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"Sports Quote of the Day"
“Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.” ~ Mark Twain, Author and Humorist
Trending: U.S. Open Golf Tournament Preview & Rankings. (See the golf section for tournament news and updates).
(Photo/Omnisport)
Trending: Blackhawks open with second-best odds to win 2017 Stanley Cup. (See the hockey section for Blackhawks and NHL updates).
Trending: Bears offense glad to have Alshon Jeffery back but clouds linger and the Bears' new offensive line settling in despite embargo on contact. (See the football section for Bears updates).
Trending: Bulls could finally go back to the point guard well with Tyler Ulis. (See the basketball section for Bulls updates).
Trending: College World Series: Television schedule, game times for the NCAA college baseball championships. (See the last article on this blog for College World Series updates).
Trending: Cubs and White Sox road to the "World Series".
Cubs 2016 Record: 44-19
White Sox 2016 Record: 32-33
(See the baseball section for Cubs and White Sox updates).
Bear Down Chicago Bears!!!!! Bears offense glad to have Alshon Jeffery back but clouds linger.
By John Mullin
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
The moment came late in Tuesday’s first mandatory minicamp practice as White brought in a touchdown pass on a contested catch. The score sent the entire offense into mass celebration, something the group has had to endure the other way, with a whooping defense chirping away on myriad plays as the offense has lurched through its learning curve under Loggains.
The throw did not go to Jeffery but one critical concept within the offense is for Jeffery and White to prevent defenses from swarming to shut done one at the risk of leaving the other open. For that reason, Jeffery’s presence was a factor and teammates knew it.
“I was so happy to see him this morning,” said guard Kyle Long. “Even happier when I saw him in the huddle and we were calling passing plays, and even happier when I’m seeing him make huge catches in traffic. I told him, I said ‘Dude, it’s great to have you back.’ I understand he’s dealing with all of that stuff, and that’s none of my business, but to have him out here ... the defense has been celebrating too much, so to have our secret weapon out there was good.”
Jeffery has not been a “secret” weapon the past couple of seasons, given his production and Pro Bowl attendance. But he has been a secret, or at least an unknown because of his decision to stay away from Halas Hall for all voluntary sessions, even while being in Chicago to sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” for a Wrigley Field seventh-inning stretch.
“Me and my agent talked about it and felt it was best for me to train somewhere else,” Jeffery said on Tuesday. “I just felt it was the best situation for me.”
The organization would unquestionably disagree, beyond any casual slighting of the workout programs and facilities put together for players.
Jeffery has signed his franchise tag, guaranteeing him $14.6 million for the 2016 season. He and the Bears have expressed hopes for a multi-year pact, which would presumably pay Jeffery in that range for several years, and the two sides have until July 15 to conclude a long-term deal. At that point, the tag sticks.
Under the circumstances, the lack of that deal suggests that the Bears are comfortable with the money for this year, but less so the durability of Jeffery, who missed all of seven games and significant portions of two others last season.
For his part, Jeffery is downplaying any suggestions that injuries were even an issue in 2015.
“I just think injuries played a little part in that,” Jeffery said. “But overall, as a team, not just for me, we didn’t do well. We didn’t make the playoffs. That’s the main goal. To win the division and make the playoffs. So it’s not what I did. It’s overall as a team.
“I mean I did some things this offseason to prevent them, but overall with injuries, this is the game of football. There is a 99 percent chance you are going to get hurt.”
What the Bears are willing to risk financially on that math will remain a point of discussion for the next four weeks.
Bears' new offensive line settling in despite embargo on contact.
By John Mullin.
Kyle Long (Photo/csnchicago.com)
Linemen – offensive and defensive – aren’t really allowed to hit each other or anyone else in earnest this time of year, even in the closing days of the pre-training-camp phase of the 2016 offseason. That includes this week’s mandatory three-day minicamp, expected to be the first real sighting of Alshon Jeffery after the wide receiver has chosen to stay away from Halas Hall amid stalled talks on a new contract.
But for one group in particular this time is critical, contact or no contact, because it is about laying the foundation of coordination.
Of the five current starting offensive linemen, only one – right guard Kyle Long – is in the same position he was this time a year ago, and Long spent the 2015 season at right tackle. Only one – left tackle Charles Leno Jr. – is in the same position he was at the finish of 2015.
Right tackle Bobby Massie and left guard Ted Larsen were playing those positions last offseason. It’s just that they were playing them in Arizona.
Turnover and change is not necessarily an issue for offensive lines. The 2005 Bears’ line had only two of the 2004 starters in the same spot and improved by six wins and made the playoffs. The 2006 group brought in another new starter and reached the Super Bowl.
The choreography that is axiomatic for success is under serious development right now, regardless of how live the action is. The contact embargo still may be in place, but getting up to speed, literally, and still being in right places at that next-level speed has been the focus since the walk-throughs against inverted trash cans through the offseason.
“It’s a lot different when you’re lined up in the spring and there are trash cans across from you and then when you’ve got these big fast d-linemen across from you,” Long said. “There’s going to be a bit of a learning curve.
“We’ve got to gel. You talk to a lot of guys who have been on good teams before and they’ve said, ‘We didn’t really gel until the end of training camp,’ or ‘it took us until training camp.’ So there’s going to be some time to get some of the rust off from a technical standpoint, from a live football standpoint, but I think we’ll be all right.”
Larsen and Massie may know their positions and even some of the schematic details. They don’t, however, know their linemates and tendencies yet.
“It's a learning experience, something new for me,” Massie said. “It just takes repetition and time, that's the only thing.”
Even with just the modest amount of time, some settling in already is happening.
“Ted and I work together pretty well,” Leno said. “I miss Matt [Slauson, left guard released this offseason] because we became so close, but other than that it’s not a real big challenge. [Larsen is] a veteran. He knows the game. Me and him talk. We pick up on different things all the time. We help each other out in the meeting room and on the field. It’s not a big difference.”
Bears unsure Pernell McPhee will be ready for training camp.
By Rich Campbell
Outside linebacker Pernell McPhee was absent from the Chicago Bears’ mandatory minicamp practice Tuesday as he continues to recover from the arthroscopic surgery he had on his left knee shortly after the 2015 season ended.
Coach John Fox was noncommittal about McPhee’s availability for the start of training camp in late July, though he declined to disclose injury information about any player after Tuesday’s practice.
Fox was asked specifically whether McPhee would be ready for camp, to which players report July 27 in Bourbonnais.
“I can't predict five weeks day-to-day,” Fox said. “Pernell's doing what we think is best for him and for us, and I'll say the same until we get to training camp, and even then.”
How 'bout them Chicago Blackhawks? Blackhawks open with second-best odds to win 2017 Stanley Cup.
By Charlie Roumeliotis
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
The Pittsburgh Penguins became the ninth team in NHL history to win four or more Stanley Cups after defeating the San Jose Sharks, 3-1, in Game 6 on Sunday night, and the defending champions are always the team to beat heading into the next season.
Bovada released its initial odds to win the 2017 Stanley Cup, and the Blackhawks were tied for second with the Washington Capitals with 10-1 odds, sitting only behind the Penguins, who own the best odds at 8-1.
The Blackhawks may have been eliminated from the playoffs in the first round this season, but that arguably only increases their chances to win next year with a lengthy offseason to recharge, physically and mentally, after winning three Stanley Cups since 2010 and appearing in the three straight Conference Finals from 2013-15.
The NHL also hasn't seen a repeat champion in the salary cap era, which began in 2005-06.
The last team to accomplish that feat was the Detroit Red Wings in 1997 and 1998, although it's worth mentioning that the Penguins won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1991 and 1992.
Check out the full odds below:
Pittsburgh Penguins: 8-1
Washington Capitals: 10-1
Chicago Blackhawks: 10-1
St. Louis Blues: 12-1
Los Angeles Kings: 14-1
San Jose Sharks: 14-1
Tampa Bay Lightning: 14-1
Anaheim Ducks: 16-1
Dallas Stars: 16-1
Detroit Red Wings: 18-1
Minnesota Wild: 18-1
Nashville Predators: 18-1
New York Rangers: 18-1
Montreal Canadiens: 20-1
New York Islanders: 20-1
Boston Bruins: 25-1
Florida Panthers: 25-1
Philadelphia Flyers: 25-1
Colorado Avalanche: 33-1
Calgary Flames: 40-1
Edmonton Oilers: 40-1
Ottawa Senators: 40-1
Arizona Coyotes: 50-1
Carolina Hurricanes: 50-1
Columbus Blue Jackets: 50-1
New Jersey Devils: 50-1
Vancouver Canucks: 50-1
Winnipeg Jets: 50-1
Buffalo Sabres: 66-1
Toronto Maple Leafs: 66-1
Las Vegas NHL expansion team is ‘done deal’: Report.
By Greg Wyshynski
The worst-kept secret in hockey is becoming less secret by the minute: The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that the NHL will expand to Las Vegas and leave Quebec City on the back burner.
A person with direct knowledge of the NHL's decision says the league has settled on Las Vegas as its choice for expansion, provided organizers can come up with a $500 million fee.
The person spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity because details have not been released by the league ahead of its Board of Governors meeting on June 22. Quebec City was also considered for expansion. A second person who had been briefed on the decision said Las Vegas was a "done deal" following the recommendation of the NHL's executive committee.
The 2017-18 season would be the earliest the league would expand.
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that "the NHL’s Executive Committee voted unanimously to recommend expansion to Las Vegas." He also reports the team is expected to be the Las Vegas Black Knights.
The NHL told Yahoo Sports on Tuesday that it has no comment on the report.
The Sin Bin, a Vegas hockey blog that has some insider sources on the bid, reported last week that the executive committee had recommended expansion.
The fact that the NHL had released expansion draft information to its teams was also seemingly a harbinger that this was going to happen.
Greg Beacham’s AP report curiously hedges on whether the Las Vegas Black Knights will begin play in 2017-18, but that’s also been widely expected as part of the announcement.
The official announcement should come next week before the NHL Awards in Las Vegas after the recommendation is presented to the NHL Board of Governors.
NHL expansion to Las Vegas has its champions and its detractors – including some that would rather see relocation rather than expansion – and that’s understandable. But for hockey to be the first sport in that arena, and in that market, could mean laying down roots in a very lucrative place.
