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Months ago, when Tiger Woods decided to fire caddie Steve Williams after all the turmoil the two had gone through the previous 18 months, blame was tossed Tiger’s way. People didn’t understand how you could let go of such a loyal employee right when things seemed to be somewhat back to normal. Williams was obviously the victim.

But nearly three months ago, when Williams’ new boss, Adam Scott, torched Firestone, Steve let it be known that he wasn’t happy with Tiger, telling CBS that the Scott win was, “the best week of his life.” People questioned the comment considering Williams was on the bag for 13 of Tiger’s 14 major championships, and many saw it as a dig at Woods.

[Related: Fred Couples admits he picked John Cook to help Tiger Woods]

That might have been a paintball fight. What happened earlier this week in China was flat out gunfire, and it came at the hands of Williams. Asked to come on stage at a caddie dinner during the pre-tournament festivities at the HSBC Champions and tell the crowd what he was thinking during that now-infamous interview, Williams let out a crowd-silencing remark that can’t be viewed any other way but racist.

Via The Telegraph …

“My aim was to shove it right up that black —hole,” Williams said.

The remarks are obviously inappropriate on a ton of levels, but the timing is one of the more shocking things. Why would he still be hung up on this thing months later, after it seems he’s found a great player to work with? And why would he do this during a week that Scott is playing great golf, and has a chance to win this tournament?

Williams has since apologized for the remarks, saying on his website, “I apologize for comments I made last night at the Annual Caddy Awards dinner in Shanghai. Players and caddies look forward to this evening all year and the spirit is always joking and fun. I now realize how my comments could be construed as racist. However I assure you that was not my intent. I sincerely apologize to Tiger and anyone else I have offended,” but the damage has been done.

One of the keys to being a caddie is to never become the story, and Williams has been as much the story in golf the past three months as any player. He might still be upset about the abrupt firing, and frankly, most people are in this world when they get let go, but there is a way to exit with dignity and then there is this.

If I was Scott, I’d fire him right when the final putt drops this Sunday. Both Williams and Woods are expected to be at the Australian Open next week. With this looming larger than anything else, it seems like the right time to show the caddie that he is frankly that, a caddie, and can’t be spitting out stuff like this and expect to get away with it.

It’s ridiculous, it’s stupid, and it really shows why Tiger might have let him go in the first place. We all know there are times for jokes, and you can take stuff out of context, but the racism line is a fine one, and this crossed it.

-Follow Yahoo! Sports’ Devil Ball on Facebook and follow Shane Bacon on Twitter at @shanebacon.-

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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/blog/golf_experts/post/Tiger-Woods-ex-caddie-drops-racist-comment-abou?urn=golf-wp6713

Larry Fitzgerald Calvin Johnson Santana Moss Steve Johnson DeSean Jackson

We’re not yet at the most nerve-wracking event of the golf season — that’d be Q School, which still lies ahead. But for 25 Nationwide Tour players, this past weekend was Christmas and their birthday all wrapped up in one. They placed among the top 25 on the Nationwide Tour’s money list, and as such won a PGA Tour card for 2012. Congrats to these fine players, starting with the gentleman pictured above:

1. J.J. Killeen
2. Ted Potter, Jr.
3. Mathew Goggin
4. Jason Kokrak
5. Jonas Blixt
6. Danny Lee
7. Ken Duke
8. Scott Brown
9. Gary Christian
10. Miguel Angel Carballo
11. Troy Kelly
12. Russell Knox
13. Erik Compton
14. John Mallinger
15. Kyle Thompson
16. Kyle Reifers
17. Gavin Coles
18. Matt Every
19. Daniel Chopra
20. Steve Wheatcroft
21. Garth Mulroy
22. Mark Anderson
23. Roberto Castro
24. Martin Flores
25. Billy Hurley III

Our Jonathan Wall has broken down five of the more significant players on that list. Each player received a Tiffany money clip with their 2012 PGA Tour card inside. (Think they have to keep up with that card all through the year? I’m sure somebody’s run theirs through the wash by mistake.)

