd when he had the puck at times were a bit surprising, but Kane didn’t mind.
“I’ve been at a lot of games in this building when I was a younger kid. I remember them booing Eric Lindros when he was on Philly. He got thrown out of the game with 10 minutes left and it wasn’t fun anymore to watch the game because no one was booing him,” Kane said.
By the end of Saturday afternoon’s game, Buffalo Sabres fans had even more reason to boo Kane.
Kane scored the tying goal on a 6-on-3 power play with 33.5 seconds remaining in regulation, then scored the shootout winner in the Blackhawks’ 3-2 victory over the Sabres. The Blackhawks have now won four of their last five games.
Corey Crawford stopped 26 of 28 shots in overtime and regulation, and all three of the Sabres’ shootout attempts, for the victory. Dennis Rasmussen scored his third goal of the season.
For Kane, it was a successful return home.
“Yeah, it was exciting,” he said. “We made it a little tough on ourselves to make it come down to the end there. Didn’t have a power play all game and we got two there at the end. It was nice that we took advantage of it. Great pass by the Bread Man [Artemi Panarin] there and nice to finish it off and tie it up; but [it was] definitely a special ending.”
It wasn’t looking like the Blackhawks would get any points out of this one. It wasn’t their best game, as they were quiet after Rasmussen gave them a 1-0 lead 6:04 into the game. Ryan O’Reilly scored with 3:20 remaining in regulation and the Blackhawks took a 2-1 lead into the waning minutes.
Then things got weird. Josh Gorges tripped Kane and Rasmus Ristolainen was called for high-sticking with 3:33 remaining in regulation, giving the Blackhawks a 5-on-3. Crawford came off with about a minute remaining in the game to give the Blackhawks the rare 6-on-3. And with just one second left on the advantage, Kane took the pass from Panarin and scored.
“[Coach Joel Quenneville] was signaling me to be ready so I guess he figured if we had nothing going in the first minute there, then he would take me out,” Crawford said. “Good patience by Arty there in front of the net to get it to Kaner. He doesn’t miss too many of those in the open net.”
Quenneville admitted it was a risk to pull Crawford on the 5-on-3 – the Sabres just missed an empty-net opportunity wide once he left. But the risk paid off.
“You’re down a goal, not a lot was happening in that first minute. It’s nothing you ever practice, let’s put it that way,” Quenneville said. “We don’t practice 6-on-3 but I liked the guys we had on the ice.”
No, it wasn’t the way the Blackhawks would’ve drawn this one up. They’ll take the way it ended. So will Kane, boos included.
“I’m on the road team, they’re cheering for the Sabres. Nothing you don’t expect,” he said. “And sometimes that stuff kind of gets you into the game a little more, too.”
Patrick Kane makes history in Blackhawks win over Sabres.
By C. Roumeliotis
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
Patrick Kane came through when the Blackhawks needed him most, as he often does, in a 3-2 shootout win over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon.
Before sealing the victory with the lone shootout goal, Kane scored the game-tying goal on a 6-on-3 power play with 33.5 seconds remaining in regulation, becoming the first American-born player in NHL history to score 20-plus goals in each of his first nine seasons, per CSN's Christopher Kamka.
Only three other active players have accomplished that feat: Jaromir Jagr, Alex Ovechkin and Thomas Vanek.
Kane also scored his 225th career goal, tying Doug Wilson for 14th all-time in franchise history. Eric Daze is next on the list with 226 goals.
And if you're keeping track, Kane has picked up a point in each of his last two games after his 26-game point streak was snapped on Tuesday. Just 24 more to go!
Just Another Chicago Bulls Session... Brooklyn Nets-Chicago Bulls Preview.
Before sealing the victory with the lone shootout goal, Kane scored the game-tying goal on a 6-on-3 power play with 33.5 seconds remaining in regulation, becoming the first American-born player in NHL history to score 20-plus goals in each of his first nine seasons, per CSN's Christopher Kamka.
Only three other active players have accomplished that feat: Jaromir Jagr, Alex Ovechkin and Thomas Vanek.
Kane also scored his 225th career goal, tying Doug Wilson for 14th all-time in franchise history. Eric Daze is next on the list with 226 goals.
And if you're keeping track, Kane has picked up a point in each of his last two games after his 26-game point streak was snapped on Tuesday. Just 24 more to go!
Just Another Chicago Bulls Session... Brooklyn Nets-Chicago Bulls Preview.
By TAYLOR BECHTOLD
After his predecessor was criticized for pushing the Chicago Bulls too hard, Fred Hoiberg was supposed to provide a player-friendly atmosphere while opening up the offense.
Jimmy Butler seemed to be longing for the old days under hard-driving Tom Thibodeau when he directed some critical comments in the direction of his new coach.
Following back-to-back frustrating losses, the Bulls hope to pull together and avoid matching their longest skid Monday night by dealing the Brooklyn Nets a ninth straight road defeat.
As Jimmy Butler finds his voice, time for Fred Hoiberg to do the same.
By Vincent Goodwill
Jimmy Butler’s postgame comments about Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg will be met with some shock and likely some criticism for how it came out.
But it indicates Butler is ready to take on a different role for the franchise, one that could be necessary in the coming years.
"I believe in the guys in this locker room, yeah," Butler said to reporters in New York after the Bulls’ loss to the Knicks on Saturday night. "But I also believe that we probably have to be coached a lot harder at times. I'm sorry, I know Fred's a laid-back guy, and I really respect him for that, but when guys aren't doing what they're supposed to do, you got to get on guys, myself included. You got to do what you're supposed to do when you're out there playing basketball."
Did he say Hoiberg couldn’t coach or the franchise made a mistake with his hiring? No, he didn’t.
He also wasn't campaigning for management to bring back Tom Thibodeau and all the drama that came with it.
Butler isn’t a player who’s been coddled or someone who was projected as a star at every turn. He’s turned into a max player because he poked and prodded at his limits while being poked and prodded by influential figures who brought out the best in him at that time (Buzz Williams at Marquette, Thibodeau in Chicago).
He’s a worker, a grinder in every sense.
Butler is a great player, and great players at every level of sport want to be coached. They know they don’t know everything, and there are times when the effort or concentration isn’t up to par.
Great players don’t mind being held to that standard, even through gritted teeth and rolled eyes, because of what’s waiting on the back end of that foul language.
This doesn’t look like a max player who’s now feeling himself deciding to make it known he’s the new sheriff in town, as some will make it appear to be.
Fans have longed for a player of his caliber to show the emotional investment to the results in the way they do with their pocketbook and their voices on various mediums.
Being upset that it comes from Butler dilutes that thought, or believing this hasn’t been simmering for quite some time. One can probably surmise Butler has been holding this frustration in for quite awhile, and that he’s so invested in the franchise he could no longer find it tolerable.
Butler has entered the strata where he’s put in the work to make his voice heard, and shouldn’t apologize for it, no matter what he says Monday before the Bulls’ next game against the Brooklyn Nets.
For all the personnel changes that will likely take place over the next couple of years, Butler will be the constant, a rock of consistency whose thoughts will matter at all levels of hierarchy.
What Butler has done, besides ruffle a few feathers above and below him, is take the next step in what a franchise player should do. Butler is pointing out problems as he sees it, even as the team is winning at a decent clip.
Isn’t that essentially what management and ownership did with Thibodeau? The Bulls were winning, enough to be one of the top five teams in the league during his tenure but people didn’t like the “how.”
His grinding style, the way he wasn’t as diplomatic and couldn’t play nice with Gar Forman and John Paxson.
Butler isn’t so concerned with the record as he is the “how:" Some guys breaking off plays to do their own thing, disrupting the rhythm of what’s trying to be developed and what’s worse, seeing the actions go unchecked by the head coach.
“It's not even about being coached a certain way for five years," Butler said. "It's making everybody do their job. We weren't doing what we were supposed to be doing, what we wrote up on that board before the game, and nobody spoke up about it. I did probably not enough times, but I think that he has to hold everybody accountable. From the No. 1 player all the way down to however many guys we got.”
Isn’t that what you’d want from a franchise player, someone who embraces the responsibility of what’s going on and saying, “This isn’t good enough?"
Perhaps with Thibodeau’s looming presence over the years there wasn’t room for a voice to be developed in the locker room. But now Hoiberg doesn’t carry himself that way. It’s more understated, more subtle.
He’s figuring things out, for sure, and neither Butler nor anyone should think the Hoiberg who’s here 25 games into Year 1 will be the same Hoiberg he’ll be in Year 2 or Year 3. As much as he’s been a part of a front office in Minneapolis to locker rooms in various stops as a player, his most recent experience is as a college coach, where he operated as a CEO more than a daily taskmaster.
Thibodeau cast a very large shadow during his time in Chicago. Not because of his booming personality or charisma, but his ability to produce results without the panache.
Hoiberg has been very deferential to the success Thibodeau enjoyed in the five years while trying to change the identity of the team on the floor. It’s hard to tiptoe the line between respect and stepping out of your predecessor’s shadow, and it could’ve played a part in his soft-pedaling of players in the locker room.
Make no mistake, Hoiberg can’t change his stripes and turn into a Thibodeau clone overnight because that’s not what this franchise needs. And players can sense a fraud a mile away with coaches, they can see within a millisecond if a guy’s full of it or being himself.
All it takes is for Hoiberg to bench or get on one player of substance for a screw-up, maybe even if it’s Butler, to show the players there are consequences to things not being done the way it was laid out to be.
A message has been sent from the Bulls’ best player, who’s finding his voice whether you like it or not, and will continue to voice his observations because he’s earned it.
Now it’s on Hoiberg to use a voice he already has, because he’s earned it with his title and backing from the front office.
And 15 eyes in the locker room are on him, as well as everywhere else.
Joakim Noah scores season-high 21 but Bulls fall to Knicks. (Saturday night's game, 12/19/2015).
By Josh Newman
For a brief time Saturday night against the New York Knicks, it appeared the Chicago Bulls would show no ill-effects of playing four overtimes Friday night, followed by a middle-of-the-night flight and arriving at the team hotel at 4:15 a.m.
Those hopes turned out to be short-lived.
The Bulls raced out to a 12-2 at the 9:25 mark of the first quarter, but the Knicks swiftly erased that, led by seven after one, as many as 15 in the first half, and cruised to a 107-91 win in front of a sellout crowd of 19,812 at Madison Square Garden.
“You can’t completely write this one off (on travel),” Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg said. “We got back to having a very stagnant game. We didn’t get the ball moving with the exception of when we got up 12-2. We had great pace, the ball was moving and after that, we got back to standing and stagnant.”