Blackhawks mailbag: Shaw, Bickell and defensive options.
The NHL told Yahoo Sports on Tuesday that it has no comment on the report.
The Sin Bin, a Vegas hockey blog that has some insider sources on the bid, reported last week that the executive committee had recommended expansion.
The fact that the NHL had released expansion draft information to its teams was also seemingly a harbinger that this was going to happen.
Greg Beacham’s AP report curiously hedges on whether the Las Vegas Black Knights will begin play in 2017-18, but that’s also been widely expected as part of the announcement.
The official announcement should come next week before the NHL Awards in Las Vegas after the recommendation is presented to the NHL Board of Governors.
NHL expansion to Las Vegas has its champions and its detractors – including some that would rather see relocation rather than expansion – and that’s understandable. But for hockey to be the first sport in that arena, and in that market, could mean laying down roots in a very lucrative place.
Blackhawks mailbag: Shaw, Bickell and defensive options.
By Tracey Myers
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
So for the Blackhawks, what happens now? For the umpteenth summer they’ve got some decisions to make and a tight budget with which to deal. The 2017-18 salary cap hasn’t been released yet. But according to several reports it’s unlikely to go up much, if at all, from the $71.4 million cap of last season. The Blackhawks have been up against the cap for years now, so this is nothing new. Neither is their losing a key player due to the crunch. Yeah, it’s probably happening again his summer, too.
As one could predict, most of the questions for this mailbag are about Bryan Bickell and Andrew Shaw. So let’s get to it.
Steve Potts (@SPendHawk): Will Bickell get bought out? Seems like the best option with the cap vs. forcing a solid young asset into a trade.
Probably. The Blackhawks have tried to trade Bickell already and it’s not working, and I certainly wouldn’t give up a valuable asset in a package for him. So the buyout is very likely. Keep in mind if the Blackhawks do that they’ll be on the hook for $1.5 million in 2017-18. But what looms larger is the $3 million that would come off the books now. Considering the 2016-17 cap will go up very little, if at all, they need that money now, regardless of how the Shaw situation ends.
Speaking of that, Mike Fortier (@mike48007) asks, “If they buy out Bickell, does that save enough on the cap to sign Shaw?”
Not necessarily. Again, where does the cap settle? How much does Shaw and his camp ask for? Not only that, but the Blackhawks still have holes to fill on the roster. Saving $3 million is nice for a money-crunched team, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be enough to keep Shaw.
Steve Suffredin (@stevesuffonair): How do you believe the Hawks will address the blue-line deficiencies this offseason? Something has to give.
They’ll do what they can with the limited amount of cash they have. But let me play devil’s advocate for a second here: the Blackhawks’ blue-line situation isn’t horrible. You had three guys (Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Niklas Hjalmarsson) who played a ton of hockey from 2013-2016. That was going to catch up, and I believe it did. Having those three back there would still be a dream for a lot of teams. I know some weren’t too happy with Trevor van Riemsdyk but getting that full season will help him going forward. Young guys will get better; not every player is Keith right out of the gate. The Blackhawks obviously have high hopes for recent signee Michal Kempny. Ville Pokka could get his chance. If anything, perhaps the Blackhawks find a serviceable veteran on the cheap but they can’t afford much more than that.
tems.zori_19 (@fatems_19): Who is the biggest priority for the Blackhawks to re-sign?
First is Shaw. After that, Artemi Panarin. If I’m them, I get that done as soon as possible. As of now the Blackhawks should have more wiggle room for 2017-18, which is when Panarin’s possible new deal with kick in (keep in mind, though, if the Blackhawks do buy out Bickell, it means a $1.5 million cap hit in 2017-18). Panarin has a nice little situation here: a fellow Russian teammate (Artem Anisimov) and a tremendous on-ice chemistry with Patrick Kane. As long as the Panarin camp doesn’t try to squeeze the Blackhawks for more cash than they already have, this needs to get done.
Marie Manning (@Marie_Manning): Thoughts on (Matt) Murray deserving Conn Smythe over (Sidney) Crosby?
There’s no doubt Murray’s work during the postseason was commendable and you could make the argument for him. You judge the whole postseason for a Conn Smythe candidate, but just to play devil’s advocate, look at the Penguins’ last few games vs. the Sharks. The Sharks were generating little to nothing – two shots in the third period of Game 6? Eek! I probably would have gone for Kris Letang, considering how much the Penguins leaned on him especially after Trevor Daley’s injury. The Penguins had a few worthy candidates.
Dom Palombo (@dompal88): Buffalo’s been a rumored trade partner for Shaw. Hawks could get McCabe or Slavin/Pesce from Carolina. Thoughts?
I’m always hesitant to address rumors, unless I’ve heard something or one of the best in our business have reported a possibility, and this is the first I’ve heard of this one. That being said, the Blackhawks have to try and get something out of Shaw if they can’t sign him, much like they did with the Brandon Saad trade to Columbus last summer.
Sally Daly (@DalySally): What is the grapevine saying about Calder Trophy odds for next week? Canadians are supposed to favor McDavid?
As Han Solo said, “never tell me the odds.” Seriously, I ignore all the odds stuff; just not my thing. Plus, I never talk to fellow writers about for whom they’re voting. None of my business. I wouldn’t just assume Canadian writers are automatically going for the Canadian playing in Canada. McDavid is a tremendous talent, and even with his injury he’ll be right up there in the voting. It was one hell of a rookie class this season. I still think Artemi Panarin has the edge but we shall see soon enough.
Austin Larson (@alarson2201): Do you think the Blackhawks will try to sign Brian Campbell to a deal?
Doubtful. Again, the Blackhawks don’t have much cash with which to work. Meanwhile, the Panthers have boatloads of it. Here’s another thing: would Campbell want to come back? Let’s go back to when Campbell was traded in the summer of 2011. At that time and again during his first season with the Panthers, Campbell talked of how much he enjoyed being back on a Dale Tallon team, that, “you’re not walking on eggshells around here.” Yes, those were his thoughts several years ago; things change. But long story short, mainly due to the money situation, I don’t see it happening.
Papa Bearfighter (@Papabearfighter): Any LA counterparts hearing anything about a Rob Scuderi buyout? All three teams have cap issues. Might make sense?
I’m assuming you’re asking if Scuderi could come back here? (My apologies if that’s not the case). First, I’ve heard nothing about a Scuderi buyout. Second, no matter what happens with Scuderi and the Kings, I don’t see the Blackhawks trying that experiment again. Clearly it failed here the first time. Scuderi said the same on March 14 when the Kings were here. “Probably a better fit in LA; don’t think that’s criminal to say. I’m not the first person in professional sports that wasn’t a fit in one place. It’s OK to admit that and I’m glad each party can move on.”
Woods (@chicagofire44): Who you watching at Wimbledon men’s/women’s? And what do you see the Hawks looking for at the draft? Best available?
No massive rooting interest at Wimbledon, other than I’d love to see Roger Federer stay healthy and get at least one more title. As for the draft, we’ll see what the Blackhawks do. As of now they don’t even have a pick until the third round (83rd overall). I think they would go the defensemen route first, since they’ve lost more organizational depth there the last few years.
Froggy V (@PoolFroggy): Why do the Hawks get very few Saturday home games?
Will have to get back to you on this. But I can only assume that it’s because the United Center, between Blackhawks, Bulls and concerts galore, is a very busy building.
Angie Linton (@angielintonindy): Any summer vacation plans? Loved your Paris pics last year.
Very fortunate that I’ll be heading back there this summer again, although I’m probably going to keep the pictures at a minimum. But thank you!
Gettingthenumbersup (@Gettingthenumbe): 1. Don’t you hate getting unrealistic questions? 2. When is the press conference to announce (Dave) Bolland’s return?
1. Yes and, 2. I see what you did there.
Albert Almora Jr. delivers for Cubs in win over Nationals.
By Patrick Mooney
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
The Cubs felt enough urgency to win this that Joe Maddon called for Hector Rondon to try to get a five-out save in a one-run game against the Washington Nationals.
The Cubs have arguably the best manager in the game, a dominant closer and a superb setup guy in Pedro Strop, but that won’t stop all the speculation about what it would take to pry lights-out lefty reliever Andrew Miller from the New York Yankees. Especially now that the Nationals might feel even more urgency to find an endgame solution with closer Jonathan Papelbon (intercostal strain) on the disabled list.
So when Albert Almora Jr. stepped into the box in the ninth inning on Tuesday night at Nationals Park – one week after making his big-league debut – he didn’t have to worry about facing an All-Star closer with a World Series ring.
Almora lined a go-ahead RBI double into left field off Washington lefty Sammy Solis, scoring Addison Russell from second base and capping a 4-3 victory in front of a sellout crowd.
Rondon – who allowed an inherited runner to score when Anthony Rendon lofted a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning – slammed the door with a clean ninth to earn the win.
Jason Hammel (7-2, 2.36 ERA) and Stephen Strasburg (10-0, 3.03 ERA) will face off on Wednesday in the finale to this hyped three-game series, the last time the National League’s two best teams will meet…until October?
If Cubs think big at trade deadline, Anthony Rizzo is cool with Aroldis Chapman.
By Patrick Mooney
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
Cubs officials viewed Anthony Rizzo staring into the dugout and essentially challenging the Cincinnati Reds to a fight as a turning point in the rebuild. The young first baseman kept barking, dropping his hat and glove to the ground, responding to the two 100-mph pitches Aroldis Chapman buzzed around Nate Schierholtz’s head.
Rizzo and Chapman eventually patched things up at the 2014 All-Star Game, less than a week after that benches-clearing incident at Great American Ball Park. The Cubs respected how Rizzo stood up for his teammates and showed a different kind of intensity for what was becoming an emerging team.
Now comes a New York Post report that the Cubs had a scout at Yankee Stadium watching flame-throwing relievers Chapman, Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances, waiting to see if the Bronx Bombers will finally become sellers after an unbelievable run of 23 straight winning seasons.
“Yeah,” Rizzo said before Monday’s 4-1 loss at Nationals Park, he’s good with the idea of Chapman joining Joe Maddon’s bullpen. “But I know enough now not to look at the rumors. I’m sure we have scouts (out) scouting a lot of other people, too. But since they’re looking at the Yankees, it’s news.”