Anyway, six players won tournaments on the Nationwide Tour but weren’t able to break into the top 25; that list was headed by James Nitties, who finished barely $5,000 behind Hurley for the 25th position. Golf is a cruel game, but for these 25 guys, it’ll pay off handsomely in 2012.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/blog/golf_experts/post/Your-complete-Nationwide-to-PGA-qualifiers-list?urn=golf-wp6636

LeGarrette Blount Fred Jackson LaDainian Tomlinson Thomas Jones Frank Gore

So with the most important golf in the world taking place on the other side of the world from the United States, American golf fans now face a choice: stay up to the wee hours of the morning to watch golf, or dodge everyone and everything and stay off the Internet to find out what happens on replay.

Here’s how the TV will shake out, all times Eastern:

Wednesday
Foursomes, Golf Channel, 9 p.m. – 2 a.m. (live)

Thursday
Foursomes, NBC, 9 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. (replay)

Four Ball, Golf Channel, 7:30 p.m. – 2 a.m. (live)

Friday
Four Ball, NBC, 9 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. (replay)

Foursomes, Golf Channel, 4 p.m. – 2 a.m. (live)

Saturday
Foursomes, NBC, 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. (tape)

Singles, Golf Channel, 6:30 p.m. – 12:30 a.m. (live)

Sunday
Singles, NBC, 12 p.m. – 6 p.m. (tape)

Heads up: we will NOT be holding back our coverage to match replay times. So on Saturday night as you’re staggering from pub to pub, check in with Devil Ball to find out who won. Just don’t break anything in celebration.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/blog/golf_experts/post/Get-the-caffeine-ready-Your-Presidents-Cup-TV-t?urn=golf-wp6880

Cedric Benson LeSean McCoy Matt Forte BenJarvus Green-Ellis LeGarrette Blount

For the Oklahoma Sooners, performing at a high level in their three remaining regular season contests is crucial for their chances of playing in New Orleans for the national championship. 

Robert Griffin III is a man possessed, and the Baylor Bears present an interesting yet surmountable obstacle to the Crimson and Cream’s quest for another Big 12 Championship and possibly more. 

The Bears, playing in primetime on their home field, have a legitimate chance to spoil OU’s season for good, but as long as the Sooners execute in all three phases of the game, they should depart Floyd Casey Stadium with a victory.

That brings us to the issue of how, specifically, the Sooners can have success against RG3 and Co. Here are the five areas OU should focus on to remain perfect on the road and garner momentum for the looming Bedlam contest with Oklahoma State.  

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Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/945981-oklahoma-sooners-football-5-keys-to-victory-over-no-22-baylor

Felix Hernandez Francisco Liriano Gio Gonzalez Hiroki Kuroda Jaime Garcia

The end of the PGA Tour always brings a bevy of awards, and on Wednesday, the players up for the two biggest awards were announced. Here are the candidates for both the Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year and why they were nominated.

Rookie of the Year

Charl Schwartzel — Obviously winning the Masters put him on the list, but the young man from South Africa had ten top-25s in just 15 PGA Tour events, including a t-4 at last week’s HSBC Champions.

Chris Kirk — A win at the Vikings Classic put Kirk on the list, but it wasn’t his only good finish, as the 26-year-old had four top-10s in his rookie campaign.

Scott Stallings — A win at the Greenbrier Classic, two other top-10s, and nearly $2 million in earnings gets him on this list.

Jhonattan Vegas — The early season favorite to take in this award, Vegas wrangled up the Bob Hope Classic in a playoff and had four other top-10s.

Brendan Steele — Another rookie with a solid season, Steele took home Valero Texas Open and carded three other top-10 finishes.

Keegan Bradley — The only nominee with two wins, Bradley snagged both the Byron Nelson and the PGA Championship in his first season.

Who should win? Bradley, obviously (even Steele knows it’s Keegan’s award). Not many times does a rookie card his first win and his first major win in the same season, and along with that, it seemed Bradley was comfortable being one of the top dogs at the end of the season.