After winning the first four games of a five-game homestand, the Bulls have now dropped consecutive games, including Friday night’s 147-144 quadruple-overtime loss to the Detroit Pistons. In that Friday loss, Jimmy Butler played 56 minutes, Derrick Rose 54 and Pau Gasol 48. Gasol did not accompany the team to New York.
With Gasol out, Joakim Noah stood out as one of the Bulls’ few bright spots, finishing with 21 points on 9-for-16 shooting to along with 10 rebounds in his first start of the season. Noah had scored just 88 total points over his first 23 games.
“Games like this, you have to stick to your principles, but we still have a lot of work to do,” Noah said. “It felt good to play, especially back home, but I’m disappointed that we lost.”
Butler and Rose, two of the Bulls’ three leading scorers, combined for just 18 points on 7-for-21 shooting.
The Knicks were paced by a game-high 27 points and seven rebounds from Carmelo Anthony as they shot 50 percent from the field. The Bulls shot 39.4 percent from the field and 20 percent from 3-point range.
Marathon on Madison: Pistons overtake Bulls in 4OT classic. (Friday night's game, 12/18/2012).
By Vincent Goodwill
The Pistons and Bulls battled for control of the East in a far away galaxy, a long time ago and after many years of inactivity there could be a true resurgence of a rivalry between the I-94 combatants.
And with the Pistons coming, sometimes the little breaks and big ones go in the other direction.
Like free throws.
Like loose balls that have a mind of their own.
It took more than 48 minutes, and more than 58 for the score to be settled but the Pistons took on everybody and came away with a win after the NBA’s second quadruple overtime game in 18 years with an 147-144 win at the United Center.
Six players played over 50 minutes of the available 68, and five players scored over 30 points, including Jimmy Butler’s career-high 43. Three Pistons fouled out, almost in succession in the fourth overtime but it wasn’t enough.
“The guys kept fighting,” Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said. “Derrick, Pau and Jimmy kept it going all night, but unfortunately we didn’t get off to a good enough start in the fourth overtime.”
It looked to be over as the Pistons distanced themselves with a 7-0 run, and Butler hit a triple to cut it to one before made free throws gave him one final chance with 4.4 seconds left.
But Butler couldn’t shake Kentavious Caldwell-Pope for a good look, and his triple bounced harmlessly off the rim to give the Pistons a 2-0 edge over their rivals this season—the first being a measly one-OT affair in Detroit.
Butler said he was late setting a screen that he wound up flaring off of by a millisecond, giving the defender a chance to recover before the possibility of a fifth overtime came to fruition.
“That’s why it was contested,” Butler said. “I think every shot I shoot has a chance. Nothing I can do about it now.”
The Bulls couldn’t control the big-little tandem of Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson, as Jackson repeatedly attacked the Bulls down the stretch — well, down the stretches of this classic game.
Jackson rebounded from missing three buzzer-beaters to finally wear down the Bulls, scoring 33 with 13 assists to go head up with Rose, who produced his best game of the year with 34 points and seven assists.
Drummond fouled out in the fourth overtime, but not before he turned the game on its ear with 33 points and 21 rebounds in 55 minutes. Drummond and Gasol (30 points, 15 rebounds, five assists) battled all night, as Drummond led with his athleticism and youth while Gasol had his guile and experience putting Drummond in foul trouble, calling for an offensive foul on one play and getting it a couple times down later.
“They put a lot of pressure on the rim with Drummond,” Butler said. “He’s good. I think he’s gonna be an All-Star. He’ll be one of the best centers to play this game if he continues to work.”
Tired legs, weary minds and exhaustion kicked in well before the fourth overtime began, and the Bulls will be kicking themselves on the way to New York for Saturday night’s game against the Knicks for a couple reasons.
Rose, after attacking the Pistons defense all night, settled for a 15-foot jumper in regulation as opposed to driving it to the basket — similar to what he did in Detroit in their first meeting on Oct. 30.
“We wanted him to attack but they played him well,” Hoiberg said. “We tried to slip a screen and confuse the switch. They stayed with it and made a heck of a defensive play.”
Rose forced Jackson into misses at the end of two overtimes that made up for his missed jumper in regulation, giving the Bulls second, third and fourth chances at getting control of the game.
At the end of the second overtime the Bulls had a timeout remaining after Jackson’s missed jumper left 2.4 seconds on the clock but they didn’t take it, leaving Tony Snell to fire up an 88-footer that went long.
"It was a decision where looking back on it, I should've used it, absolutely," Hoiberg said of not taking the timeout. "I look back on that one for sure.”
Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy said neither he nor Hoiberg put on an offensive coaching clinic, as both coaches stuck with their regulars through the extra sessions. Joakim Noah played seven seconds after regulation ended, and it was hard keeping Doug McDermott on the floor considering the Pistons attacked him at every opportunity, so Tony Snell played 38 minutes.
“I thought we had the guys in there that would give us the best opportunity to win the game,” Hoiberg said.
Twenty-two-year old Caldwell-Pope had enough gas down the stretch to hit two crucial triples in the second and fourth OT’s, along with defending Rose and Butler at crucial times to aid in the Pistons stealing a win and ending the Bulls’ four-game winning streak.
Neither side led by more than eight, and each had gripes down the stretch with the officials and each other as fatigue set in. Gasol clearly looked gassed in the last two overtimes, barely able to jump after banging with Drummond all night.
Gasol’s recovery of a Rose loose ball after Rose lost it mid-air resulted in him getting fouled by Ersan Ilyasova with 32 seconds left and hitting two free throws to give the Bulls a 105-103 lead in regulation before the Pistons recovered themselves to send it to overtime.
But it was more to come, even as Rose’s most impactful and devastating performance, albeit on 34 shots, became a mere subplot to a wonderful finish neither side should be ashamed of.
But, boy, will they feel it on the plane out of town.
Jimmy Butler seemed to be longing for the old days under hard-driving Tom Thibodeau when he directed some critical comments in the direction of his new coach.
Following back-to-back frustrating losses, the Bulls hope to pull together and avoid matching their longest skid Monday night by dealing the Brooklyn Nets a ninth straight road defeat.
Chicago was one of the NBA's top defensive clubs while posting a .647 winning percentage over five playoff seasons under Thibodeau. But he was blamed by some for a lack of offensive creativity, playing starters too many minutes and creating an unpleasant atmosphere.
Hoiberg was brought in to provide a breath of fresh air while making better use of the team's deep roster and implementing his fast-paced, up-tempo offense that thrived at Iowa State.
Butler and Pau Gasol are averaging fewer minutes than last season, but the Bulls certainly don't seem to be any happier - or better offensively. After averaging 104.7 points per 100 possessions last season, they have one of the league's least efficient offenses this season at 98.3.
Butler had a career-high 43 points in more than 55 minutes Friday, Derrick Rose scored 34 while playing 54 and Gasol had 30 and 15 rebounds in his 48 of a 147-144 four-overtime home loss to Detroit. The Bulls (15-10), however, showed little energy the next night, falling 107-91 at New York.
Butler finished with 12 points on 4-of-11 shooting, Rose had six on 3-of-10 shooting and Gasol stayed behind in Chicago to rest. After shooting 39.4 percent from the floor and 5 for 21 from 3-point range, Butler vented about the team's lack of accountability.
Butler had a career-high 43 points in more than 55 minutes Friday, Derrick Rose scored 34 while playing 54 and Gasol had 30 and 15 rebounds in his 48 of a 147-144 four-overtime home loss to Detroit. The Bulls (15-10), however, showed little energy the next night, falling 107-91 at New York.
Butler finished with 12 points on 4-of-11 shooting, Rose had six on 3-of-10 shooting and Gasol stayed behind in Chicago to rest. After shooting 39.4 percent from the floor and 5 for 21 from 3-point range, Butler vented about the team's lack of accountability.
"We probably have to be coached a lot harder at times. I'm sorry, I know Fred's a laid back guy, and I respect him for that," the All-Star guard told the team's official website. "But when guys aren't doing what they are supposed to do, you've got to get on guys, myself included.
"It's making everybody do their job. We were not doing what we were supposed to be doing, what we wrote up on that board before the game. And nobody spoke up about it."
Chicago hopes to take its frustration out on struggling Brooklyn while avoiding its second three-game losing streak. The Nets are in the midst of their own five-game slide following Sunday's 100-85 loss to Minnesota and also have dropped eight in a row on the road.
They've allowed an average of 108.3 points during that skid away from home, their longest since a 12-game streak from Dec. 22, 2010-Feb. 4, 2011. Brooklyn (7-20) has scored just 90.5 per game over its past four overall after going 5 for 21 from 3-point range Sunday.
''You can't guarantee you're going to make shots every night, but you can go out and compete every night," said coach Lionel Hollins, whose club has a league-worst 30.9 3-point percentage.
Brook Lopez had 20 points and 12 rebounds against the Timberwolves, but Jarrett Jack and Joe Johnson scored a combined 10 on 4-of-19 shooting. Lopez finished with 26 points on Oct. 28 when Brooklyn went 0 for 9 from beyond the arc in a 115-100 home loss to Chicago.
Rookie Bobby Portis may have earned more playing time with season highs of 20 points and 11 rebounds Saturday for the Bulls, who have won 13 of 17 regular-season matchups with the Nets.
Rookie Bobby Portis may have earned more playing time with season highs of 20 points and 11 rebounds Saturday for the Bulls, who have won 13 of 17 regular-season matchups with the Nets.
As Jimmy Butler finds his voice, time for Fred Hoiberg to do the same.
By Vincent Goodwill
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
Jimmy Butler’s postgame comments about Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg will be met with some shock and likely some criticism for how it came out.
But it indicates Butler is ready to take on a different role for the franchise, one that could be necessary in the coming years.
"I believe in the guys in this locker room, yeah," Butler said to reporters in New York after the Bulls’ loss to the Knicks on Saturday night. "But I also believe that we probably have to be coached a lot harder at times. I'm sorry, I know Fred's a laid-back guy, and I really respect him for that, but when guys aren't doing what they're supposed to do, you got to get on guys, myself included. You got to do what you're supposed to do when you're out there playing basketball."
Did he say Hoiberg couldn’t coach or the franchise made a mistake with his hiring? No, he didn’t.
He also wasn't campaigning for management to bring back Tom Thibodeau and all the drama that came with it.
Butler isn’t a player who’s been coddled or someone who was projected as a star at every turn. He’s turned into a max player because he poked and prodded at his limits while being poked and prodded by influential figures who brought out the best in him at that time (Buzz Williams at Marquette, Thibodeau in Chicago).