Rizzo is right – the Cubs will scout anyone who might be a difference-maker – and has perspective after getting traded twice before his 23rd birthday. Remember, Rizzo was supposed to be the long-term answer at first base for the Boston Red Sox and San Diego Padres. If anything, this just shows how targeted the Cubs can be with the team that has the best record in baseball.
There is no wondering if the Cubs are a year away or mortgaging the future for the coin flip of a wild-card game. As good as setup guy Pedro Strop (2.78 ERA, 12 holds) and closer Hector Rondon (1.33 ERA, 11 saves) have been, the bullpen is this team’s most obvious weakness. Adding one of those Yankee relievers would be shortening the game and copying part of the World Series blueprint the Kansas City Royals used last year.
Rizzo knows Theo Epstein as well as any other player in the clubhouse, how the president of baseball operations won’t hesitate to make a bold, aggressive move.
“That’s what he does,” Rizzo said. “I think we’ve put ourselves in a way better position this year than last year at the trade deadline to (address) whatever he thinks we need. Obviously, we’re really happy with our team now.
“If you’re talking last year, we weren’t exposed in any way last year in the playoffs. We just got beat. That’s really it. It’s not like we have one weakness. We just didn’t hit versus the Mets – and that bit us.”
Chapman began this season serving a 30-game suspension covered by Major League Baseball’s new domestic violence policy, accepting the punishment after a dispute with his girlfriend in South Florida last fall. The Yankees waited for the price to drop after Cincinnati’s deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers fell apart at the winter meetings as those police reports surfaced.
That background information will have to be a factor, even if Chapman will become a free agent after this season. But the Cubs will have to be in those conversations if the Yankees ultimately decide to sell, because Chapman has 11 saves, a 1.93 ERA and 21 strikeouts through 14 innings.
“He throws 100, and he pretty much locates it (wherever),” Rizzo said. “And then if you happen to hit his fastball, he’ll start wrinkling in his slider or curveball. He knows how to pitch. The game’s over when he comes in.”
Rizzo and Chapman eventually patched things up at the 2014 All-Star Game, less than a week after that benches-clearing incident at Great American Ball Park. The Cubs respected how Rizzo stood up for his teammates and showed a different kind of intensity for what was becoming an emerging team.
Now comes a New York Post report that the Cubs had a scout at Yankee Stadium watching flame-throwing relievers Chapman, Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances, waiting to see if the Bronx Bombers will finally become sellers after an unbelievable run of 23 straight winning seasons.
“Yeah,” Rizzo said before Monday’s 4-1 loss at Nationals Park, he’s good with the idea of Chapman joining Joe Maddon’s bullpen. “But I know enough now not to look at the rumors. I’m sure we have scouts (out) scouting a lot of other people, too. But since they’re looking at the Yankees, it’s news.”
Rizzo is right – the Cubs will scout anyone who might be a difference-maker – and has perspective after getting traded twice before his 23rd birthday. Remember, Rizzo was supposed to be the long-term answer at first base for the Boston Red Sox and San Diego Padres. If anything, this just shows how targeted the Cubs can be with the team that has the best record in baseball.
There is no wondering if the Cubs are a year away or mortgaging the future for the coin flip of a wild-card game. As good as setup guy Pedro Strop (2.78 ERA, 12 holds) and closer Hector Rondon (1.33 ERA, 11 saves) have been, the bullpen is this team’s most obvious weakness. Adding one of those Yankee relievers would be shortening the game and copying part of the World Series blueprint the Kansas City Royals used last year.
Rizzo knows Theo Epstein as well as any other player in the clubhouse, how the president of baseball operations won’t hesitate to make a bold, aggressive move.
“That’s what he does,” Rizzo said. “I think we’ve put ourselves in a way better position this year than last year at the trade deadline to (address) whatever he thinks we need. Obviously, we’re really happy with our team now.
“If you’re talking last year, we weren’t exposed in any way last year in the playoffs. We just got beat. That’s really it. It’s not like we have one weakness. We just didn’t hit versus the Mets – and that bit us.”
Chapman began this season serving a 30-game suspension covered by Major League Baseball’s new domestic violence policy, accepting the punishment after a dispute with his girlfriend in South Florida last fall. The Yankees waited for the price to drop after Cincinnati’s deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers fell apart at the winter meetings as those police reports surfaced.
That background information will have to be a factor, even if Chapman will become a free agent after this season. But the Cubs will have to be in those conversations if the Yankees ultimately decide to sell, because Chapman has 11 saves, a 1.93 ERA and 21 strikeouts through 14 innings.
“He throws 100, and he pretty much locates it (wherever),” Rizzo said. “And then if you happen to hit his fastball, he’ll start wrinkling in his slider or curveball. He knows how to pitch. The game’s over when he comes in.”
Why Jon Lester lobbied for Jonathan Papelbon and believes Cubs will be trade-deadline winners.
By Patrick Mooney
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
Before Jonathan Papelbon choked Bryce Harper in the dugout – becoming a billboard for the dysfunctional Washington Nationals last September – Jon Lester lobbied for the Cubs to acquire the All-Star closer/WWE-style villain at the trade deadline.
If all that bad blood is in the past, Washington is now dealing with a new crisis, putting Papelbon on the disabled list with an intercostal strain before Tuesday’s game against the Cubs at Nationals Park.
With the Philadelphia Phillies looking to unload a toxic asset last summer, president of baseball operations Theo Epstein asked Lester for his thoughts on Papelbon, how that might work for manager Joe Maddon and what the response would be in the clubhouse.
Once again, the Cubs were going back to their Boston Red Sox connections. Lester and Papelbon had been key pieces to the 2007 World Series team that put a second championship on Epstein’s potential Hall of Fame resume.
What this means now for the best team in baseball: The Cubs believe they have created a strong culture that can absorb players with baggage and smooth over awkward situations and ego clashes. Epstein’s front office will canvass a cross-section of sources for information (so don’t read too much into every out-of-context whisper punched into Twitter). And you can never have enough pitching or too many backup plans, because Papelbon saved 365 games before going on the disabled list for the first time in his career.
“Pap’s a good dude,” Lester said. “A lot of the stuff that has kind of followed him around is maybe a little misconstrued. He’s obviously a strong personality. He’ll definitely tell you what’s on his mind, which I love. We get our asses powdered enough – I don’t need my teammates to do it.
“I love Pap. I thought he would have been a good fit. Joe and ‘Boz’ (pitching coach Chris Bosio) and all of us would have really helped him fit in here. I think the fan base would have been really good for him.
“Theo asked me about him. And then maybe like a week later I hadn’t heard anything, so I went (to Theo) and (said): ‘Hey, man, I think this would be great,’ and vouched for (it again).”
The Cubs tried to trade for Papelbon, but didn’t have the financial muscle to compete with the Nationals, who couldn’t placate displaced homegrown closer Drew Storen or live up to the World Series expectations, which got manager Matt Williams fired and ultimately led to Dusty Baker’s return to the dugout.
Papelbon agreed to rework his 2016 option, getting it guaranteed at $11 million instead of $13 million, with $3 million reportedly deferred to 2017 and the Phillies kicking in $4.5 million to cover the rest of his 2015 salary.
The Cubs had less than $5 million to play with last summer, and actually got swept by the last-place Phillies, waking up only five games over .500 on July 27 and facing a double-digit deficit against the St. Louis Cardinals in the division.
The Cubs wound up making smaller deals for their rotation (Dan Haren) and bullpen (Tommy Hunter) on July 31 before catching fire in August, finishing with 97 victories and winning two playoff rounds.
“It’s been documented that last year we weren’t expected to be where we were at,” Lester said. “So I think financially it kind of surprised everybody. And people kept asking us: ‘If they don’t get anybody, are you guys OK?’ It (was always): ‘Yeah, we’ll be fine.’
“Would we like maybe a little help here and there? Yeah, absolutely, but I didn’t really think that was the time to (mortgage the future). Obviously, now it’s easy to look back and say they made the right move as far as not selling the farm and not wasting a bunch of money.
“Theo and those guys are so good. They’re so prepared and they do (so much) homework and background on a lot of things that we (don’t think about). As a player and as a competitor, you’re like: ‘Just get him. I don’t care what his shoulder looks like – just get him – we’ll figure the rest out.’
“Whereas they sit back and (think): ‘We’re not trading two of our (young) guys for a half-a-year rental that we don’t need right now.’”
This is what Lester wanted when he signed that six-year, $155 megadeal after the 2014 season, deciding to anchor the rotation for a last-place team and dreaming about starting playoff games at Wrigley Field.
“That’s a cool part about being here,” Lester said. “In Boston, even though I had a little bit of time over there, I was still third or fourth on the totem pole as far as guys that were asked about things and kind of included in situations. So that was something that I also talked to Theo about when I was recruited by him – I want to be involved more. I don’t care if you listen to me or not, but I would like a phone or I would like a text.
“He does such a good job with communicating, whether it be situations like (Papelbon) or something going on in the clubhouse or something on the field. There’s definitely no disconnect between players and the front office.”
Poor pitching, outfield play hurts White Sox in loss to Tigers.
By Dan Hayes
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
A combination of bad starting pitching and poor outfield play in the absence of their injured center fielder was too much for the White Sox to overcome on Tuesday in a 11-8 loss to the Detroit Tigers in front of 17,403 at U.S. Cellular Field.
Miguel Gonzalez struggled and misplays by Avisail Garcia and Melky Cabrera in the corners didn’t help him any as the White Sox lost for the eighth time in 11 games. A night after James Shields gave up seven runs, Gonzalez allowed seven more and lasted only 3 1/3 innings. Tyler Saladino homered in the losing effort.
It was pretty apparent from the outset that Gonzalez wasn’t on his game.
The Tigers scored a run in the first and twice more in the second to grab a 3-0 lead.
But Gonzalez battled and appeared to retire Miguel Cabrera on a routine fly to the right-field corner after he started the third inning with a leadoff walk of Jose Iglesias. Garcia misjudged the ball, however, and it dropped on the track and bounced over the fence for a ground-rule double. The misplay came a night after Garcia had at least three other poor plays, including an error when he kicked away a Miguel Cabrera double. It also set up an extremely painful inning for the White Sox, who had to stay with Gonzalez even when he ran into control issues. With their bullpen having pitched 28 2/3 innings over the previous seven days, the White Sox needed length from Gonzalez, who walked four batters in the frame, including one with the bases loaded to fall behind 6-2. Gonzalez almost walked Ian Kinsler with the bases loaded, too, but got a called third strike to avoid further damage.