Player of the Year

Nick Watney — Watney won twice, at Doral and the AT&T National, and had 10 top-10s in just 23 events on the PGA Tour. His consistency is one of the things that got him on this list, and he’d possibly be the front-runner if he could have pulled out the win in Vegas.

Bill Haas – A great year for Haas, highlighted by that water shot to not only capture the Tour Championship but also the FedEx Cup. Haas only had one win, but was in playoffs for both the Greenbrier and the Bob Hope.

Webb Simpson — Two wins, two playoff losses, and twelve top-10s for Simpson, who finished second in the FedEx Cup race and had an all-around great season.

Keegan Bradley — You’ve seen his season up top; two wins, and the only person in the POTY hunt with a major championship on the resume.

Luke Donald – A career year for Donald, who had a win at the Accenture Match Play and the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Classic. Donald had the most top-10s of anyone on tour with 14 (in just 19 starts), and won the money title with a really gutsy performance at Disney.

Who should win? Before Disney, I was Bradley all the way, but I think Donald wrapped this award up. Normally the voters lean towards people with a major win that year, but Bradley’s mediocre performance in the tournaments he didn’t win might sway the voters towards Luke.

And your thoughts? Who should win both the Rookie and Player of the Year?

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/blog/golf_experts/post/Player-of-the-Year-and-Rookie-of-the-Year-nomine?urn=golf-wp6776

Danny Woodhead Justin Forsett Brandon Lloyd Roddy White Reggie Wayne

While we wait for the Presidents’ Cup Day 2 matches to begin, take a moment to check out this fine new track from the ’80s hair metal knockoff band Steel Panther. (You MUST visit their website.) Crank up the neighborhood-fertilizing music; no one at work is going to mind this peppy little number. And tell me you’re not going to be singing “If you wanna be like Tiger Woods…” the rest of the day.

Visor tip: Reader Brett.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/blog/golf_experts/post/The-greatest-8217-80s-hair-metal-style-Tiger-W?urn=golf-wp6975

Tim Hightower Mike Tolbert Ronnie Brown Chris Ivory Brandon Jackson

Andy Murray, Andy Roddick, Greg Chappell, Mark Taylor and Greg Matthews shine in this edition of “What They Said, Really Meant and Definitely Did Not.”

Murray cannae gulp down fish for breakfast.

Matthews verbally spars for Simon Katich.

Roddick slams the ATP for trying to play for both sides.

Taylor wakes up to an Australian shambles.

And Chappell has mistakes to admit in his autobiography.

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Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/936994-sporting-quotes-greg-chappell-andy-roddick-andy-murray-and-others

Brett Gardner Carl Crawford Daric Barton David Ortiz Delmon Young

“I did it!”

If you’re still trying to figure how FIFA chief buffoon Sepp Blatter could say “there is no racism” in football and explain away all racism that does occur during matches as perfectly reasonable competitive vigor, well, I feel sorry for you. But maybe his latest comments will help clear up his line of thinking.

You see, Sepp has been working under the assumption that he already fixed all of the discrimination and racism in THE WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD by putting a World Cup in South Africa in 2010.

From Soccernet:

In a fresh TV interview on Thursday, Blatter insisted that he has been at the forefront of trying to tackle racism, telling Fox Soccer: “I can tell you in all my life in football now has been accompanied by fighting discrimination and fighting racism.

“I thought, and I’m still a very optimistic man, that after the World Cup in South Africa where it was really connecting the people, all different races, all different cultures being brought together through football, that not only in the continent of Africa but everywhere in the world that this was over.

“But still, where human beings are, there are still some moments and we can never stop going against racism, against discrimination.”

Yeah, there’s still one or two moments (everywhere, everyday) where racism and discrimination still pops up but hey, that one sporting event cleared up most of it, right?

The man is living on another planet in a different dimension. And how could he not be? He’s had a long career of being able to do whatever he wants, answering to no one and overseeing one of the largest and safest empires in the world. He has absolutely no relationship with the reality in which the rest of humanity lives. This will continue until he croaks or someone even more powerful than he cares enough to extract him from his position.