He’s a worker, a grinder in every sense.
Butler is a great player, and great players at every level of sport want to be coached. They know they don’t know everything, and there are times when the effort or concentration isn’t up to par.
Great players don’t mind being held to that standard, even through gritted teeth and rolled eyes, because of what’s waiting on the back end of that foul language.
This doesn’t look like a max player who’s now feeling himself deciding to make it known he’s the new sheriff in town, as some will make it appear to be.
Fans have longed for a player of his caliber to show the emotional investment to the results in the way they do with their pocketbook and their voices on various mediums.
Being upset that it comes from Butler dilutes that thought, or believing this hasn’t been simmering for quite some time. One can probably surmise Butler has been holding this frustration in for quite awhile, and that he’s so invested in the franchise he could no longer find it tolerable.
Butler has entered the strata where he’s put in the work to make his voice heard, and shouldn’t apologize for it, no matter what he says Monday before the Bulls’ next game against the Brooklyn Nets.
For all the personnel changes that will likely take place over the next couple of years, Butler will be the constant, a rock of consistency whose thoughts will matter at all levels of hierarchy.
What Butler has done, besides ruffle a few feathers above and below him, is take the next step in what a franchise player should do. Butler is pointing out problems as he sees it, even as the team is winning at a decent clip.
Isn’t that essentially what management and ownership did with Thibodeau? The Bulls were winning, enough to be one of the top five teams in the league during his tenure but people didn’t like the “how.”
His grinding style, the way he wasn’t as diplomatic and couldn’t play nice with Gar Forman and John Paxson.
Butler isn’t so concerned with the record as he is the “how:" Some guys breaking off plays to do their own thing, disrupting the rhythm of what’s trying to be developed and what’s worse, seeing the actions go unchecked by the head coach.
“It's not even about being coached a certain way for five years," Butler said. "It's making everybody do their job. We weren't doing what we were supposed to be doing, what we wrote up on that board before the game, and nobody spoke up about it. I did probably not enough times, but I think that he has to hold everybody accountable. From the No. 1 player all the way down to however many guys we got.”
Isn’t that what you’d want from a franchise player, someone who embraces the responsibility of what’s going on and saying, “This isn’t good enough?"
Perhaps with Thibodeau’s looming presence over the years there wasn’t room for a voice to be developed in the locker room. But now Hoiberg doesn’t carry himself that way. It’s more understated, more subtle.
He’s figuring things out, for sure, and neither Butler nor anyone should think the Hoiberg who’s here 25 games into Year 1 will be the same Hoiberg he’ll be in Year 2 or Year 3. As much as he’s been a part of a front office in Minneapolis to locker rooms in various stops as a player, his most recent experience is as a college coach, where he operated as a CEO more than a daily taskmaster.
Thibodeau cast a very large shadow during his time in Chicago. Not because of his booming personality or charisma, but his ability to produce results without the panache.
Hoiberg has been very deferential to the success Thibodeau enjoyed in the five years while trying to change the identity of the team on the floor. It’s hard to tiptoe the line between respect and stepping out of your predecessor’s shadow, and it could’ve played a part in his soft-pedaling of players in the locker room.
Make no mistake, Hoiberg can’t change his stripes and turn into a Thibodeau clone overnight because that’s not what this franchise needs. And players can sense a fraud a mile away with coaches, they can see within a millisecond if a guy’s full of it or being himself.
All it takes is for Hoiberg to bench or get on one player of substance for a screw-up, maybe even if it’s Butler, to show the players there are consequences to things not being done the way it was laid out to be.
A message has been sent from the Bulls’ best player, who’s finding his voice whether you like it or not, and will continue to voice his observations because he’s earned it.
Now it’s on Hoiberg to use a voice he already has, because he’s earned it with his title and backing from the front office.
And 15 eyes in the locker room are on him, as well as everywhere else.
Joakim Noah scores season-high 21 but Bulls fall to Knicks. (Saturday night's game, 12/19/2015).
By Josh Newman
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
For a brief time Saturday night against the New York Knicks, it appeared the Chicago Bulls would show no ill-effects of playing four overtimes Friday night, followed by a middle-of-the-night flight and arriving at the team hotel at 4:15 a.m.
Those hopes turned out to be short-lived.
The Bulls raced out to a 12-2 at the 9:25 mark of the first quarter, but the Knicks swiftly erased that, led by seven after one, as many as 15 in the first half, and cruised to a 107-91 win in front of a sellout crowd of 19,812 at Madison Square Garden.
“You can’t completely write this one off (on travel),” Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg said. “We got back to having a very stagnant game. We didn’t get the ball moving with the exception of when we got up 12-2. We had great pace, the ball was moving and after that, we got back to standing and stagnant.”
After winning the first four games of a five-game homestand, the Bulls have now dropped consecutive games, including Friday night’s 147-144 quadruple-overtime loss to the Detroit Pistons. In that Friday loss, Jimmy Butler played 56 minutes, Derrick Rose 54 and Pau Gasol 48. Gasol did not accompany the team to New York.
With Gasol out, Joakim Noah stood out as one of the Bulls’ few bright spots, finishing with 21 points on 9-for-16 shooting to along with 10 rebounds in his first start of the season. Noah had scored just 88 total points over his first 23 games.
“Games like this, you have to stick to your principles, but we still have a lot of work to do,” Noah said. “It felt good to play, especially back home, but I’m disappointed that we lost.”
Butler and Rose, two of the Bulls’ three leading scorers, combined for just 18 points on 7-for-21 shooting.
The Knicks were paced by a game-high 27 points and seven rebounds from Carmelo Anthony as they shot 50 percent from the field. The Bulls shot 39.4 percent from the field and 20 percent from 3-point range.
Marathon on Madison: Pistons overtake Bulls in 4OT classic. (Friday night's game, 12/18/2012).
By Vincent Goodwill
The Pistons and Bulls battled for control of the East in a far away galaxy, a long time ago and after many years of inactivity there could be a true resurgence of a rivalry between the I-94 combatants.
And with the Pistons coming, sometimes the little breaks and big ones go in the other direction.
Like free throws.
Like loose balls that have a mind of their own.
It took more than 48 minutes, and more than 58 for the score to be settled but the Pistons took on everybody and came away with a win after the NBA’s second quadruple overtime game in 18 years with an 147-144 win at the United Center.
Six players played over 50 minutes of the available 68, and five players scored over 30 points, including Jimmy Butler’s career-high 43. Three Pistons fouled out, almost in succession in the fourth overtime but it wasn’t enough.
“The guys kept fighting,” Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said. “Derrick, Pau and Jimmy kept it going all night, but unfortunately we didn’t get off to a good enough start in the fourth overtime.”
It looked to be over as the Pistons distanced themselves with a 7-0 run, and Butler hit a triple to cut it to one before made free throws gave him one final chance with 4.4 seconds left.
But Butler couldn’t shake Kentavious Caldwell-Pope for a good look, and his triple bounced harmlessly off the rim to give the Pistons a 2-0 edge over their rivals this season—the first being a measly one-OT affair in Detroit.
Butler said he was late setting a screen that he wound up flaring off of by a millisecond, giving the defender a chance to recover before the possibility of a fifth overtime came to fruition.
“That’s why it was contested,” Butler said. “I think every shot I shoot has a chance. Nothing I can do about it now.”
The Bulls couldn’t control the big-little tandem of Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson, as Jackson repeatedly attacked the Bulls down the stretch — well, down the stretches of this classic game.
Jackson rebounded from missing three buzzer-beaters to finally wear down the Bulls, scoring 33 with 13 assists to go head up with Rose, who produced his best game of the year with 34 points and seven assists.
Drummond fouled out in the fourth overtime, but not before he turned the game on its ear with 33 points and 21 rebounds in 55 minutes. Drummond and Gasol (30 points, 15 rebounds, five assists) battled all night, as Drummond led with his athleticism and youth while Gasol had his guile and experience putting Drummond in foul trouble, calling for an offensive foul on one play and getting it a couple times down later.
“They put a lot of pressure on the rim with Drummond,” Butler said. “He’s good. I think he’s gonna be an All-Star. He’ll be one of the best centers to play this game if he continues to work.”
Tired legs, weary minds and exhaustion kicked in well before the fourth overtime began, and the Bulls will be kicking themselves on the way to New York for Saturday night’s game against the Knicks for a couple reasons.
Rose, after attacking the Pistons defense all night, settled for a 15-foot jumper in regulation as opposed to driving it to the basket — similar to what he did in Detroit in their first meeting on Oct. 30.
“We wanted him to attack but they played him well,” Hoiberg said. “We tried to slip a screen and confuse the switch. They stayed with it and made a heck of a defensive play.”
Rose forced Jackson into misses at the end of two overtimes that made up for his missed jumper in regulation, giving the Bulls second, third and fourth chances at getting control of the game.
At the end of the second overtime the Bulls had a timeout remaining after Jackson’s missed jumper left 2.4 seconds on the clock but they didn’t take it, leaving Tony Snell to fire up an 88-footer that went long.
"It was a decision where looking back on it, I should've used it, absolutely," Hoiberg said of not taking the timeout. "I look back on that one for sure.”
Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy said neither he nor Hoiberg put on an offensive coaching clinic, as both coaches stuck with their regulars through the extra sessions. Joakim Noah played seven seconds after regulation ended, and it was hard keeping Doug McDermott on the floor considering the Pistons attacked him at every opportunity, so Tony Snell played 38 minutes.
“I thought we had the guys in there that would give us the best opportunity to win the game,” Hoiberg said.
Twenty-two-year old Caldwell-Pope had enough gas down the stretch to hit two crucial triples in the second and fourth OT’s, along with defending Rose and Butler at crucial times to aid in the Pistons stealing a win and ending the Bulls’ four-game winning streak.
Neither side led by more than eight, and each had gripes down the stretch with the officials and each other as fatigue set in. Gasol clearly looked gassed in the last two overtimes, barely able to jump after banging with Drummond all night.
Gasol’s recovery of a Rose loose ball after Rose lost it mid-air resulted in him getting fouled by Ersan Ilyasova with 32 seconds left and hitting two free throws to give the Bulls a 105-103 lead in regulation before the Pistons recovered themselves to send it to overtime.
But it was more to come, even as Rose’s most impactful and devastating performance, albeit on 34 shots, became a mere subplot to a wonderful finish neither side should be ashamed of.
But, boy, will they feel it on the plane out of town.
Cubs-Cardinals rivalry will keep escalating in 2016.