Gonzalez was knocked out of the game in the fourth when Miguel Cabrera doubled with one out. Matt Purke took over and immediately issued a walk and yielded one of three doubles by J.D. Martinez to make it 7-2. In a repeat of Monday’s game, Melky Cabrera then misplayed Justin Upton’s base hit into a two-run triple.
It’s the second straight poor outing turned in by the White Sox outfield since Jackson was placed on the disabled list on Friday with a left meniscus injury. With Adam Eaton now in center instead of right field, where he has produced a major-league high 16 Defensive Runs Saved, the White Sox have looked out of sorts.
The White Sox expect Jackson will miss at least six weeks.
“We had it where it was going pretty good when we had Austin out there and Adam was in right,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said before the game. “It becomes something that you notice right away, when one piece is missing it seems a little off kilter. We're just going to have to get better.
“(Garcia is) just going to have to work on it. He's going to have to get better and find a way to get past that.”
Purke recovered from there and delivered 2 2/3 innings for the White Sox. Rookie Michael Ynoa followed with two scoreless innings in his major league debut.
Those efforts allowed the White Sox another chance to attempt an epic rally against Tigers pitching.
Trailing 1-0, the White Sox plated two runs against Jordan Zimmermann in the first inning. Tim Anderson doubled and scored when Adam Eaton’s bunt base hit was thrown away by Mike Aviles. Eaton scored on Melky Cabrera’s sac fly.
The White Sox rallied for three runs -- all with two outs -- in the fourth off Zimmermann. J.B. Shuck singled in a run and Tyler Saladino blooped in two more to make it 10-5.
The White Sox added a run in the fifth when Eaton tripled and scored on a Jose Abreu sac fly. But Zimmermann settled in and retired eight of the last nine he faced to hold the White Sox at bay.
Down five, the White Sox continued to apply pressure in the ninth as Shuck doubled and Saladino homered off Mark Lowe. With the top of the order due, Detroit was forced to get two relievers throwing, including closer Francisco Rodriguez, who blew a save Monday.
Just Another Chicago Bulls Session..... Bulls could finally go back to the point guard well with Tyler Ulis.
By Mark Strotman
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
Four years ago the Bulls selected Kentucky's Marquis Teague, in part, as a security blanket for the rehabilitating Derrick Rose, who would wind up missing the entire season after ACL surgery.
At the time general manager Gar Forman admitted Teague filled a need - C.J. Watson and John Lucas III were free agents - but that the Bulls were also happy with the value he brought back with the 29th pick.
The 19-year-old Teague had just helped lead a Wildcats team to a national title alongside Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, the top two picks in that 2012 draft. The former five-star high school recruit had excellent speed, length and passing acumen. His inconsistent jumper - he shot just 41 percent from the field at Kentucky - and decision making meant he would be a project at the next level, but one with potential. That offseason the Bulls signed Nate Robinson and Kirk Hinrich to ease the transition.
The results were disastrous. Teague's shot never improved, he looked lost defensively and his work ethic was questioned. The Bulls cut their losses midway through his second year, dumping his salary to Brooklyn in exchange for Toko Shengalia, while playing out the season with D.J. Augustin and Hinrich - Rose suffered a torn meniscus in November; cutting bait on point guard depth showed just how far Teague had fallen.
The Bulls kept the diminutive point guard carousel turning in 2014, swapping out Augustin with Aaron Brooks. They also added E'Twaun Moore as a combo guard behind both Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler. Both Brooks and Moore remained in Chicago in 2015 but will hit free agency on July 1. Where Brooks struggled mightily, barely eclipsing 40 percent from the field, Moore blossomed under Fred Hoiberg, averaging 7.5 points on 48.1 percent shooting. The Bulls would like to retain the latter, but Moore may look for a bigger role elsewhere this summer.
As successful as the Bulls have been at finding point guard talent on the waiver wire - Robinson, Augustin, Brooks (two years ago) and Moore (last year) all were serviceable reserves who performed well when injuries struck - it's a position they've barely touched since drafting Rose, and avoided entirely since the Teague disaster. And now with free agency just a year away for Rose, the future of the position is in question.
Since the Bulls used the first overall pick on Rose in 2008, they've drafted a point guard with just one of their 10 selections. Only four other teams have drafted just one point guard in that span: Toronto, which traded for two-time All-Star Kyle Lowry in 2012; Charlotte, which drafted point guard Kemba Walker in 2011; and Cleveland, which took Kyrie Irving first overall in 2011 and also found their backup in Matthew Dellavedova as an undrafted free agent in 2013.
Some of the reasoning behind the Bulls' lack of attention to the position in drafts is, well, positioning. It wasn't a need after Rose exploded onto the scene as the Rookie of the Year and won MVP two seasons later. A year after selecting Teague the Bulls watched Dennis Schroder and Shane Larkin go two and three picks before their No. 20 slot, where they opted for Tony Snell. In 2014, three point guards (Exum, Smart, Payton) went in the top-10, and the Bulls had their sights set on Doug McDermott when they traded up to No. 11. And last year Duke's Tyus Jones could have been an option, but SEC Player of the Year Bobby Portis fell into their laps at No. 22.
In less than two weeks the Bulls will again have a decision to make, this time at No. 14, the highest they've been slotted to select since they drafted Rose with the first pick in 2008.
And unless another no-brainer talent unexpectedly falls - Marquette's Henry Ellenson or Kentucky's Jamal Murray - the Bulls could find both a short-term and long-term answer in another young Kentucky point guard.
Tyler Ulis returned to the Wildcats expecting to shoulder more of a leadership role. That's what happens on John Calipari-led teams: stay more than a year and you're suddenly a veteran in a locker room full of high school talent.
Ulis, a five-star prospect at Chicago's Marian Catholic, watched as six of his teammates - including three fellow freshmen - were selected in last June's NBA Draft. After playing behind the Harrison twins, Andrew and Aaron, Ulis got his shot in the spotlight in 2015-16. He led a Kentucky team with yet another top-ranked recruiting class to a 27-9 record and an SEC Tournament title.
Ulis proved more than capable of an increased role, averaging 17.3 points and 7.0 assists in nearly 37 minutes per game. The littlest guy on the floor most nights was also the best defender, earning Defensive Player of the Year honors after racking up 1.5 steals per game. He became just the second player in SEC history to earn Player and Defensive Player of the Year honors. The other? Anthony Davis.
"That second year I had to do way more than I did my freshman year," Ulis said at last month's combine. "I learned a lot about myself. Learned how to be a leader on and off the court and I feel like it helped me through this process."
There are questions about how Ulis' size will translate at the next level. He measured in at 5-foot-10 with shoes and weighed only 149 pounds, the smallest player by more than 14 pounds. He had the combine's shortest wingspan, hand length and width, and standing reach. While his height won't change, Ulis spoke at the combine about how working with a nutritionist during the pre-draft process will help him put back on the 10 pounds he lost during the basketball season.
He'll figure out his weight. The height is another issue.
But the rise of Boston's Isaiah Thomas, who at 5-foot-9 became the NBA's shortest All-Star last season, has given players like Ulis hope of not only staying in the NBA, but thriving in it.
Even Chris Paul, Ulis' favorite player and someone he models his game after, is only 6 feet tall.
"It's very inspirational," Ulis said of Thomas' All-Star campaign. "What he's doing at the next level is crazy, it's unbelievable. Nobody thought he would do it. He was the 60th pick in the draft and he talks about how he proved people wrong. He acknowledges it, and I feel like it's a great thing for me to see."
The Bulls should have an opportunity to select Ulis, who's slotted to go anywhere from the late lottery to the late 20s.
While he still needs to add weight to his frame before he's ready to defend at the next level, his basketball IQ, ability to thrive in transition and outside shot all go hand-in-hand with Fred Hoiberg's offensive philosophies. His assist-to-turnover ratio was sixth best in the country and he shot a respectable 44 percent, including 49 percent from inside the arc. His skill set would be a perfect fit for a Bulls offense that ranked 25th in efficiency last season.
Gar Forman and John Paxson will have their pick of point guards at No. 14, unlike in years' past. Names like Demetrius Jackson, Wade Baldwin IV and Dejounte Murray all should be available at the end of the lottery. Only Kris Dunn will be gone by No. 14, and even he is a player the Bulls reportedly have interest in.
Ulis couldn't be more different than Teague, both in stature, skill set and poise. And yet he's similar in that he gives the Bulls another chance to get their hands on a point guard with potential as a future building block. It'd be premature to dub Ulis the heir apparent to Rose, whose future with the Bulls is still in question. Rose notwithstanding, Ulis could give the Bulls, at the very least, an efficient guard on the second unit with room to grow. In a best-case scenario he becomes the point guard of the future, the latest in a line of Calipari guards to do so.
"I've always believed in myself, had confidence in my game. I'm just going to keep playing through," he said. "At my size I have to come out with a chip on my shoulder, play hard, work harder than everybody and just try to prove them wrong."
At the time general manager Gar Forman admitted Teague filled a need - C.J. Watson and John Lucas III were free agents - but that the Bulls were also happy with the value he brought back with the 29th pick.
The 19-year-old Teague had just helped lead a Wildcats team to a national title alongside Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, the top two picks in that 2012 draft. The former five-star high school recruit had excellent speed, length and passing acumen. His inconsistent jumper - he shot just 41 percent from the field at Kentucky - and decision making meant he would be a project at the next level, but one with potential. That offseason the Bulls signed Nate Robinson and Kirk Hinrich to ease the transition.
The results were disastrous. Teague's shot never improved, he looked lost defensively and his work ethic was questioned. The Bulls cut their losses midway through his second year, dumping his salary to Brooklyn in exchange for Toko Shengalia, while playing out the season with D.J. Augustin and Hinrich - Rose suffered a torn meniscus in November; cutting bait on point guard depth showed just how far Teague had fallen.