Photo: AP

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/blog/dirty-tackle/post/Blatter-thought-2010-World-Cup-would-end-racism-?urn=sow-wp6732

Jamaal Charles Michael Turner Chris Johnson Maurice Jones-Drew Adrian Peterson

Carl Edwards took his No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion one step closer to his first NASCAR Sprint Cup championship after the ninth installment of the Chase at Phoenix International Raceway.

After appearing as though he would not be able to pass fellow Chase hopeful Tony Stewart during the middle laps of the race, Edwards took advantage of a slight mishap and was able to maintain three points on Stewart.

More importantly for Edwards, Stewart did not take the points lead from him with yet another trip to Victory Lane in the Chase.

It is still very close. The only way that Edwards can guarantee himself a championship would be to win at Homestead. Besides that, there are no solid clinching scenarios.

Aside from winning, here are six additional things he needs to do to put himself and Roush Fenway Racing in the best position to win.

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Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/939687-nascar-sprint-cup-6-things-carl-edwards-needs-to-do-to-win-the-cup

Kevin Love Kevin Martin Kobe Bryant LaMarcus Aldridge LeBron James

The potential driver lineup options for a Formula 1 team are endless. The new driver juggernaut churns out at least half a dozen new candidates every year to rival the already seemingly endless list of hopefuls all aiming to get a coveted seat in the fastest cars in the world.

Unfortunately, the short-term mindset of this sport, along with its brutally competitive and financially orientated agenda, means that only the top handful of wealthy teams can afford to cherry pick their drivers and maintain their status quo. This has ultimately left a number of talented young hopefuls over the years on the outside looking in, or leaving this division of motorsports early in pursuit of drives and success in alternate formats.

The situation this winter is no different, with a number of young drivers anxiously hoping they avoid the ax.

There has been a lot of talk both in the paddock and in the press about the situation in the midfield, specifically at three teams: Force India, Williams and Torro Rosso.

The situation is simple. Force India have three drivers they need to fit into two spots, with the promising German Nico Hulkenberg wanting a race seat for next season. At Williams, there is much talk of a return for Kimi Raikkonen while the futures of both Rubens Barrichello and Pastor Maldonado are uncertain—however, the Venezuelan has the financial advantage. At Torro Rosso, both Daniel Ricciardo—currently on loan at Hispania—and Jean-Eric Vergne want the spots of the current duo Jaime Alguesuari and Sebastien Buemi.

That leaves potentially 10 drivers for six spots, and that’s before we include the unconfirmed spot at Renault alongside Vitaly Petrov, the spot at the newly named Marussia—formerly Virgin—alongside Timo Glock and the two spots at Hispania.

That’s now 10 spots, but we know it’s not going to be the case that the 10 drivers mentioned above will all get a seat. Some will have to continue testing, and others may leave for good. Let’s try, however, to fill the gaps, and I’m going to do it in the way I would like to see it happen.

The easiest spot is at Renault, because if Robert Kubica is fit he will replace Bruno Senna. Renault have struggled in the second half of the season—with or without Nick Heidfeld, who I thought was harshly replaced—and so I believe the issue is down to the car, though I don’t think either Petrov or Senna have covered themselves in glory.

Petrov is, however, guaranteed a seat, so if Robert comes back Bruno will make way. If he isn’t fit that opens the door for Bruno or the losers from the re-shuffles at Williams, Torro Rosso and Force India.

I’m going to make it clear, I think both Nico Hulkenberg and Jaime Alguesuari deserve seats next season. I am impressed with both and think they are both talents that F1 should try its best not to lose. Jaime is outperforming Sebastien Buemi this season and is also younger and has spent less time at Torro Rosso. I can’t see them restricting both Ricciardo and Vergne to either a loan to a lower team or testing next season, so as harsh as this sounds, I would let Buemi go and partner Ricciardo with Alguesuari.

Nico impressed me in his first season at Williams, and I thought that replacing him with Pastor Maldonado for financial reasons was a complete shame and summed up the bad side of Formula 1. The problem is that a return to Williams is off the cards, so unless Renault took a punt, he’s stuck at Force India.