By Patrick Mooney
Joe Maddon told diehard Cubs fans exactly what they wanted to hear, blasting the Cardinals, sarcastically saying he never read Branch Rickey’s sacred book on how to play baseball and wondering if Tony Soprano had ordered the hit from the St. Louis dugout.
This rivalry needed some new attitude, missing big personalities like Tony La Russa, Dusty Baker and Lou Piniella. Maddon delivered with that rant inside Wrigley Field’s interview room/dungeon in September, calling out the eye-for-an-eye retaliation after the Cardinals drilled All-Star first baseman Anthony Rizzo with a purpose pitch.
It took 123 years before the Cubs finally got their shot at the Cardinals in the playoffs, and they went through almost 500 bottles of champagne after they eliminated a 100-win team in October, partying in Wrigleyville as if they had just won the World Series.
With Jason Heyward and John Lackey defecting from St. Louis, this rivalry will only escalate in 2016. You know the Cubs manager will be right in the middle of the action.
“You got to be a little bit tough to survive around here to be successful,” Maddon said this week while staging charity events for his Hazleton Integration Project. “So when it comes down to a fight, you’re not going to take that from anybody.”
Maddon competed on the basketball playgrounds, baseball diamonds and football fields in this old Pennsylvania coal-mining town. He absorbed blue-collar values from his late father, Joe Sr., a plumber who never seemed to take a vacation, and his mother, Beanie, still working to this day at Third Base Luncheonette, which looks unchanged since its opening in 1949. He grew up in an Italian-Polish family in a neighborhood filled with shot-and-a-beer bars, learning how to talk fast and use his street smarts.
“I love it, man,” Maddon said. “I absolutely love it. I grew up a Cardinal fan – a fierce Cardinal fan – and now I get to work against that feeling that I had as a kid.
“They got us early. We eventually were able to catch up later in the season. I think it’s healthy for both organizations. It’s healthy for baseball for a significant, proper rivalry between those two teams.
“I know they’re not going to back down. I know we’re not going to back down. (We’ll) hopefully continue to nurture it in the future. It’s no different than the Red Sox versus the Yankees (because) Cardinals-Cubs – as two relevant teams – is very good for baseball. I’m jacked up about it.”
There should be fireworks with the Cubs and Cardinals playing each other at least 19 times in 2016. Heyward looked at the young Cubs and the aging core in St. Louis and reportedly turned down $200 million offers, taking eight years, $184 million and opt-out flexibility, signing the biggest contract in franchise history.
The Cardinals will have to replace Heyward’s Gold Glove defense in right field and across-the-board offensive contributions (13 homers, 23 stolen bases, .797 OPS). After getting blown away by the Red Sox in the David Price negotiations, St. Louis will also have to account for Lackey’s 33 starts and 218 innings.
“The Cardinals are going to be a formidable opponent next year – and for years to come,” Cubs president Theo Epstein said. “They’re going to take the resources that they didn’t commit to Jason Heyward and John Lackey and reallocate them to other players. The approach I take with the Cardinals is the same I used to take with the Yankees when I was in Boston – I don’t pay too close attention to their moves in the offseason.
“I kind of forget them and focus on our own club and expect them to win 95 to 100 games every year. That’s the standard we’ve set for ourselves. We want to win the division. We know we’re going to have to win close to 100 games in order to give ourselves a chance to make that happen.”
Opening Day starter Adam Wainwright is 34 years old and Lance Lynn will miss the 2016 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery. Yadier Molina has caught more than 12,000 innings in the big leagues and will turn 34 this summer. This could also be the last year in St. Louis for seven-time All-Star outfielder Matt Holliday, who will turn 36 in January.
St. Louis also didn’t win 11 World Series titles by accident. The Cardinals know what it’s like to be the hunted team in the National League. After winning the offseason, the Cubs will now have to play with a target on their back.
“What’s gone on (with) the ascension of the Cubs – and where the Cardinals have been forever – we had to catch up to them,” Maddon said. “That was our responsibility. We did it for one year. We still have a lot to prove. And I understand that.
“But based on what happened this year – Johnny coming over, Jason coming over, (the fact) that we did catch them a little bit towards the end of last season – that should really stoke the fires. But we have to go out there and reprove ourselves.”
Cardinals don't appreciate Jason Heyward's reason for signing with Cubs.
By Tony Andracki
The Cubs-Cardinals rivalry has already started to heat up and we're not even into January yet.
When Jason Heyward was introduced by the Cubs last week, he explained his reasoning for coming to Chicago as wanting to be a part of — and grow with — the Cubs' young core. He said in St. Louis, the Cardinals' core was aging and soon, he was worried he'd be the only one left.
Heyward specifically pointed to the ages of Yadier Molina, Matt Holliday and Adam Wainwright, not to call them out, just simply to explain that they're not going to be around forever.
The Cardinals took exception to those comments.
St. Louis manager Mike Matheny recently spoke to the Post Dispatch and didn't pull any punches:
"I don't think it's going to ring too well with our club," Matheny said. "I told Jason this before. I’ve got a lot of respect for Jason as a person. He’s got to go make the decisions he’s going to have to live with. If that (core group comparison) is a big deal to him, he’s just being honest with people.
“But I don’t think we have anything to apologize for in having a group like a Holliday, a Molina, a Wainwright. Those are the kinds of guys everybody wants on a club.
“I see where he’s coming from. I mean, look at what Chicago’s done. It’s very unique in this game — to have that many impact players at that young age. And he’s a young player. But I can’t say I’m in any kind of agreement with that (Chicago) core being better than any kind of core that we have.
“That veteran group (that the Cardinals have) also helps drive what the younger group turns into.
“I don’t blame him. But I don’t like it. I thought we created a really good atmosphere and he had to weigh what was most important to him.
“Say if we hadn’t won. ... That would have made a difference. Say if we hadn’t created an atmosphere where he was a major part of what we’re doing. ... Neither of those is true.
“Say we hadn’t made an offer. We made a terrific offer. With all that being said, it comes down to what does a guy want? (Staying in St. Louis) just wasn’t what he was looking for.”
Don't expect this to be the last of the drama between these two rivals.
The Cubs knocked the Cardinals out of the postseason in the National League Division Series and then moved quickly to sign the Cardinals' best position player (Heyward) and pitcher (John Lackey) from that 100-win team.
2016 is going to be fun, you guys.
White Sox sign reliever Nate Jones to multi-year extension.
This rivalry needed some new attitude, missing big personalities like Tony La Russa, Dusty Baker and Lou Piniella. Maddon delivered with that rant inside Wrigley Field’s interview room/dungeon in September, calling out the eye-for-an-eye retaliation after the Cardinals drilled All-Star first baseman Anthony Rizzo with a purpose pitch.
It took 123 years before the Cubs finally got their shot at the Cardinals in the playoffs, and they went through almost 500 bottles of champagne after they eliminated a 100-win team in October, partying in Wrigleyville as if they had just won the World Series.
With Jason Heyward and John Lackey defecting from St. Louis, this rivalry will only escalate in 2016. You know the Cubs manager will be right in the middle of the action.
“You got to be a little bit tough to survive around here to be successful,” Maddon said this week while staging charity events for his Hazleton Integration Project. “So when it comes down to a fight, you’re not going to take that from anybody.”
Maddon competed on the basketball playgrounds, baseball diamonds and football fields in this old Pennsylvania coal-mining town. He absorbed blue-collar values from his late father, Joe Sr., a plumber who never seemed to take a vacation, and his mother, Beanie, still working to this day at Third Base Luncheonette, which looks unchanged since its opening in 1949. He grew up in an Italian-Polish family in a neighborhood filled with shot-and-a-beer bars, learning how to talk fast and use his street smarts.
“I love it, man,” Maddon said. “I absolutely love it. I grew up a Cardinal fan – a fierce Cardinal fan – and now I get to work against that feeling that I had as a kid.
“They got us early. We eventually were able to catch up later in the season. I think it’s healthy for both organizations. It’s healthy for baseball for a significant, proper rivalry between those two teams.
“I know they’re not going to back down. I know we’re not going to back down. (We’ll) hopefully continue to nurture it in the future. It’s no different than the Red Sox versus the Yankees (because) Cardinals-Cubs – as two relevant teams – is very good for baseball. I’m jacked up about it.”
There should be fireworks with the Cubs and Cardinals playing each other at least 19 times in 2016. Heyward looked at the young Cubs and the aging core in St. Louis and reportedly turned down $200 million offers, taking eight years, $184 million and opt-out flexibility, signing the biggest contract in franchise history.
The Cardinals will have to replace Heyward’s Gold Glove defense in right field and across-the-board offensive contributions (13 homers, 23 stolen bases, .797 OPS). After getting blown away by the Red Sox in the David Price negotiations, St. Louis will also have to account for Lackey’s 33 starts and 218 innings.
“The Cardinals are going to be a formidable opponent next year – and for years to come,” Cubs president Theo Epstein said. “They’re going to take the resources that they didn’t commit to Jason Heyward and John Lackey and reallocate them to other players. The approach I take with the Cardinals is the same I used to take with the Yankees when I was in Boston – I don’t pay too close attention to their moves in the offseason.
“I kind of forget them and focus on our own club and expect them to win 95 to 100 games every year. That’s the standard we’ve set for ourselves. We want to win the division. We know we’re going to have to win close to 100 games in order to give ourselves a chance to make that happen.”
Opening Day starter Adam Wainwright is 34 years old and Lance Lynn will miss the 2016 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery. Yadier Molina has caught more than 12,000 innings in the big leagues and will turn 34 this summer. This could also be the last year in St. Louis for seven-time All-Star outfielder Matt Holliday, who will turn 36 in January.
St. Louis also didn’t win 11 World Series titles by accident. The Cardinals know what it’s like to be the hunted team in the National League. After winning the offseason, the Cubs will now have to play with a target on their back.
“What’s gone on (with) the ascension of the Cubs – and where the Cardinals have been forever – we had to catch up to them,” Maddon said. “That was our responsibility. We did it for one year. We still have a lot to prove. And I understand that.
“But based on what happened this year – Johnny coming over, Jason coming over, (the fact) that we did catch them a little bit towards the end of last season – that should really stoke the fires. But we have to go out there and reprove ourselves.”
Cardinals don't appreciate Jason Heyward's reason for signing with Cubs.
By Tony Andracki
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
The Cubs-Cardinals rivalry has already started to heat up and we're not even into January yet.
When Jason Heyward was introduced by the Cubs last week, he explained his reasoning for coming to Chicago as wanting to be a part of — and grow with — the Cubs' young core. He said in St. Louis, the Cardinals' core was aging and soon, he was worried he'd be the only one left.