The Bulls kept the diminutive point guard carousel turning in 2014, swapping out Augustin with Aaron Brooks. They also added E'Twaun Moore as a combo guard behind both Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler. Both Brooks and Moore remained in Chicago in 2015 but will hit free agency on July 1. Where Brooks struggled mightily, barely eclipsing 40 percent from the field, Moore blossomed under Fred Hoiberg, averaging 7.5 points on 48.1 percent shooting. The Bulls would like to retain the latter, but Moore may look for a bigger role elsewhere this summer.
As successful as the Bulls have been at finding point guard talent on the waiver wire - Robinson, Augustin, Brooks (two years ago) and Moore (last year) all were serviceable reserves who performed well when injuries struck - it's a position they've barely touched since drafting Rose, and avoided entirely since the Teague disaster. And now with free agency just a year away for Rose, the future of the position is in question.
Since the Bulls used the first overall pick on Rose in 2008, they've drafted a point guard with just one of their 10 selections. Only four other teams have drafted just one point guard in that span: Toronto, which traded for two-time All-Star Kyle Lowry in 2012; Charlotte, which drafted point guard Kemba Walker in 2011; and Cleveland, which took Kyrie Irving first overall in 2011 and also found their backup in Matthew Dellavedova as an undrafted free agent in 2013.
Some of the reasoning behind the Bulls' lack of attention to the position in drafts is, well, positioning. It wasn't a need after Rose exploded onto the scene as the Rookie of the Year and won MVP two seasons later. A year after selecting Teague the Bulls watched Dennis Schroder and Shane Larkin go two and three picks before their No. 20 slot, where they opted for Tony Snell. In 2014, three point guards (Exum, Smart, Payton) went in the top-10, and the Bulls had their sights set on Doug McDermott when they traded up to No. 11. And last year Duke's Tyus Jones could have been an option, but SEC Player of the Year Bobby Portis fell into their laps at No. 22.
In less than two weeks the Bulls will again have a decision to make, this time at No. 14, the highest they've been slotted to select since they drafted Rose with the first pick in 2008.
And unless another no-brainer talent unexpectedly falls - Marquette's Henry Ellenson or Kentucky's Jamal Murray - the Bulls could find both a short-term and long-term answer in another young Kentucky point guard.
Tyler Ulis returned to the Wildcats expecting to shoulder more of a leadership role. That's what happens on John Calipari-led teams: stay more than a year and you're suddenly a veteran in a locker room full of high school talent.
Ulis, a five-star prospect at Chicago's Marian Catholic, watched as six of his teammates - including three fellow freshmen - were selected in last June's NBA Draft. After playing behind the Harrison twins, Andrew and Aaron, Ulis got his shot in the spotlight in 2015-16. He led a Kentucky team with yet another top-ranked recruiting class to a 27-9 record and an SEC Tournament title.
Ulis proved more than capable of an increased role, averaging 17.3 points and 7.0 assists in nearly 37 minutes per game. The littlest guy on the floor most nights was also the best defender, earning Defensive Player of the Year honors after racking up 1.5 steals per game. He became just the second player in SEC history to earn Player and Defensive Player of the Year honors. The other? Anthony Davis.
"That second year I had to do way more than I did my freshman year," Ulis said at last month's combine. "I learned a lot about myself. Learned how to be a leader on and off the court and I feel like it helped me through this process."
There are questions about how Ulis' size will translate at the next level. He measured in at 5-foot-10 with shoes and weighed only 149 pounds, the smallest player by more than 14 pounds. He had the combine's shortest wingspan, hand length and width, and standing reach. While his height won't change, Ulis spoke at the combine about how working with a nutritionist during the pre-draft process will help him put back on the 10 pounds he lost during the basketball season.
He'll figure out his weight. The height is another issue.
But the rise of Boston's Isaiah Thomas, who at 5-foot-9 became the NBA's shortest All-Star last season, has given players like Ulis hope of not only staying in the NBA, but thriving in it.
Even Chris Paul, Ulis' favorite player and someone he models his game after, is only 6 feet tall.
"It's very inspirational," Ulis said of Thomas' All-Star campaign. "What he's doing at the next level is crazy, it's unbelievable. Nobody thought he would do it. He was the 60th pick in the draft and he talks about how he proved people wrong. He acknowledges it, and I feel like it's a great thing for me to see."
The Bulls should have an opportunity to select Ulis, who's slotted to go anywhere from the late lottery to the late 20s.
While he still needs to add weight to his frame before he's ready to defend at the next level, his basketball IQ, ability to thrive in transition and outside shot all go hand-in-hand with Fred Hoiberg's offensive philosophies. His assist-to-turnover ratio was sixth best in the country and he shot a respectable 44 percent, including 49 percent from inside the arc. His skill set would be a perfect fit for a Bulls offense that ranked 25th in efficiency last season.
Gar Forman and John Paxson will have their pick of point guards at No. 14, unlike in years' past. Names like Demetrius Jackson, Wade Baldwin IV and Dejounte Murray all should be available at the end of the lottery. Only Kris Dunn will be gone by No. 14, and even he is a player the Bulls reportedly have interest in.
Ulis couldn't be more different than Teague, both in stature, skill set and poise. And yet he's similar in that he gives the Bulls another chance to get their hands on a point guard with potential as a future building block. It'd be premature to dub Ulis the heir apparent to Rose, whose future with the Bulls is still in question. Rose notwithstanding, Ulis could give the Bulls, at the very least, an efficient guard on the second unit with room to grow. In a best-case scenario he becomes the point guard of the future, the latest in a line of Calipari guards to do so.
"I've always believed in myself, had confidence in my game. I'm just going to keep playing through," he said. "At my size I have to come out with a chip on my shoulder, play hard, work harder than everybody and just try to prove them wrong."
Golf: I got a club for that..... U.S. Open Preview & Rankings.
By Ryan O'Sullivan
The U.S. Open returns to Oakmont Country Club, where Jordan Spieth is defending his 2015 title (Chambers Bay) and Angel Cabrera returns to the site of his 2007 victory. As venues go, Oakmont is right at the top of the list of quintessential U.S. Open layouts. It is already the record holder, hosting eight times before this week. At nine, the brute is just showing off for the faithful.
History Lesson
Oakmont first hosted in 1927, when Tommy Armour hoisted the hardware. Other champions are Sam Parks Jr. (1935), Ben Hogan (1953), Jack Nicklaus (1962), Johnny Miller (1973), Larry Nelson (1983), Ernie Els (1994) and Cabrera in 2007. Oh, and Bobby Jones won a U.S. Amateur there (1925), while Gene Sarazen (1922) and Sam Snead (1951) won PGA Championships on the famed layout.
Simply put, if you don’t think a player is capable of being a multiple-major winner in his career, then don’t pick him to win this week.
The Course
While some courses take months, if not years, to groom themselves for a major championship, it has been suggested that Oakmont can be U.S. Open-ready in about a week. After some of the scuttlebutt at Chambers Bay in 2015, it’s probably a good thing that a trusted veteran was waiting in the wings this time around.
Oakmont will play to a par of 70, stretching out to a deceptively long 7,255 yards. It plays as a par of 71 to those in the membership that brave the tips, but the ninth hole traditionally plays as a par 4 for the U.S. Open. Both of the par 5s are over 600 yards, with the 12th hole tipping out at 667 yards. The par-4 third hole features the famed “church pew” bunkers, which you’ll hear plenty about throughout the week. The par-3 eighth hole plays 288 yards, requiring some players to consider driver off the tee.
Early indications are that the rough will be absolutely brutal, and the greens as fast as lightening. This means chopping out from wayward tee shots, tough lies around greens, and the possibility of a three putt at any time. While par is a relative number, don’t be surprised if a positive number wins the U.S. Open.
The Stats Say
Who cares? While I do my best to insulate myself from the noise of other prognosticators and preview writers, Twitter makes that somewhat impossible. I’ve seen chatter about using this stat, or not using that stat.
Toss out most of it.
I say most of it, because I am convinced one thing is especially relevant this week. That is, hitting it very long and very straight off the tee.
Because there is danger on every shot, it’s impossible to navigate Oakmont if one can’t be in play off the tee, and preferably a long way down the fairway. While one can still screw it up from there, you can’t very well be a factor if you are advancing your second shot on a par 4 30 yards four or five times a round.
Find the 20 or 30 or 50 guys that you believe can hit it long and in play (Total Driving, SG: Off-the-tee, Driving Distance are all starting points), and go from there. From that group, who can hit the green or scramble? Who can avoid three putts?
Because the rough and course conditions are so different than almost any other course, finding GIR from other than the fairway and other boutique stats are irrelevant.
Ask yourself this. Who are the best players? Who can win multiple majors in their career?
I believe in stats most weeks, and some more heavily than others. Don’t fall into the stats trap this week. You could do a lot worse than looking at Total Driving and All-Around Ranking and stopping there. Maybe throw in Par 4 Scoring.
That said, get ready for a very vanilla power ranking!
1. Jason Day – Probably the best player in the world right now, he absolutely has the game to contend at Oakmont. He is a long, complete player with a major championship trophy already on his mantle.
2. Rory McIlroy – Since his win at Congressional in the 2011 U.S. Open, I’ve been of the opinion that he may be the only player in the game that can win a major championship off the tee. He did it again at Kiawah Island in the PGA Championship. Oakmont is the kind of course where he can eliminate 95% of the field if he can dominate the tee shot. The putter could become a concern, but I would submit that getting on the dance floor is much more than half the battle this week.
3. Jordan Spieth – Defending champion returned to the winner’s circle at Colonial CC a few weeks back. The kid oozes class, which matters at this venue. He’s not long, but he’s sufficient. It should not be underestimated that he will be one of the most prepared players on the grounds.
4. Rickie Fowler – Similar to those above him, he can really get it done off the tee. As an afterthought, I checked his SG: Off-the-tee and saw he was fifth on TOUR. The eye test told me as much. He’s also a big-stage player. He’s had success across the board in the majors, won a PLAYERS, and done everything short of winning a major championship. It wouldn’t surprise anyone if he dramatically accomplished that breakthrough on a course of Oakmont’s stature.
5. Henrik Stenson – Another “eye test” guy. I can close my eyes and see him pounding that 3-wood 300 yards off every tee box and splitting most fairways. The most dangerous thing for Stenson will be his temper. He is known for having an explosive personality towards his clubs, and the rough at Oakmont will challenge that.