I would give him the seat however, probably in place of Sutil, who has a mixed press reaction and has been at the team for a long time in F1 terms without really delivering success. I would partner Di Resta with Hulkenberg and move on to Williams.

Williams has had a disastrous year, and their priority has to be the car. However, I don’t think either of their drivers makes the grade anymore. Rubens, despite his popularity, has always been a number two, and I don’t think he’s at his best anymore, while Pastor is there for the money. If I could remove that from the equation, he would have no reason to be there.

My ideal situation would be to bring in both Kimi Raikkonen and Adrian Sutil and give a much-needed shot in the arm to the ailing team and help them back on the path to their former glories.

So to sum up, then, here’s my ideal F1 2012 season driver lineup for the midfield teams that haven’t filled their slots:

Force India: Nico Hulkenberg and Paul Di Resta.

Williams: Kimi Raikkonen and Adrian Sutil.

Torro Rosso: Jaime Alguesuari and Daniel Ricciardo.

Renault: Vitaly Petrov and Robert Kubica/Sebastien Buemi.

The experience of someone like Rubens at Marussia or Hispania could really help them, while the likes of Vergne and Senna really need time behind the wheel to develop. Another point to consider is that it’s unlikely that Webber at Red Bull, Schumacher at Mercedes or Trulli at Lotus would go on beyond 2012, particularly if they keep being beaten by their younger teammates.

There is plenty of potential in Formula 1, and regardless of the way that it eventually sorts itself out, it would be a great shame if we were to lose young drivers before they’ve even had a chance to reach their peak.

That is, however, the ruthless nature of the sport.

Read more Motorsports news on BleacherReport.com

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/941922-the-new-era-why-f1-needs-to-look-after-its-young-stars

Justin Forsett Brandon Lloyd Roddy White Reggie Wayne Greg Jennings

Venue Hopping takes you around the sites for the 2012 London Olympics.

The London Aquatics Center isn’t as visually striking as Beijing’s Water Cube, nor will it likely host the same sort of swimming history. Yet it’s one of the most complex designs of all the London venues and certain to be one of the most memorable. The 17,500-seat venue will be the site where Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Tom Daley, Qui Bo, synchronized swimmers and water polo teams will compete next summer in the 2012 Olympics.

It was finished this summer and unveiled to the public.

London Aquatics Centre was designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. It features three concrete supports holding up a 3,000 ton roof and more than 850,000 tiles. The double-curved parabolic design is meant to evoke the image of an undulating wave.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Venue-hopping-London-s-wave-like-Olympic-swimmi?urn=oly-wp688

Kevin Martin Kobe Bryant LaMarcus Aldridge LeBron James Luis Scola

Clay Guida and Ben Henderson’s bout at UFC on Fox will not be aired on the debut of the UFC on network television, but it will be exciting. Knowing how both fighters have endless cardiovascular endurance and mops of curly hair, Guida described the bout that will run on Facebook as a likely “whirlwind of hair and cardio.”

Guida won four fights in a row to get to this bout. Most recently, he beat Anthony Pettis in a decision. Henderson, the former WEC champ, dropped a five-round bout to Pettis in December, but since then beat Mark Bocek and Jim Miller. Lightweight champion Frankie Edgar’s next bout will reportedly be the main event of UFC Japan in late February. Should it be against the winner of tomorrow’s bout? Tell us in the comments or on Facebook.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Guida-vs-Henderson-will-be-8216-whirlwind-of-?urn=mma-wp9265

Tom Brady Philip Rivers Aaron Rodgers Michael Vick Ben Roethlisberger

Every time I watch the pole vault, I marvel at how much the thin, 15-foot poles are able to bend in order to withstand the weight of the athlete being propelled high into the air. The process of making the approach, placing the pole in the small plant, propelling into the air, having the pole bend just enough to get an athlete over the bar and falling safely to the pit is one of the more remarkable scenes in sports.

Unfortunately for Dmitry Starodubtsev, it doesn’t always work out that way.

The Russian was attempting a jump of 5.75 meters (a little less than 19 feet) Monday at the IAAF World Championships in South Korea when his pole snapped in half mid-jump.