Heyward specifically pointed to the ages of Yadier Molina, Matt Holliday and Adam Wainwright, not to call them out, just simply to explain that they're not going to be around forever.
The Cardinals took exception to those comments.
St. Louis manager Mike Matheny recently spoke to the Post Dispatch and didn't pull any punches:
"I don't think it's going to ring too well with our club," Matheny said. "I told Jason this before. I’ve got a lot of respect for Jason as a person. He’s got to go make the decisions he’s going to have to live with. If that (core group comparison) is a big deal to him, he’s just being honest with people.
“But I don’t think we have anything to apologize for in having a group like a Holliday, a Molina, a Wainwright. Those are the kinds of guys everybody wants on a club.
“I see where he’s coming from. I mean, look at what Chicago’s done. It’s very unique in this game — to have that many impact players at that young age. And he’s a young player. But I can’t say I’m in any kind of agreement with that (Chicago) core being better than any kind of core that we have.
“That veteran group (that the Cardinals have) also helps drive what the younger group turns into.
“I don’t blame him. But I don’t like it. I thought we created a really good atmosphere and he had to weigh what was most important to him.
“Say if we hadn’t won. ... That would have made a difference. Say if we hadn’t created an atmosphere where he was a major part of what we’re doing. ... Neither of those is true.
“Say we hadn’t made an offer. We made a terrific offer. With all that being said, it comes down to what does a guy want? (Staying in St. Louis) just wasn’t what he was looking for.”
Don't expect this to be the last of the drama between these two rivals.
The Cubs knocked the Cardinals out of the postseason in the National League Division Series and then moved quickly to sign the Cardinals' best position player (Heyward) and pitcher (John Lackey) from that 100-win team.
2016 is going to be fun, you guys.
White Sox sign reliever Nate Jones to multi-year extension.
By Dan Hayes
Healthy after two seasons, Nate Jones showed the White Sox enough in 2015 to earn a lengthy contract extension on Friday.
The team announced it signed the right-handed reliever -- who had reconstructive elbow surgery in July 2014 -- to a three-year, $8-million deal that includes three options. Jones, who could have filed for free agency after only two more seasons, potentially could stay with the White Sox through 2021.
After he returned from Tommy John surgery last season, Jones went 2-2 with a 3.27 ERA and 27 strikeouts in 19 innings. With improved velocity from two seasons ago, Jones averaged 12.79 strikeouts per nine innings.
“It was a long road,” Jones said. “But this definitely makes it worth it. That’s for sure.
“I’m glad they think of me that way, enough of me to offer me this. I want to be a White Sox for a long time. They are doing things right and building their team to win. I want to be a part of that winning.”
The deal calls for Jones to earn $900,000 this season, the same amount he was projected to earn in arbitration, according to mlbtraderumors.com. The right-hander receives raises to $1.9 million in 2017 and $3.95 million in 2018, which would have been his first year of free agency. The club holds options for 2019 ($4.65 million) and 2020 ($5.15 million) and the deal includes a $6 million mutual option for 2021. The contract has a $1.25 million buyout if any option is decline.
With closer David Robertson under contract for three more seasons, Jones is slotted as one of the team’s top setup men along with Jake Petricka, Zach Putnam and Zach Duke. Given how abysmal the team’s bullpen was in 2014, when Jones was only available for the first three games, general manager Rick Hahn has opted to mostly keep last year’s group intact. Of the key performers in 2015, only Matt Albers, a free agent, is unlikely to return.
“We view Nate as a key component in the back end of our bullpen,” Hahn said in a press release. “Nate is a homegrown pitcher with a power arm and tremendous work ethic, so we are excited to be able to reward him for what he has accomplished thus far in his career and potentially keep him in a White Sox uniform for the next six seasons.”
Jones made a nice comeback in 2015 following a series of injuries that limited him to two games in 2014. What began as a strained gluteal muscle in spring training 2014 ultimately led to surgery, a micro discectomy to take pressure off his nerves and relieve back pain. Later that summer, Jones tore his ulnar collateral ligament while rehabbing and had elbow surgery on July 29.
The White Sox encouraged Jones to go slow in his recovery, pushing back the start of the throwing portion of his rehab by a more than a month and into the start of the new year. Jones flourished in the process, making all of his side sessions once he did hit the mound and throwing harder than he did before the procedure. His fastball averaged 97.6 mph this season, according to fangraphs.com, up two miles per hour from the early part of 2014. He also averaged 89.4 mph with his slider, up nearly two miles per hour from 2013.
Jones said the lengthy rehab process allowed him to repair his mechanics, including taking a straighter path to home.
“I was very pleased,” Jones said. “The rehab gave me an opportunity to clean things up, make sure my direction was going towards the plate and not towards first base.
“They very well could have gave up on me at any point. But they didn’t. They stuck with me and they saw enough of results from last year when I came back and they like what they saw. They know what kind of work ethic I have and they know I’m going to give it everything I got all the time.”
The team announced it signed the right-handed reliever -- who had reconstructive elbow surgery in July 2014 -- to a three-year, $8-million deal that includes three options. Jones, who could have filed for free agency after only two more seasons, potentially could stay with the White Sox through 2021.
After he returned from Tommy John surgery last season, Jones went 2-2 with a 3.27 ERA and 27 strikeouts in 19 innings. With improved velocity from two seasons ago, Jones averaged 12.79 strikeouts per nine innings.
“It was a long road,” Jones said. “But this definitely makes it worth it. That’s for sure.
“I’m glad they think of me that way, enough of me to offer me this. I want to be a White Sox for a long time. They are doing things right and building their team to win. I want to be a part of that winning.”
The deal calls for Jones to earn $900,000 this season, the same amount he was projected to earn in arbitration, according to mlbtraderumors.com. The right-hander receives raises to $1.9 million in 2017 and $3.95 million in 2018, which would have been his first year of free agency. The club holds options for 2019 ($4.65 million) and 2020 ($5.15 million) and the deal includes a $6 million mutual option for 2021. The contract has a $1.25 million buyout if any option is decline.
With closer David Robertson under contract for three more seasons, Jones is slotted as one of the team’s top setup men along with Jake Petricka, Zach Putnam and Zach Duke. Given how abysmal the team’s bullpen was in 2014, when Jones was only available for the first three games, general manager Rick Hahn has opted to mostly keep last year’s group intact. Of the key performers in 2015, only Matt Albers, a free agent, is unlikely to return.
“We view Nate as a key component in the back end of our bullpen,” Hahn said in a press release. “Nate is a homegrown pitcher with a power arm and tremendous work ethic, so we are excited to be able to reward him for what he has accomplished thus far in his career and potentially keep him in a White Sox uniform for the next six seasons.”
Jones made a nice comeback in 2015 following a series of injuries that limited him to two games in 2014. What began as a strained gluteal muscle in spring training 2014 ultimately led to surgery, a micro discectomy to take pressure off his nerves and relieve back pain. Later that summer, Jones tore his ulnar collateral ligament while rehabbing and had elbow surgery on July 29.
The White Sox encouraged Jones to go slow in his recovery, pushing back the start of the throwing portion of his rehab by a more than a month and into the start of the new year. Jones flourished in the process, making all of his side sessions once he did hit the mound and throwing harder than he did before the procedure. His fastball averaged 97.6 mph this season, according to fangraphs.com, up two miles per hour from the early part of 2014. He also averaged 89.4 mph with his slider, up nearly two miles per hour from 2013.
Jones said the lengthy rehab process allowed him to repair his mechanics, including taking a straighter path to home.
“I was very pleased,” Jones said. “The rehab gave me an opportunity to clean things up, make sure my direction was going towards the plate and not towards first base.
“They very well could have gave up on me at any point. But they didn’t. They stuck with me and they saw enough of results from last year when I came back and they like what they saw. They know what kind of work ethic I have and they know I’m going to give it everything I got all the time.”
Golf: I got a club for that..... Golf's five non-majors I'm most excited about in 2016.
By Kyle Porter
Can Rickie Fowler repeat at the Players? (Photo/USATSI)
It's time to start thinking about 2016. The new year is just around the corner and with it, a (sort of) new golf season. Technically, the 2015-16 PGA Tour has already started, but the real stuff gets going here in about a month.
Obviously the four majors (plus the Olympics and Ryder Cup) are the six events everyone is most looking forward to. But we like to roll a little deeper here at CBS and want to talk about the five non-majors we're most looking forward to (all for various reasons).
Let's dive in.
1. Players Championship (May 12-15)
You watched last year, yes? In fact, the last few years have been world class. It's not a major (as much as the PGA Tour would like for it to be), but it's not a regular tournament either. It's in status purgatory which is fine as long as it keeps giving us endings like we got last year with Rickie Fowler, Sergio Garcia and Kevin Kisner.
Plus, we might get another one of these comments.
2. Cadillac Championship (March 3-6)
This will be fascinating for a number of reasons. It's the first WGC event of 2016 which means the stars will be out. It's also played at a Donald Trump course. He is in the news for obvious reasons. Will he still be in it come March?
Can Dustin Johnson repeat? Will Rory McIlroy hurl another club into the lake. That week will be must-see TV and rightfully so.
3. Tournament of Champions (January 7-10)
This sounds silly, but we will all be beyond ready for some golf in a month after the holidays are over. It's a strong, small field. Jordan Spieth is involved. Hawaii is involved. Patrick Reed is going to try and defend his title from last season. It all adds up to one of the best pre-Masters tournaments on the PGA Tour slate.
4. The Memorial (June 2-5)
Always a summer favorite of mine because of the course and field. This summer is going to be loaded up with big time golf tournaments (U.S. Open, British Open, PGA Championship and Olympics all in two months). This will be one of the few that flies under the radar.
5. Farmers Insurance Open
Tiger Woods won't be there. Jordan Spieth won't be there. Rory McIlory (probably) won't be there. It still feels like the true opening day. That's not to disparage the other January events (because they are good), but Woods' appearance at this always felt like it was time to begin the regular season. That won't change even if (when) he is absent.
Obviously the four majors (plus the Olympics and Ryder Cup) are the six events everyone is most looking forward to. But we like to roll a little deeper here at CBS and want to talk about the five non-majors we're most looking forward to (all for various reasons).
Let's dive in.
1. Players Championship (May 12-15)
You watched last year, yes? In fact, the last few years have been world class. It's not a major (as much as the PGA Tour would like for it to be), but it's not a regular tournament either. It's in status purgatory which is fine as long as it keeps giving us endings like we got last year with Rickie Fowler, Sergio Garcia and Kevin Kisner.
Plus, we might get another one of these comments.