6. Dustin Johnson – What’s there to say, really? Everyone in the world of golf knows he has the game to do this. He also has the current form. This is a mental test for DJ, more than anything.
7. Bubba Watson – He tied for fifth here in ’07, and easily could have won if he kept his wits about him. I vividly recall Watson playing very fast and compounding mistakes early in the final round. He now has two green jackets that may keep him under control should he find himself in a similar situation on Father’s Day.
8. Phil Mickelson – His T2 in Memphis kept him from falling any farther than this. That sounds silly, as he has six runner-up finishes in 25 U.S. Opens, to just two missed cuts. The problem is, one of those two missed cuts came here in 2007, while he could only muster a distant T47 here in 1994.
9. Louis Oosthuizen – It’s possible I’m falling in love with guys who pass the eye test off the green, but who can forget what King Louis did in the 2010 Open Championship at St. Andrews? A performance like that would play very well at Oakmont. While he’s never played Oakmont, he has two top 10s in six U.S. Open appearances including a T2 last year.
10. Hideki Matsuyama – The Japanese stud, ranked 15th in the OWGR, may not have the commercial appeal to some casual golf fans as the others on this list, but he absolutely has the power and precision to burst onto the global golf stage of the elite this week.
11. Branden Grace – Tied for fourth in just his third U.S. Open start last year and has really spent the last 12 months solidifying himself as a global player since. A bit of a dark horse, but one with the chops to chase the title.
12. Adam Scott – I wouldn’t be surprised to find him getting plenty of love this week, but he’s not been great in U.S. Opens over the long run. Sufficient, but not great. That’s probably because the U.S. Open presents one of the most vigorous tests of golf, and his putting can struggle to keep up the standard. It would take an impeccable tournament of ball-striking for Scottie to hoist the hardware, but it could happen.
13. Danny Willett – It happened last year. That is, Jordan Spieth won the first two legs of the grand slam. My gut says to expect a letdown from Willett this week, but his game says otherwise.
14. Brooks Koepka – I don’t think he’s ready for this quite yet, but he’s played spectacular of late and has plenty of distance. Like the other 14 names on this list, I do think it possible that he wins multiple majors in his career.
15. Justin Rose – His 2013 U.S. Open win at Merion offers very little value this week. What is valuable is his tie for 10th in the 2007 U.S. Open at Oakmont. Rose is a great ball-striker, and the kind of player that could walk away with the trophy if he has a decent week putting and scrambling. He would be much higher if not for health concerns that have put him on the bench since THE PLAYERS.
Going a little bit deeper, here are a few categories of players who were also under consideration.
Close, but not quite ready for prime time just yet: Daniel Berger, Kevin Chappell, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Smylie Kaufman, Russell Knox, Justin Thomas and Chris Wood.
Just Missed: Paul Casey, Jim Furyk, Sergio Garcia, Matt Kuchar, Shane Lowry and Charl Schwartzel.
Missing a Cylinder: Angel Cabrera, Jason Dufner, Ernie Els, Lucas Glover, Bill Haas, Martin Kaymer, Graeme McDowell, Patrick Reed and Brandt Snedeker.
This should be a fantastic week of golf! Check back to see the Rotoworld staff picks on Tuesday evening.
Best of luck to all!
U.S. Open: Opta facts.
Omnisport
We use Opta stats to assess the numbers behind this week's U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania. (Photo/Omnisport)
World number two and defending champion Jordan Spieth will seek to claim back-to-back wins at the U.S Open, starting on Thursday.
After taking out the Masters last year, Spieth became the first man since Tiger Woods in 2002 to win the first two majors of a season, pipping fellow American Dustin Johnson by one stroke at Chambers Bay.
This week, Spieth will tee it up at the picturesque Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania looking to vanquish the demons of his April meltdown at Augusta.
Spieth must overcome the challenge of in-form world number one Jason Day, who was hampered by a severe bout of vertigo 12 months ago.
Northern Ireland's four-time major champion Rory McIlroy also looms large in a star-studded field set to be tested by a fiendishly difficult course.
Here, with the help of Opta, we take a look at some of the numbers behind this week's showpiece event:
- This is the 116th edition of the U.S. Open. Oakmont is hosting it for the ninth time, more than any other course.
- Angel Cabrera was the last winner of the U.S. Open at Oakmont, back in 2007. He won with a score of 285 (+5), the joint-highest winning total (to par) in any major in the 21st century, alongside Geoff Ogilvy's 2006 U.S. Open win at Winged Foot.
- The last five U.S. Opens played at Oakmont have not seen anyone win by more than one clear stroke (two play-offs, three wins by one stroke).
- Willie Anderson, Ben Hogan, Bobby Jones and Jack Nicklaus hold the record for most U.S. Open wins (4). Tiger Woods is one behind, alongside Hale Irwin.
- John McDermott is the youngest player to win the U.S. Open (19 years, 10 months and 14 days in 1911) while Irwin is the oldest (45 years and 15 days in 1990).
- Seventy per cent of U.S. Opens have been won by American players (81 out of 115).
- However, since 2010, more Europeans have won the U.S. Open than any other major: four out of six (Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Martin Kaymer).
- Spieth could become the first player to win consecutive U.S. Opens since Curtis Strange (1988, 1989). The 22-year-old has not finished lower than fourth in a major since the start of 2015.
- Rory McIlroy holds the record for lowest score at the U.S. Open: 268 (-16) in 2011 at Congressional. Since then, he has never finished better than tied ninth in the year's second major.
- McIlroy currently has four major victories. Among current active golfers, only Tiger Woods (14), Phil Mickelson (5) and Ernie Els (4) can boast as many or more major titles.
300-yard par 3 a problem? Fowler doesn't think so.
By Rex Hoggard
(Photo/Golf Channel)
The longest par 3 in U.S. Open history at 288 yards, Oakmont’s eighth hole will present a unique test for players this week.
“If you really take a hole as a par 3 and play 250 plus to possibly 300 [yards], it's probably one of the best ones to pick,” Fowler said. “It's a pretty big green. You've got an area to run up. If you put yourself in the right position on missing the green and not short side yourself, it's very playable.”
For most players the hole will require players to tee off with hybrid or fairway woods and in 2007, the last time the U.S. Open was played at Oakmont, No. 8 played .452 strokes over par and was reached in regulation 26.7 percent of the time.
Although he said the eighth hole will be a fair test, Fowler did lower expectations for fans and players.
“You won't see many 2s [birdies] there, but take 3 [par] and walk away,” he smiled.
NASCAR: Power Rankings: Kurt Busch (barely) maintains the top spot.
By Nick Bromberg
(Photo/yahoosports.com)
1. Kurt Busch (LW: 1): Busch did not have a top-10 car throughout much of the day on Sunday. Yet he finished 10th. We've said this numerous times before and we'll say it again. The mark of a title-contending team is one that can make a struggling day a decent one, and that's exactly what the No. 41 team did. And it meant Busch now has 13 top-10 finishes in the first 15 races of the year.
2. Chase Elliott (LW: 3): If you had no idea that Elliott had finished second after climbing from his car after the race, you'd have thought he finished 22nd. Dude, lighten up! We get that there's pressure succeeding Jeff Gordon in the No. 24 car and we understand that Elliott doesn't want to be a guy who comes off as being cocky and/or hasn't earned the ride in the No. 24 ... despite already being a NASCAR title-winner. Hopefully Elliott's future victory lane interview is a bit happier.
3. Kevin Harvick (LW: 2): Harvick started at the back of the pack but he made the biggest jump of anyone throughout the race on Sunday. Harvick finished 5th, a gain of 24 spots from where he started. No other driver had a 20+ spot gain throughout the race; the closest was Paul Menard with a 14-spot increase from start to finish.
4. Joey Logano (LW: 12): Logano is the biggest mover in Power Rankings as he makes an eight-spot jump. That's what winning does for you. Logano wasn't in any realistic danger of missing the Chase, though he's now virtually guaranteed to be in because of the win. With 10 winners in 15 races, there's a slight chance there could be more than 16 winners, meaning someone will get left out of the Chase. We don't think that slight chance will happen, but it'd be fascinating if it did.
5. Brad Keselowski (LW: 4): Keselowski led 10 laps and finished fourth, though seven of those laps came during a strategy play that almost backfired in the early stages of the race. Keselowski stayed out on the track longer than anyone else did on the first set of pit stops and almost ran out of fuel. His car sputtered and may not have made it back to pit road if it wasn't for a timely caution.
6. Martin Truex Jr. (LW: 6): Here's the guy who was the cause of that timely caution. Truex spun and his car looked like it had a fair bit of damage. Well, a fair enough bit of damage to make it uncompetitive at an aerodynamically sensitive track like Michigan. But Truex's team got the car fixed up and he ended up finishing 12th.
7. Matt Kenseth (LW: 5): Truex was two spots ahead of Kenseth, who finished 13th. Kenseth won the last race at Michigan, which featured a set of aerodynamic rules about the antithesis of what we saw on Sunday. We were going to add a comment from Kenseth about the contrast between the two sets of rules here but he didn't have any post-race quotes published.
8. Carl Edwards (LW: 9): Like Harvick, Edwards' car also got faster as the day went on and he finished a spot behind Harvick in sixth. Edwards even said at one point during the race he felt that he wasn't going to be able to get a top-15 finish. Unsurprisingly, Edwards also praised the lower-downforce changes.
9. Jimmie Johnson (LW: 7): Johnson ended up finishing 16th on Sunday, but it was a race that showed his true driving ability. Johnson's car was crazy loose numerous times (especially after restarts) and each time he saved it and carried on. Yeah, he did hit the wall, but that was only because he was contacted by another car.
10. Kyle Larson (LW: NR): It's safe to say things are trending upwards for Larson. After three finishes inside the top 13 in the first 11 races, Larson has finishes of second, 13th, 11th and third. If you're ranking non-winners' chances of winning a race before the Chase, is Larson in the top 3?
11. Austin Dillon (LW: NR): Is Dillon ahead of Larson? Dillon finished eighth and he's now ahead of Denny Hamlin in the points standings. We think we'd have Larson ahead of Dillon, because Larson's showed more speed. Dillon has seven top-10 finishes this season, but he's led three laps total.