The Russian injured his hand in the fall and had to withdraw from the competition. Watch that clip a few times and you’ll realize he was lucky his hand was the only thing that got hurt.

Follow Yahoo! Sports on Facebook and be the first to know about the most interesting stories of the day.

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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Video-Pole-vaulter-8217-s-pole-snaps-during-ju?urn=oly-wp617

David Ortiz Delmon Young Derek Jeter Elvis Andrus Evan Longoria

Cody Zeller delivered in his homecoming to Evansville, Ind. For those that didn’t know, Zeller is from Washington, Ind., which is right up the road from Evansville.

His brother, Tyler, that plays for current No. 1 North Carolina came back home to play the Aces last year in Roberts Stadium. North Carolina won that matchup, 76-49, in which Tyler was the leading scorer and rebounder with 18 points and eight rebounds.

The youngest of the Zellers, Cody, almost outperformed his brother in just his third career collegiate game in which Indiana won, 94-73, in the new Ford Center in Evansville.

Zeller finished the game with 14 points and seven rebounds. He shot 6-of-8 from the field and 2-for-4 from the free throw line.

Zeller wasn’t the only star on the court tonight for the Hoosiers, though.

Five Hoosiers scored in double figures, including four of the five starters.

Senior Verdell Jones III led Indiana with 17 points. Jones III was 5-of-7 from the field, including a perfect 4-for-4 from three point land. Jones III was also 3-for-5 from the line with six rebounds and six assists.

Junior Christian Watford had 15 points with a team high eight rebounds.

Fellow junior Jordan Hulls matched Zeller with 14 points in the game.

The only other Hoosier player in double figures was sixth man Will Sheehey, as he had 10 points off the bench.

The leading scorer of the young season so far, Victor Olidipo, added eight points of his own and was the only starter not in double figures in scoring.

After a dominating first half where the Hoosiers led 51-27, they were outscored by the Aces, 46-43, in the second half.

The Aces were led by junior Colt Ryan and senior Kenneth Harris, who had 17 points each. The only other Aces player to reach double figures was senior Denver Holmes, who had 13 points in the loss.

Evansville shot 42.9 percent from the field, which was the highest percentage against Indiana in the three games so far.

The Hoosiers made 11 three-point shots, which is a season high.

Indiana also led Evansville, 35-26, on the boards.

Indiana opens 3-0 for just second time in the Tom Crean era. The Hoosiers opened 6-0 last year.

Evansville falls to 1-1 after beating in-state rival Butler on Saturday to open the new Ford Center.

The next Hoosiers game is against the Savannah State Tigers (1-2) in Assembly Hall at 8 p.m. on Saturday night. The Tigers started off the season 0-2 before their 73-70 win over Jacksonville tonight.

.

Read more College Basketball news on BleacherReport.com

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/944244-total-team-effort-leads-indiana-past-evansville-to-open-season-3-0

Chris Ivory Brandon Jackson Ryan Mathews Michael Vick Ricky Williams

Santos announced on Wednesday that they have resigned Neymar to a two-year contract extension that will keep him with the club until the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and ensure the continued regularity of rumors linking the 19-year-old phenom to various European clubs.

“This is a great day for me,” Neymar beamed at a press conference to announce his decision to stay. “I am so happy to remain at Santos and I’m eager to resume talk of joining Real Madrid or Barcelona or Manchester United or any other European club that will continue over the rest of my time with Santos. I was told there would be a new rumor every day. That was a promise.”

The extension comes a week after reports that Neymar will join Real Madrid in a ?53 million transfer set for January. A deal that could still happen, according to “Mr. X” — the shadowy figure who disseminates all transfer rumors and invented scandals that appear in the world’s media.

“This really doesn’t change anything,” said Mr. X through a creepy voicebox. “Tomorrow I have the Spanish press reporting a ?60 million offer from Barcelona for Neymar and next week I told the English papers to say he had a food fight with Mario Balotelli at Rio Ferdinand’s restaurant in Manchester.”