2. Cadillac Championship (March 3-6)
This will be fascinating for a number of reasons. It's the first WGC event of 2016 which means the stars will be out. It's also played at a Donald Trump course. He is in the news for obvious reasons. Will he still be in it come March?
Can Dustin Johnson repeat? Will Rory McIlroy hurl another club into the lake. That week will be must-see TV and rightfully so.
3. Tournament of Champions (January 7-10)
This sounds silly, but we will all be beyond ready for some golf in a month after the holidays are over. It's a strong, small field. Jordan Spieth is involved. Hawaii is involved. Patrick Reed is going to try and defend his title from last season. It all adds up to one of the best pre-Masters tournaments on the PGA Tour slate.
4. The Memorial (June 2-5)
Always a summer favorite of mine because of the course and field. This summer is going to be loaded up with big time golf tournaments (U.S. Open, British Open, PGA Championship and Olympics all in two months). This will be one of the few that flies under the radar.
5. Farmers Insurance Open
Tiger Woods won't be there. Jordan Spieth won't be there. Rory McIlory (probably) won't be there. It still feels like the true opening day. That's not to disparage the other January events (because they are good), but Woods' appearance at this always felt like it was time to begin the regular season. That won't change even if (when) he is absent.
NASCAR: Roger Penske selected to Sports Car Club of America Hall of Fame.
By Daniel McFadin
(Photo/nbcsports.com)
The Sports Car Club of America announced this week the selections for the 2016 class in its Hall of Fame and the five member class includes NASCAR and IndyCar owner Roger Penske.
Penske joins Hubert Brundage, Bob Henderson, Randy Pobst and Alec Ulmann. The five of them will be added to a Hall of Fame that already holds 62 names.
Penske, who has fielded NASCAR entries since 1972 and owns the cars of Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski, was a driver in the SCCA from 1960 – 1965.
During that time Penske won three National Championships and three President’s Cup awards.
The induction ceremony will take place at the SCCA Hall of Fame and Awards Banquet Presented by Mazda on Jan. 23 at the South Point Hotel and Casino, in Las Vegas.
Services set for Judy Allison, wife of NASCAR great Bobby Allison.
By Jerry Bonkowski
Funeral services for Judy Allison, wife of NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Allison, have been announced. Mrs. Allison passed away Friday at the age of 74 following complications from surgery.
Services for Mrs. Allison will be held Monday, Dec. 28, at St. Aloysius Catholic Church in Bessemer, Alabama. The family will receive friends from 10:30 am to 12 p.m. prior to the mass at the church.
A second service will be held Saturday, Jan. 9, 2016, at St. Therese Catholic Church in Mooresville.
Cavin-Cook Funeral Home, Mooresville, and Peoples Chapel Funeral Home, Hueytown, Ala., are serving the Allison family.
Penske joins Hubert Brundage, Bob Henderson, Randy Pobst and Alec Ulmann. The five of them will be added to a Hall of Fame that already holds 62 names.
Penske, who has fielded NASCAR entries since 1972 and owns the cars of Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski, was a driver in the SCCA from 1960 – 1965.
During that time Penske won three National Championships and three President’s Cup awards.
The induction ceremony will take place at the SCCA Hall of Fame and Awards Banquet Presented by Mazda on Jan. 23 at the South Point Hotel and Casino, in Las Vegas.
Services set for Judy Allison, wife of NASCAR great Bobby Allison.
By Jerry Bonkowski
(Photo courtesy Fastways Speedway)
Funeral services for Judy Allison, wife of NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Allison, have been announced. Mrs. Allison passed away Friday at the age of 74 following complications from surgery.
Services for Mrs. Allison will be held Monday, Dec. 28, at St. Aloysius Catholic Church in Bessemer, Alabama. The family will receive friends from 10:30 am to 12 p.m. prior to the mass at the church.
A second service will be held Saturday, Jan. 9, 2016, at St. Therese Catholic Church in Mooresville.
Cavin-Cook Funeral Home, Mooresville, and Peoples Chapel Funeral Home, Hueytown, Ala., are serving the Allison family.
SOCCER: Fire announce 2016 preseason schedule.
By Dan Santaromita
The Chicago Fire released the preseason schedule for 2016, which will include trips to Tampa, Fla., and Portland, Ore.
The Fire will open with training camp starting Jan. 25 at The PrivateBank Fire Pitch on Chicago’s North Side. After spending five days of training in Chicago from Jan. 25-29, the team will depart for Tampa on Jan. 31.
Once in Tampa the Fire will train at the University of South Florida before returning to Chicago on Feb. 12.
By Dan Santaromita
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
The Chicago Fire released the preseason schedule for 2016, which will include trips to Tampa, Fla., and Portland, Ore.
The Fire will open with training camp starting Jan. 25 at The PrivateBank Fire Pitch on Chicago’s North Side. After spending five days of training in Chicago from Jan. 25-29, the team will depart for Tampa on Jan. 31.
Once in Tampa the Fire will train at the University of South Florida before returning to Chicago on Feb. 12.
The Fire will then close out the preseason with a trip to Portland, just like they did in 2015. The team will be in Portland from Feb. 15-28 as part of the 2016 Simple Invitational with matches against the host Portland Timbers, the Vancouver Whitecaps and North American Soccer League side Minnesota United FC.
The Simple Invitational will be held at the Timbers’ home stadium, Providence Park. The Fire’s first match is against Vancouver on Feb. 21. Three days later the team will take on Minnesota. The final will take place on Feb. 27 against the host and reigning MLS Cup champion Timbers.
“I’m excited that in just over a month we’ll finally get the team together and begin our preparations for the season,” Fire head coach Veljko Paunovic said in a press release. “It’s invaluable that we’re able to utilize The PrivateBank Fire Pitch, our own facility right here in Chicago to set the tone before heading to Tampa and Portland for competitive matches as we build towards opening day.”
Premier League roundup: Leicester top for Christmas; Chelsea win; LVG out?
The Simple Invitational will be held at the Timbers’ home stadium, Providence Park. The Fire’s first match is against Vancouver on Feb. 21. Three days later the team will take on Minnesota. The final will take place on Feb. 27 against the host and reigning MLS Cup champion Timbers.
“I’m excited that in just over a month we’ll finally get the team together and begin our preparations for the season,” Fire head coach Veljko Paunovic said in a press release. “It’s invaluable that we’re able to utilize The PrivateBank Fire Pitch, our own facility right here in Chicago to set the tone before heading to Tampa and Portland for competitive matches as we build towards opening day.”
Premier League roundup: Leicester top for Christmas; Chelsea win; LVG out?
By Andy Edwards
Leicester City refuse to let the dream die; it’s a brave, new world at Stamford Bridge; a managerial offing might be on the cards at Old Trafford; Tottenham Hotspur are back on the march; and Aston Villa might get themselves relegated by March.
Manchester United 1-2 Norwich City — RECAP
With Jose Mourinho now gone from Chelsea and available for hire, and Man United picking up another poor result on Saturday, is Louis Van Gaal the next PL manager to be shown his walking papers? Losing to Norwich City, at Old Trafford of all places, might just be the last straw for the Dutchman.
Chelsea 3-1 Sunderland — RECAP
With a victory over Sunderland on Saturday, Chelsea, the reigning PL champions — let us not forget this — have reached the dizzying heights of the 15th place in the league table. The sky’s the limit now. For all the latest Mourinho-related news…
- WATCH: Chelsea fans sing for Mourinho
- Guus Hiddink named interim boss for rest of season
- John Terry says Chelsea players must now win back their own fans
- Mourinho has no plans for a sabbatical, hopes for new job soon
Everton 2-3 Leicester City — RECAP
Top of the league on Christmas Day — that’s where you’ll find Leicester City. It’s as unlikely a story as we may ever tell in the Premier League, but it just goes on and on and on. Riyad Mahrez (two goals) is becoming a bona fide superstar, and the Foxes will do well to hold onto him in January, or this summer.
Southampton 0-2 Tottenham Hotspur — RECAP
Tottenham are into the top-four at Christmas after going away to Southampton and grabbing all three points on the back of two goals scored three minutes apart just before halftime. The goalscorers? England’s young stars-in-the-making, Harry Kane and Dele Alli.
Tottenham are into the top-four at Christmas after going away to Southampton and grabbing all three points on the back of two goals scored three minutes apart just before halftime. The goalscorers? England’s young stars-in-the-making, Harry Kane and Dele Alli.
Stoke City 1-2 Crystal Palace — RECAP
Palace left it late — like, 88th-minute-late — but their chase for European qualification continues after a throughly impressive away victory at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday. Stoke, meanwhile, after splashing the cash in the summer and turning heads with a few of their signings, will be 11th on Christmas Day.
West Bromwich Albion 1-2 Bournemouth — RECAP
With 19 points from their first 17 PL games, Bournemouth might just have enough about them to avoid relegation. They, too, left it late on Saturday, but Eddie Howe‘s side took all three points and are sitting pretty all the way up in 14th, a spot ahead of the reigning champions.
Newcastle Untied 1-1 Aston Villa — RECAP
This relegation six-pointer was a wash, as Villa came from behind to rescue a valuable away point at St. James’ Park. A point, though, is hardly enough for Remi Garde’s side, which sits bottom of the league, a whopping 10 points from safety. Jordan Ayew‘s equalizer sure was stunning, though.
Barcelona beats River Plate 3-0 to win third FIFA Club World Cup crown.
This relegation six-pointer was a wash, as Villa came from behind to rescue a valuable away point at St. James’ Park. A point, though, is hardly enough for Remi Garde’s side, which sits bottom of the league, a whopping 10 points from safety. Jordan Ayew‘s equalizer sure was stunning, though.
Barcelona beats River Plate 3-0 to win third FIFA Club World Cup crown.
By Joe Lago
The FIFA Club World Cup brings together the continental champions to crown the king of club soccer, but the tournament usually ends up being a showdown of South America against Europe. Or to be more precise, it comes down to a South American champion eager to show its superiority against a European champion bothered with the chore of interrupting its season for a long trip to Asia. The primary goal is to not get injured.
Barcelona might be the one European power that doesn't see the Club World Cup that way. The club actually cares.
The La Liga leaders made the trip to Japan this week seeking a third Club World Cup crown, and the unlucky South American side standing in their way was River Plate, whose manager Marcelo Gallardo said he hoped to see a full-strength Barcelona. His reason: It would be "a pleasure to face the best three or four players in the world."
By the end of Sunday's final – a convincing 3-0 victory by Barcelona at Yokohama's International Stadium – Gallardo and his men had felt the full brunt of the unprecedented attacking force of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar.