12. Got any suggestions?: We knocked out Hamlin, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch from the rankings because they all had finishes worse than 30th. Tony Stewart finished seventh and Jamie McMurray was ninth. Ryan Newman after finishing 11th?
Lucky Dog: Stewart. We'll see if this carries over towards the other summer races.
The DNF: We'll go with AJ Allmendinger, who finished 38th and dropped from 17th to 20th in the standings.
Dropped Out: Hamlin, Junior, Kyle Busch.
SOCCER: Veljko Paunovic: U.S. Open Cup is important to the history of our club.
By Dan Santaromita
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
Cup competitions are tricky for a number of reasons.
The added schedule congestion, opponents from different leagues and the typically smaller crowds all factor into the decision of how much a team will invest in its domestic cup competition.
For the Chicago Fire, things are a bit different. The club has won the U.S. Open Cup four times, matched only by the Seattle Sounders among MLS teams, and the tournament has become a point of pride within the organization and the fanbase.
With that in mind, the Fire start the tournament Wednesday against Indy Eleven at Toyota Park. Coach Veljko Paunovic is well aware of the importance of the U.S. Open Cup and tried to impart that to his players.
“Last week we had a presentation from Logan (Pause), who won this title two times,” Paunovic said of his assistant coach during a conference call on Monday. “He gave this speech to our guys.
“He explained how important it is for the history of our club and also for our fans and for everyone. It was a great experience and I believe we are doing all we can in order to make our players understand how important for us this competition is, but also how important it is to respect our rivals.”
Michael Harrington, who won the U.S. Open Cup in 2012 with Sporting Kansas City, and Johan Kappelhof, who won the Dutch KNVB Cup with FC Groningen in 2015, also spoke about the importance of cup competitions.
“It’s pretty much the same in every single league that I played,” Paunovic said. “Always the cup competitions are very, very tricky.”
Indy Eleven plays in the second tier North American Soccer League, but is fresh off winning the league’s spring title. Indy went 4-0-6 in the league’s first of two split seasons and won the title on the final match. They matched the New York Cosmos (6-4) with 18 points, a plus-seven goal differential and 15 goals scored. The third tiebreaker, head-to-head, gave Indy the title.
The matchup on Wednesday also has the added rivalry spark of featuring two Midwest teams. Lovel Palmer and Jon Busch currently play for Indy Eleven after playing for the Fire last season.
“We know that they have a lot of experienced guys who played also in MLS,” Paunovic said. “We know that they have a lot of players who played on our team in the years before.”
Paunovic hinted that he may rotate the lineup a bit, but still emphasized fielding a strong team. Though the Fire are well-rested after going on break for the Copa America Centenario, the team also plays Saturday at Colorado and a week from Wednesday at Philadelphia to make for another stretch of three games in eight days.
On the injury front, John Goossens (knee) and Collin Fernandez (ankle) are still expected to be out for the next couple games. Joao Meira had a minor shoulder injury, but Paunovic said he could be available Wednesday.
The 'haters' who have driven the USMNT to Copa America quarterfinals.
By Leander Schaerlaeckens
As far as national teams on the global stage go, the United States men's squad has historically been one of the most accessible and cooperative with the press around.
There are myriad reasons for this. For one, the United States Soccer Federation understands that it needs the exposure and encourages its players to open up and talk.
Plenty of the players themselves, meanwhile, are well-spoken, thoughtful and outgoing and largely appear to enjoy the interaction. And they all seem to collectively understand that for soccer to continue its rapid ascent stateside, it requires all the ink and eyeballs it can get.
Lately, however, the mood has shifted.
As his reform project began flagging, head coach Jurgen Klinsmann had previously suggested publicly that the American soccer media – not to mention the general population – didn't understand the sport well enough to judge him and his team. This condescension, however, was occasional and laughed off as the excuse of an increasingly concerned man looking to undercut the building dissent.
Yet in the last week, as his team overcame a 2-0 loss to Colombia in its Copa America Centenario opener with a 4-0 thumping of Costa Rica and a tight but undermanned 1-0 victory against Paraguay – winning the group and setting up a winnable quarterfinal against Ecuador – much of the team has begun taking an adversarial tone as well.
Ahead of the Costa Rica game, Klinsmann again asserted incompetence, and even negligence, among the press. "Obviously the result is a 2-0, and especially here in the U.S. that's all that matters to a lot of people," he said referring back to the Colombia game. "They write all of their articles based on the pure result – maybe they didn't even watch the game." The latter was quite a hefty charge.
"But it's OK, you know, whatever," Klinsmann said, softening his stance somewhat. "For the team, it's important that they know where they stand. They felt with Colombia we had a game, they felt that we were even."
Following an emphatic victory over the Ticos, several players spoke of "you guys" when addressing the media. "You guys all didn't expect us to beat Colombia anyway so it doesn't matter," defender Geoff Cameron said.
"The media puts pressure on us, or whatever it is, after the result against Colombia," echoed midfielder Alejandro Bedoya, per Goal.com. "But we were all staying positive and we knew there were a lot of good things to take from that game, even though you guys said there wasn't."
Then, after the Paraguay game in Philadelphia, the Americans dashed through the mixed zone, where they usually speak at length with reporters, in a matter of minutes. Even the typically talkative players were clipped.
When captain Michael Bradley – who has been known to expound on tactics and process for a good quarter of an hour but spoke for just two minutes Saturday – was asked what he'd learned about his team in the Copa, his response was telling.
"That we have a strong mentality," he said. "And we continue to not pay much attention to what gets said or written on the outside and keep moving ourselves forward."
"The media said our backs were against the wall," Bedoya added that night, chiming in on the subject a second time. "For us, we didn't see it that way. We did a decent game against Colombia. We remained positive and we remained confident and we knew that we could definitely get through to the next round. And we did it."
Then, when the U.S. unexpectedly won its group, he tweeted out a #HiHaters hashtag the next morning.
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Alejandro Bedoya @AleBedoya17
I woke up like this. #HiHaters!
Great team effort last night & hope we can continue these performances.
#USMNT #USA
10:40 AM - 12 Jun 2016
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It appears the U.S. national team has adopted something of a siege mentality. Whereas it once went to the press – partly anonymously – to gripe about the national team's failings, and particularly those of its coach, it has now turned inward and blocked out whatever it considers noise.
This is a famous soccer trick, typically taken by troubled teams. It's a hard thing to pull off. If one player defects and quietly leaks out his misgivings anyway, the whole thing falls apart and any toxicity only metastasizes further. But this team is undeniably united, apparently demonstrating that for the moment at least, it has very much bought into its manager and the methods that haven't always gone over well.
The results are impressive. For the last few games, the Yanks are playing better than they have in memory – also thanks in no small part to Klinsmann finally settling on a preferred lineup, formation and tactical approach. It's true that Colombia could have won by more, had it bothered to push for more goals, but the U.S. played positively even when it went down two before halftime. That laid the groundwork for the wins that were to follow.
That opening loss may have left no margin for error, and real and justifiable questions had to be asked about Klinsmann's job security in its wake. But now the U.S. has a viable path to the semifinals that Klinsmann had declared the objective before the tournament – which seemed fanciful then.
Historically, whatever the Americans have accomplished at major tournaments, they have their combative spirit to thank for. Now is no different. If this team is richer in technicians than at any other time in its history – and it still isn't a team that's terribly facile with the ball – the return of that unity and mentality is as positive an omen as any.
There is no overstating the importance of the right mindset. If nothing else, Klinsmann has pushed his teams to buy into their worthiness among the global elite – or to buy out of any notions of inferiority, rather.
"The whole old story is the underdog story," he said Saturday. "And I cannot hear that story anymore. I want to see them try, risk things, let's go for it. Take the game to them."
In the final stages of tournaments such as this Copa, Klinsmann argues, the margins become so small that the psychological game begins to take precedence.
"The knockout stage is very mental-driven," he said. "It's an absolute mental game. It's when you step on the field and you see certain jerseys, it's kind of sniffing at each other and saying, 'I'm ready for you.'
"This is all about the moment then and this is what they need to believe in," he continued. "Whoever's on the other side, I'm ready for you. This is what we would love to see. It's kind of easy to say, but it's a mental learning curve."
The U.S. has grown into the tournament. The Paraguay game might have been close, but in 42 minutes and change without a starting defender – after DeAndre Yedlin was sent off – they nevertheless didn't give away much. They held out. They "suffered together" as Bradley put it.
"This is a huge statement to teams in South America, because this team has fantastic spirit, they have character," Klinsmann said. "And what I really love in these guys is they want to get better, they want to improve."
By sticking together, they already have.
Soccer-European Championship summaries.
Reuters
Summaries from the European Championship matches on Tuesday.
Portugal 1 Nani 31
Iceland 1 Birkir Bjarnason 50
Halftime: 1-0;Attendance: 38,742
Austria 0
Red Card: Aleksandar Dragovic 66
Hungary 2 Adam Szalai 62, Zoltan Stieber 87
Halftime: 0-0;Attendance: 34,424
Next Fixtures (GMT):
Wednesday, June 15
Romania v Switzerland (1600)
France v Albania (1900)
Russia v Slovakia (1300)
Thursday, June 16
England v Wales (1300)
Ukraine v Northern Ireland (1600)
Germany v Poland (1900)
Friday, June 17
Czech Republic v Croatia (1600)
Spain v Turkey (1900)
Italy v Sweden (1300)
Saturday, June 18
Belgium v Ireland (1300)
Iceland v Hungary (1600)
Portugal v Austria (1900)
Sunday, June 19
Romania v Albania (1900)
Switzerland v France (1900)
Monday, June 20
Russia v Wales (1900)
Slovakia v England (1900)
NCAAFB: FCS schools want to tighten graduate transfer rule.
By CRAIG HALEY
(Photo/yahoosports.com)
It seems every day in recent weeks there's a top player coming up from the farm system or there's talk of one on the way.
If you're an FCS football coach, you're hoping the news is coming out of Major League Baseball and not from your sport. Or worse, your roster.
The growth in graduate transfers leaving one program for another has trickled down from the FBS to the FCS. Under the rule, a student-athlete who has earned his undergraduate degree and not used all of his athletic eligibility can play immediately at his new school as a graduate transfer.