Both Messi and Neymar returned from sitting out Thursday's semifinal win over Guangzhou Evergrande to rejoin Suarez at the front of Barcelona's attack, and each member of MSN had his moment in the spotlight.
Messi, who had a decent chance saved by goalkeeper Marcelo Barovero in the 11th minute, scored the breakthrough goal in the 36th minute. Dribbling away from two River Plate defenders toward the top of the box, Messi put the ball into space to the right for Dani Alves. Neymar headed Alves' cross down to Messi, who controlled the ball with his right thigh (and then perhaps with his right arm) to flick the ball in with his left boot for a 1-0 Barcelona lead.
Four minutes into the second half, Suarez made it 2-0. Andres Iniesta pounced on a River Plate giveaway and initiated a quick counterattack by finding Sergio Busquets near the halfway line. Busquets side-footed a beautiful ball over the River Plate defense and ahead to Suarez for the easy finish against a helpless Barovero.
Barcelona pushed for a third goal, mounting wave after wave of attacks to produce chance after chance. Both Messi and Suarez missed opportunities, but the goal that would've gone viral was Neymar's solo slalom through the River Plate defense. He, however, got upended in the box.
The third goal finally came in the 68th minute. Messi drew three defenders and slid a pass to his left to a wide-open Neymar. The Brazilian had time to back up a couple of steps before lofting a cross to Suarez, who directed his header back across goal and inside the far post. Barovero could do nothing but watch the ball float into his net for Suarez's fifth goal of the tournament.
The victory earned Barcelona its third Club World Cup crown to go with titles in 2009 and 2011 when the Catalans beat Estudiantes and Santos, respectively. Corinthians, champions in 2000 and 2012, is the only other club to have won it more than once.
Both Messi, with five goals in five games, and Suarez, five in just two, now share the all-time Club World Cup scoring lead with Cesar Delgado of Monterrey (five in six games). Impress your friends with that stat.
NCAAFB: Five things to know from the first day of college football Bowl season.
By Bobby Kalland
Bowl season got underway on Saturday with five games spread throughout the day, beginning with the Celebration Bowl at noon. For 13 hours, we had college football on television ... and Saturday felt somewhat normal again.
If you happened to miss anything -- or everything-- that happened on the first day of bowl season, we're here to help with the five things you need to know about Saturday.
1. Bowls are fun. There are not too many bowls. I don't want to hear people talking about there being too many bowls. We got to watch five games on Saturday and all of them were fairly competitive. The majority were even quite entertaining.
The Cure Bowl was by far the least intriguing game of the day -- a 5-7 team against a 6-6 team -- but while it wasn't football of the highest quality, it was pretty entertaining and had a good fourth quarter. That's good!
The Holy War matchup in the Las Vegas Bowl nearly produced a historic comeback; the New Orleans Bowl had tons of points; Appalachian State won on a last-second field goal; Arizona and New Mexico was wildly entertaining; and even the Celebration Bowl between North Carolina A&T and Alcorn State had a crazy finish.
Bowl games are great. Bring me more bowls. I can't get enough bowls. Stop complaining about bowls.
2. Kenneth Dixon is a monster. Dixon is Louisiana Tech's running back, and though you may not have known him before Saturday, you saw him do work in the New Orleans Bowl as the Bulldogs won 47-28. Dixon broke Navy quarterback Keenan Reynolds' record for all-time touchdowns with 87 and passed him on the active career yardage list on Saturday night, though Reynolds will have an opportunity to get those marks back in Navy's bowl game.
Dixon had 112 receiving yards, 91 rushing yards and four total touchdowns. He even had to change jerseys because he ran so dang hard that the only way to tackle him was to literally rip him down -- and his numbers off.
3. The Holy War lived up to expectations despite a 35-0 first-quarter lead for Utah. If you did not watch the Las Vegas Bowl, then you missed some craziness. It was chippy and the score ended up close, as expected, but how they got to a 35-28 final was anything but normal.
BYU turned the ball over on each of its first five possessions, all leading to Utah touchdowns. Then, the Utes were held scoreless for the final three quarters as the Cougars mounted a late rally that fell short when they were unable to get a third-down stop in the final minutes.
There will be plenty of BYU fans wondering "what if," considering the Utah offense was almost non-existent in the game. What's great is we'll get a rematch in Sept. 2016 when both teams reboot their regular season rivalry for the first time since 2013.
4. Appalachian State won its first-ever bowl game! Just two years into being an FBS program, the Mountaineers finished off an 11-2 season with a 31-29 bowl victory over Ohio on a last second field goal. Appalachian State's program was one of the FCS' best and to see the Mountaineers come into the Sun Belt and find early success is pretty cool to watch. The players celebrated like they won the national title. Again, there are not too many bowls.
5. The Celebration Bowl might have been the best game of the day. It may be called the Celebration Bowl, but it is really the HBCU title game. It was held for the first time ever on Saturday and produced a highly entertaining game.
North Carolina A&T jumped out to an early 14-0 lead, but Alcorn State made a furious comeback late in the game only to lose 41-34. The Braves came up nine yards short, failing to convert on four goal-to-go opportunities as the Aggies held on for the win.
The final quarter of the game was highly entertaining, and as expected, the atmosphere around the game itself was fantastic. Most looked at the Celebration Bowl and shrugged it off, but those that tuned in were rewarded with a really fun game and some fourth quarter fireworks from both teams.
Michigan State's RJ Williamson plotting return for Cotton Bowl.
By Nick Bromberg
Michigan State's RJ Williamson plotting return for Cotton Bowl. (Photo/yahoosports.com)
Michigan State safety RJ Williamson is expected to play for the Spartans against Alabama in the Cotton Bowl.
Williamson suffered a torn bicep in the fifth game of the season and has missed the entire season since. Doctors had told him he could possibly return for a bowl game and he's set to play in one, or possibly two, games for Michigan State.
"The team as a whole, when he (went) out we basically promised him that we will get to the playoffs," safety Montae Nicholson said via The State News. "We told him that 'we will make it to the playoffs for you', this being his last year, we felt like we owed him that."
Williamson had 24 tackles and two interceptions in the first five games of the year. He's an important part of Michigan State's defense and can be a big boost for a secondary that has to worry about not getting burned by the pass if it commits too much to Alabama running back Derrick Henry.
"I expect to play as much as I did at the beginning of the season," Williamson told the News. "Whether I start or not, I feel like I'll be a big contributor to our success that night."
Williamson was the Spartans' No. 3 tackler in 2014 with 59 tackles. He had ten starts and played 13 games.
NCAABKB: Eight takeaways from an unpredictable day in college hoops.
Williamson suffered a torn bicep in the fifth game of the season and has missed the entire season since. Doctors had told him he could possibly return for a bowl game and he's set to play in one, or possibly two, games for Michigan State.
"The team as a whole, when he (went) out we basically promised him that we will get to the playoffs," safety Montae Nicholson said via The State News. "We told him that 'we will make it to the playoffs for you', this being his last year, we felt like we owed him that."
Williamson had 24 tackles and two interceptions in the first five games of the year. He's an important part of Michigan State's defense and can be a big boost for a secondary that has to worry about not getting burned by the pass if it commits too much to Alabama running back Derrick Henry.
"I expect to play as much as I did at the beginning of the season," Williamson told the News. "Whether I start or not, I feel like I'll be a big contributor to our success that night."
Williamson was the Spartans' No. 3 tackler in 2014 with 59 tackles. He had ten starts and played 13 games.
NCAABKB: Eight takeaways from an unpredictable day in college hoops.
By Jeff Eisenberg
Virginia won with offense. Indiana won with defense. Duke and Kentucky lost to unranked opponents on the same day. Northern Iowa slayed a top-five giant for the second time in a month.
Yes, it was the most bizarre day yet in a college basketball season that already featured plenty of unusual outcomes. Here are eight takeaways from Saturday's action:
1. Duke's margin for error without Amile Jefferson is much smaller
After his team's 77-75 overtime loss to Pac-12 contender Utah on Saturday afternoon, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski offered a telling observation. "Our guys gave it their all, and they lost,” he told reporters in New York.
Seldom is Krzyzewski pleased with his team's effort after a loss to an unranked team, but Saturday was the exception. Top big man Amile Jefferson was sidelined with a broken foot, leading scorer Grayson Allen scored only seven points while battling the flu, yet the Blue Devils had a shot to win at the end of regulation and a shot to tie at the end of overtime.
What that suggests is Krzyzewski is reasonable about his team's shortcomings while Jefferson is out. Jefferson is the team's premier offensive rebounder and one of its two best interior defenders along with Marshall Plumlee. With Jefferson out for the next month and McDonald's All-American Chase Jeter still not ready for extended minutes, Duke's thin frontcourt is even more undermanned and Brandon Ingram has to play more minutes at the four or five.
Utah was able to take advantage of Duke's weakness in the paint as forward Kyle Kuzma scored 21 points and future NBA center Jakob Poeltl had 19 points and 14 rebounds before fouling out with 31 seconds left in overtime. The Blue Devils shot just 30 percent from the field in regulation and fell a bucket short in overtime.
2. Sleepover with the Caliparis didn't wake up Skal Labissiere
With Skal Labissiere coming off a nightmare game against Arizona State in which he registered neither a point nor a rebound in 13 minutes, Kentucky coach John Calipari came up with an interesting plan to try to help his prized freshman. Calipari invited Labissiere over to his house for a sleepover in hopes that a heart-to-heart chat and a home-cooked breakfast would help ease the pressure the 6-foot-11 big man was feeling.
Maybe the encouragement will pay off eventually for Labissiere, but it didn't seem to make much difference in Kentucky's stunning 74-67 loss to previously struggling Ohio State on Saturday afternoon. Again Labissiere got pushed around in the paint. Again Labissiere had loose balls ripped away from him. He finished with two points, five rebounds and misses in 6 of the 7 shots he attempted, none bigger than a point-blank shot that would've gotten the Wildcats within one point with three minutes to go.
While Calipari didn't sugarcoat how poorly his team played or how far it has to go to live up to its top-five ranking, it was interesting to see him go out of his way to praise Labissiere even after yet another performance that didn't seem to merit it. "Happy Skal did better," Calipari said. Then later he added, "I thought he made strides today."
Nobody is better at coaxing production out of prized freshmen than Calipari, but he'll need to get more from Labissiere to beat Louisville next Saturday or to win the SEC. Labissiere is averaging 3.8 points and 2.5 rebounds in four games against major-conference opponents.
3. Butler can claim the title of Indiana's best team
Kellen Dunham could never shake free of reigning Big 12 defensive player of the year Rapheal Davis and missed all 12 shots he attempted. Kelan Martin struggled to get clean looks against Purdue's towering frontline and finished with just two baskets. On a night when Butler's two leading scorers were ineffective from start to finish, the Bulldogs were still good enough to hand a top 10 team its first loss of the season.
Butler hung on to defeat Purdue 74-68 because the Bulldogs played their best defensive game of the season and received scoring from unlikely sources. Roosevelt Jones tallied 19 points, 11 rebounds and five assists because the Boilermakers could not keep him out of the lane. Andrew Chrabascz added 16 points because he was just a little bit too mobile for Purdue's big men.
The most worrisome aspect of the game for Purdue was that the Boilermakers couldn't generate much of anything off the dribble, especially during a 22-minute stretch midway through the game in which they only scored 16 points. Without dribble penetration, Purdue couldn't force the defense to rotate and couldn't generate any open 3-point looks.
Purdue had beaten every opponent it had faced so far this season by 12 or more points, but the Boilermakers saw their win streak end and fell to 0-5 in the Crossroads Classic. Butler improved to 4-1 in the Crossroads Classic and made a case for itself as a Big East contender and the state of Indiana's top team.
4. Iowa State's loss raises some red flags
Iowa State definitely has the firepower to beat anyone in the Big 12 this season, but I'm skeptical the Cyclones will win consistently enough to stay with fellow league title favorites Kansas or Oklahoma. The reason for that is a couple of red flags that have emerged in the wake of their first loss of the season, an 81-79 upset at the hands of in-state rival Northern Iowa.
For all the increased emphasis Steve Prohm placed on defense entering the season, the early improvements Iowa State made may not be sustainable. Iowa scorched the Cyclones from behind the arc and hurt them on the offensive glass in a one-point loss earlier this month. Then Northern Iowa shot 58 percent from the field and 59.1 percent from behind the arc against Iowa State on Saturday night thanks largely to Paul Jesperson's outside shooting and Wes Washpun's ability to blow by his defender and create off the dribble.
Also alarming for Iowa State? A glaring lack of depth. The Cyclones have no big man to spell Jameel McKay off the bench, meaning he has to play extended minutes in close games as a result of his prowess protecting the rim and on the glass. And with Naz Mitrou-Long announcing he will sit the rest of the season and apply for a redshirt, Iowa State only goes seven deep as reserve guards Deonte Burton and Hallice Cooke are the only two bench players in the rotation.
5. Brice Johnson is bleeping dominant when properly motivated
North Carolina was trailing by double figures in the first half against UCLA, Kennedy Meeks was unavailable due to injury, yet fellow starting big man Brice Johnson couldn't get off the bench. What gives Brice? "I kind of used some bad language, and coach was really pissed off at me for it, so he sat me for it," Johnson told reporters in Brooklyn, drawing a chuckle for using more salty language in the process. "It put a fire under my butt. When I got back in there, I was ready to go."
The Tar Heels rallied to beat UCLA 89-76 largely because Johnson was brilliant after he returned. He scored 13 points in the final seven minutes of the first half to get North Carolina even by halftime and then added 14 more in the second half to help the Tar Heels pull away. In all he finished with 27 points on 11-for-12 shooting and added nine rebounds, outplaying a pretty good UCLA frontcourt all by himself.
If Johnson can be that sort of threat on a regular basis, that can only help a North Carolina team that isn't lacking for weapons. Marcus Paige is a dynamic perimeter scorer, Kennedy Meeks is a proven back-to-the-basket scorer and Justin Jackson is the team's best NBA prospect, but Johnson adds another dimension.
6. Georgetown's new slogan: Mid-majors celebrate here
If I were a mid-major coach in need of a road game next season, Georgetown would be the first school I'd call. Not only would I get a nice payday for playing the Hoyas in Washington D.C., history suggests there's also a pretty fair chance I come away with a win too.
The latest small-conference program to celebrate at Georgetown's expense is UNC Asheville, which won 79-73 on Saturday to drop the Hoyas to 6-5 so far this season. Georgetown had previously lost to Radford and Monmouth already this season and to the likes of Northeastern and Florida Gulf Coast in recent years.
D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera's 2-for-10 shooting certainly didn't help Georgetown against UNC Asheville, but the bigger long-term concern for the Hoyas is their defense. Centers Bradley Hayes and Jessie Govan both are vulnerable on ball screen defense, which is forcing the rest of the defense into help situations and exposing their inability to rotate out to shooters fast enough. Either Georgetown needs to clean that up or they're going to have a hard time rallying to make the NCAA tournament, let alone contending with the likes of Villanova, Butler and Xavier in the loaded Big East.
7. Wichita State may need to win its conference tournament
After squandering a seven-point lead with five minutes to go in regulation in an overtime loss to Seton Hall, Wichita State may now have only one path to an NCAA bid: Winning the Missouri Valley Conference tournament. The injury-plagued Shockers are now 5-5 with losses to the Pirates, Tulsa, USC, Alabama and Iowa.
Other programs from stronger conferences can overcome a poor start by stacking quality wins during league play, but Wichita State doesn't have that luxury. The Shockers will only play two teams the rest of the season rated higher than 141st in the KenPom rankings, Northern Iowa and Evansville.
Wichita State will finish non-conference play with two potential quality wins, one against Pac-12 contender Utah and the other against talented but erratic UNLV. The Shockers could still reenter the at-large picture with a dominant showing during league play, but it would probably take something like 16-2 or 17-1 just to earn consideration. And even then, with likely only a couple RPI top 50 wins on their resume, there might not be any guarantees.
8. Kay Felder may be the nation's most underrated player
Here's what Washington coach Lorenzo Romar had to say about Oakland star Kay Felder on Saturday: "The last guy that played in this building that looked like that plays for the Celtics now."
Felder was worthy of that comparison to former Washington guard Isaiah Thomas after he led Horizon League contender Oakland to a 97-83 victory in Seattle. The 5-foot-9 junior scored a career-high 38 points on 14-for-27 shooting, repeatedly blowing by Andrew Andrews, Dejounte Murray and anyone else in purple and gold who had the misfortune of trying to guard him.
The huge night from Felder was hardly a fluke either. He's averaging 24.6 points and 8.9 assists so far this season, both among the top five nationally. He'll have a chance to showcase himself on a national stage on Tuesday night when Oakland visits top-ranked Michigan State.
Reunion Between Peyton Manning And Bill Polian Possible In Tennessee.
Could Peyton Manning (L) and Bill Polian reunite in Tennessee? (Photo/USATSI)
He remains close with Polian, and some within the Titans organization believe a combination as Manning as a football czar (with the option to own a piece of the team even if it is sold in the next year as many around the league expect), with Bill Polian as team president, his son, Chris, as general manager and Jacksonville assistant Doug Marrone or Bears offensive coordinator Adam Gase as coach is very probable for 2016.
Polian came very close to taking a football czar position with the Bills last year and would have retained Marrone as Bills coach if he did, and Manning is close to Gase from his time as Denver's offensive coordinator. Manning and Polian both left Indianapolis under less-than-ideal conditions, and the opportunity to go head-to-head with Colts owner Jim Irsay twice a year might also appeal to them. The competitive streak of both men is considered legendary by their peers. Manning's father, Archie, recently told a New Orleans television station even he is unsure what his son will do in 2016.
"Peyton's got plenty of sense, so when everything's done at the end of the year he'll sit down and make a decision," Archie Manning told WDSU. "Whatever he does, Peyton will attack it. If he steps down, he'll find something else and go after it. If he wants to play some more, he'll go after it."
The Titans are essentially a blank slate after firing head coach Ken Whisenhunt early in the season, and the Adams family is desperate to make the team more relevant and interesting within the local market. They could also be seeking ways to bolster the franchise ahead of a potential sale. Clearing the deck early makes sense, as Manning -- or any new president/GM -- would not have to begin his tenure with a flurry of firings. Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, who is likely to make sweeping changes throughout his organization yet again, is also interested in bringing Manning on board in an executive capacity if the opportunity presents itself, league sources said, and the quarterback will have plenty of ownership/front office interest if he does indeed hang up the spikes in a few weeks.
On
Memoriesofhistory.com
1941 - Ray McLean (Chicago Bears) performed a drop kick for an extra point in the NFL. The next one would not happen until Doug Flutie performed on 61 years later.
1951 - Joe DiMaggio announced his retirement from major league baseball.
1959 - Tom Landry accepted the position of head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Landry led the team to 22 consecutive winning seasons in his 29 years as coach.
1969 - Vince Lombardi coached his last game. His Washington Redskins lost to the Dallas Cowboys 20-10. The Redskins ended that season at 7-5-2, which was the first winning season for the team in 14 years.
1975 - John Riggins became the first New York Jets player to gain 1,000 yards.
1975 - George Blanda, in his final regular-season game, became the first professional football player to reach 2,000 points. His total was 2,002 points over a 26-year career.
1975 - The Buffalo Sabres scored eight goals in the third period against the Washington Capitals. The Sabres won the game 14-2.
1980 - Harold Carmichael ended his NFL streak of 127 consecutive game receptions.
1981 - Cincinnati defeated Bradley 75-73 in seven overtimes. The game was the longest collegiate basketball game in the history of NCAA Division I competition.
1983 - The NBA's Indiana Pacers ended a 28 game losing streak.
1993 - Shaquille O'Neal's "I Know I Got Skillz" single was certified Gold by the RIAA.
1951 - Joe DiMaggio announced his retirement from major league baseball.
1959 - Tom Landry accepted the position of head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Landry led the team to 22 consecutive winning seasons in his 29 years as coach.
1969 - Vince Lombardi coached his last game. His Washington Redskins lost to the Dallas Cowboys 20-10. The Redskins ended that season at 7-5-2, which was the first winning season for the team in 14 years.
1975 - John Riggins became the first New York Jets player to gain 1,000 yards.
1975 - George Blanda, in his final regular-season game, became the first professional football player to reach 2,000 points. His total was 2,002 points over a 26-year career.
1975 - The Buffalo Sabres scored eight goals in the third period against the Washington Capitals. The Sabres won the game 14-2.
1980 - Harold Carmichael ended his NFL streak of 127 consecutive game receptions.
1981 - Cincinnati defeated Bradley 75-73 in seven overtimes. The game was the longest collegiate basketball game in the history of NCAA Division I competition.
1983 - The NBA's Indiana Pacers ended a 28 game losing streak.
1993 - Shaquille O'Neal's "I Know I Got Skillz" single was certified Gold by the RIAA.
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