Former Eastern Washington quarterback Vernon Adams, who left his FCS program last year to spend his final season guiding Oregon's offense, wasn't the first FCS standout to take advantage of the NCAA's graduate transfer rule, but he's been the highest-profiled.
It didn't take long for Oregon to find a potential replacement for Adams. It reached into the Big Sky Conference again and signed former Montana State quarterback Dakota Prukop as a graduate transfer.
Like Adams a year ago, Prukop might have been the best quarterback in the FCS in his final year of eligibility.
"It's a complicated issue - I really believe that. I don't think there is a right or a wrong," said Montana State first-year head coach Jeff Choate, who won't have the chance to coach Prukop.
"I think you can make the case that these young men have fulfilled their academic obligation and certainly done a nice job of playing pretty well if they're being pursued by another four-year institution at a higher level. You wouldn't want to limit their opportunity to maybe achieve a dream or a goal.
"At the same time, you can certainly understand that when you invest into a young man in terms of paying for their education and developing them that it's hard to see them go their fifth year to another program, or their fourth year in some cases. It's really counterintuitive to what I think college athletics is about, which is kind of that loyalty. That's not right for the brand, if you get what I'm saying."
The floodgates haven't opened with graduate transfers pouring out across college football. For one, the graduate transfer has to do what the name of the rule says - he first must receive an undergraduate degree from his current school to both transfer and be eligible elsewhere.
But the number of graduate transfers is increasing. Besides Prukop, players who earned all-conference honors last year who have used the graduate transfer rule this offseason include quarterback Jared Johnson (Sam Houston State to UTSA), offensive tackles Tyler Catalina (Rhode Island to Georgia) and Zac Morgan (Dayton to Oregon), and defensive end Gabriel Sherrod (Delaware State to Syracuse). Other standouts making FCS-to-FCS moves have included wide receiver Malik Golson (Delaware State to Murray State) and defensive tackle Steve Mercado (Lafayette to Western Illinois).
The graduate transfer rule was enacted to allow a student-athlete to pursue a graduate degree that isn't offered at his current school. In many ways, the rule's intent is highly supported.
In contrast, coaches can leave a school at any time for another one and not have to sit out one season, as undergraduates do when they initiate a Division I transfer while still part of a program.
What many in college football want to ensure, though, is that the graduate transfer rule is being followed properly and not just creating pseudo-free agency for players.
"I think there has to be some additional level of requirement for transfers," said Kyle Kallander, the Big South Conference commissioner. "And by that, I mean I would like to see us take steps so that we're ensuring that the graduate transfer is actually a graduate student. I get concerned that people are using the rule just to extend their eligibility and go play somewhere else and really not be serious about being a graduate student."
NCAA research shows the graduate transfer rule isn't living up to its goal. Among the FBS players who earned undergraduate degrees in 2012 and '13 and transferred to another school to pursue a graduate degree, 24 percent had graduated, 7 percent remained enrolled and 68 percent had withdrawn by the summer of 2014.
Adams left Oregon after one semester to pursue a professional football career.
The Big Sky Conference has been the most outspoken on the FCS level considering the transfer of Adams followed by Prukop. There hasn't been formal NCAA legislation, but the discussion appears headed in that direction as there have been suggestions and proposals to tighten the rule.
One idea gaining traction is the potential loss of Academic Progress Rate points for schools whose graduate transfers don't complete the graduate program. Another suggestion is to allow a two-year scholarship to graduate transfers to provide sufficient time to get the graduate degree.
On the FBS level, the Southeastern Conference has added a rule in which a graduate transfer has to complete the program or the school can't enroll another student-athlete under the exception for three years.
"That is a way to say to our universities, 'Bring people in at the graduate level who are serious about going to school,'" SEC commissioner Greg Sankey told The Associated Press.
Eastern Washington slumped to a 6-5 record last year in a season in which Adams would have been the senior quarterback and made the Eagles a contender for the FCS national title. Montana State hopes the loss of Prukop won't have a similar effect this year.
The Bobcats are coming off their first losing record (5-6) since 2001, hence the change in head coach with Choate. He's filled the void with a transfer quarterback, Tyler Bruggman, coming up from the junior college level.
"I can certainly see the student-athlete's perspective, I really do," Choate said. "I looked at it like this: I've moved around as a coach, and if the situation was better for myself and my family, I took advantage of that situation. It's hard for me as a coach to look at a young man and feel the same way about his career and counsel him out of that.
"But you would like to see some compromise on that. For example, if a young man is going to do the graduate transfer, if they don't complete their master's degree, maybe there's a penalty for an APR point for that program, so it doesn't just become a six-month deal - that there's some piece that makes somebody think twice about grabbing a graduate transfer."
Tennessee canceling classes for season-opener vs. App State.
By Nick Bromberg
By Nick Bromberg
(Photo/yahoosports.com)
Congratulations Tennessee students, you don't have to go to class on Thursday, Sep. 1.
The school said Tuesday that it would be canceling classes on the day of its season-opening game. Tennessee's game vs. Appalachian State was moved to Thursday and will be broadcast on SEC Network at 7:30 p.m. ET.
"I believe that everyone involved in the ongoing collaboration that led to this logistical conclusion feels good about the fact that we were able to meet our collective priority to not interrupt the academic schedule on that Thursday," Tennessee athletic director Dave Hart said.
"We look forward to the exciting opportunity to represent our conference on the SEC Network to open the 2016 season on the first night in September."
The school said it'd be adding classes on Thursday, Dec. 1 to make up for the loss of the day in September. We're also guessing that attendance will be pretty light at early Friday classes on September 2 as well.
The game is one of 15 games scheduled for the Thursday of the opening weekend of the season and one of two SEC games that day. South Carolina plays Vanderbilt as well.
The season unofficially opens a week earlier when Cal plays Hawaii in Australia on August 26.
NCAABKB: College hoops coaches to examine NCAA Tournament selection.
AP - Sports
Kentucky's John Calipari and West Virginia's Bob Huggins are among more than a dozen coaches and administrators who have been chosen to examine the NCAA men's basketball tournament selection system.
The National Association of Basketball Coaches announced the ad hoc committee Monday. It will work with the NCAA in the coming weeks to discuss selection, seeding and bracketing processes.
Previous NABC committees have worked with the NCAA to adjust rules for student-athletes declaring for the NBA draft and to consider the demands placed on athletes' time.
NABC executive director Jim Haney and former SEC commissioner Mike Slive will co-chair the committee, which also includes coaches such as Mark Few, Steve Fisher and Mark Turgeon, administrators Doug Elgin and Dan Guerrero and consultants Dan Davitt and Reggie Minton, among others.
College World Series: Television schedule, game times for the NCAA college baseball championships.
NCAA.com
Here are the pairings and game times for the first two days of the Men’s College World Series. The 70th CWS will take place at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska from June 18-28/29. Come back here for updated scores, pairings and game times. All games will be televised the ESPN networks and available on Watch ESPN.
Saturday, June 18
UC Santa Barbara vs. Oklahoma State | 3 p.m. ET ESPN2
Miami (Fla.) vs. Arizona | 8 p.m. ET ESPN2
Sunday, June 19
Texas Tech vs. TCU | 3 p.m. ET ESPNU
Florida vs. Coastal Carolina | 8 p.m. ET ESPN2
Monday, June 20
Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 | 2 p.m. ESPNU
Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 | 7 p.m. ESPN
Tuesday, June 21
Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4 | 5 p.m. ESPN2
Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4 | 9 p.m. ESPN
Wednesday, June 22
Winner Game 5 vs. Loser Game 6 | 7 p.m. ESPN
Thursday, June 23
Winner Game 7 vs. Loser Game 8 | 8 p.m. ESPN 2
Friday, June 24
Winner Game 6 vs. Winner Game 9 | 3 p.m. ESPN 2
Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 10 | 8 p.m. ESPN
June 27
Finals Game 1 | 7 p.m. ESPN
June 28
Finals Game 2 | 8 p.m. ESPN
June 29
Finals Game 3 (if necessary) | 8 p.m. ET ESPN
UC Santa Barbara vs. Oklahoma State | 3 p.m. ET ESPN2
Miami (Fla.) vs. Arizona | 8 p.m. ET ESPN2
Sunday, June 19
Texas Tech vs. TCU | 3 p.m. ET ESPNU
Florida vs. Coastal Carolina | 8 p.m. ET ESPN2
Monday, June 20
Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 | 2 p.m. ESPNU
Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 | 7 p.m. ESPN
Tuesday, June 21
Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4 | 5 p.m. ESPN2
Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4 | 9 p.m. ESPN
Wednesday, June 22
Winner Game 5 vs. Loser Game 6 | 7 p.m. ESPN
Thursday, June 23
Winner Game 7 vs. Loser Game 8 | 8 p.m. ESPN 2
Friday, June 24
Winner Game 6 vs. Winner Game 9 | 3 p.m. ESPN 2
Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 10 | 8 p.m. ESPN
Saturday, June 25
Bracket 1 final -- If necessary
Bracket 2 final -- If necessary
Finals Game 1 | 7 p.m. ESPN
June 28
Finals Game 2 | 8 p.m. ESPN
June 29
Finals Game 3 (if necessary) | 8 p.m. ET ESPN
On
emoriesofhistory.com
1925 - The Philadelphia Athletics defeated the Cleveland Indians 17-15. The Athletics had been down 11 runs heading into the bottom of the eighth inning.
1938 - Johnny Vander Meer (Cincinnati Reds) pitched his second straight no-hitter.
1949 - Eddie Waitkus (Philadelphia) was seriously injured when a female fan entered his hotel room and shot him.
1952 - The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the New York Giants 14-12 after being down 11-0 in the fifth inning.
1963 - Juan Marichal (San Francisco) threw a no-hitter. It was the first Giants no-hitter since Carl Hubbell in 1929.
1977 - The New York Mets dealt Tom Seaver to the Cincinnati Reds.
1980 - Jack Nicklaus won his fourth U.S. Open title.
1993 - Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 100th career home run making him the sixth youngest to reach 100.
1995 - During the O.J. Simpson murder trial, O.J. was asked to put on a pair of gloves. The gloves were said to have been worn by the killer on the night of the murders of Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman. The gloves appeared not to fit.
2005 - The New York Yankees announced plans for a new $800 million stadium. The plans called for the building to be next to Yankee Stadium and be ready by the 2009 season.
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