After making a hushed phone call, Mr. X offered a final thought: “Contracts in football mean nothing. Only the idiots haven’t realized that yet.”

Photo: AP

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/blog/dirty-tackle/post/Future-News-Neymar-commits-to-two-more-years-of?urn=sow-wp6484

BenJarvus Green-Ellis LeGarrette Blount Fred Jackson LaDainian Tomlinson Thomas Jones

Welcome to Teeing Off, where Devil Ball editor Jay Busbee and head writer Shane Bacon take a day’s topic and smack it all over the course. Suggest a future topic by writing jay.busbee@yahoo.com, or hit us on Twitter at @jaybusbee and @shanebacon. Today, it’s Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup … which one do you love?

Busbee: The Presidents Cup is about to tee off, and as it always does, it brings about thoughts of its more well-known forebear, the Ryder Cup. Both are exceptionally enjoyable events to watch and (I assume) play in, but which one do you enjoy more? Which one is the better competition, Mr. Bacon?

Bacon: It’s strange, because when you first read that sentence, you instantly think, “Ryder Cup! No question! What are we even talking about!,” but just think, the International squads continue to get better and better. The Ryder Cup will always be the first of the team events you think of, but the Presidents Cup is no slouch. I’d probably say Ryder Cup still, but it isn’t nearly as big of a gap as it used to be. Do you agree?

Busbee: Absolutely agree, and not just because of the pedigree; the range and diversity of players on the International team is far more fascinating than the horde of Euros on the Ryder Cup. Scott, Ishikawa, Choi … all these guys and more give a whole different feel to the Presidents Cup squad. Question is, what will it take to get this to have the prestige of the Ryder? Time? Different location on the calendar?

Bacon: As we’ve seen with just about everything, it’s tough to overtake the first to the party, and that was the Ryder Cup, so time will help, but I like some of the things the Presidents Cup has done to change things up. I love the Battleship-like feel of the captain’s picking match-ups against each other. I like that we have an extra day of golf. But why not more wrinkles? I love the idea that the top point-getter on the winning team should be exempt into the next Presidents Cup and also be allowed to pick the venue. That would give the International teams top earner a chance to have it in his home country, and the top American a chance to have it in his home state. Got any other ideas to give this a slightly different taste than the Ryder Cup?

Busbee: All of those are fine suggestions, good ways of putting more at stake. I particularly love the venue choice one; oh, that’d lead to some lobbying that would make Congress blush. I wonder about the position on the calendar, but we always come back to this: when else could you do it? In March, it’s too cold in the States, but now, this is getting totally subsumed by football. Still, for golf fans, it’s a nice bonus, a great way to check out the best in the game with a lot on the line. I’m all in.

Bacon: At least we get it in primetime this entire week, and it only has to go up against the NFL one day! Take that, fellas!

And your thoughts … has the Presidents Cup come on strong or are you still partial to the Ryder Cup?

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/blog/golf_experts/post/Teeing-Off-Is-the-Presidents-Cup-gaining-on-the?urn=golf-wp6920

Terrell Owens Jeremy Maclin Billy Butler Brett Gardner Carl Crawford

Women will get a chance to box in the Olympics for the first time in 2012. If the Amateur International Boxing Association has anything to say about it, they will be wearing skirts.

That’s right, skirts. The AIBA has introduced a trial alternate uniform, asking female boxers to wear skirts because it will make the women easier to distinguish from the men, as if the completely different bodies wasn’t enough. Poland adopted the uniform, calling the uniforms more “elegant” and “womanly.”

Unsurprisingly, many top female boxers are against this plan. Three-time world champion Katie Taylor from Ireland does not want to wear something that she would find uncomfortable while fighting:

“It’s a disgrace that they’re forcing some of the women to wear those mini-skirts. We should be able to wear shorts, just like the men.

“I won’t be wearing a mini-skirt. I don’t even wear mini-skirts on a night out, so I definitely won’t be wearing mini-skirts in the ring.”

England’s Nicola Adams would rather stick with the uniform that is in line with boxing’s heritage:

“Boxing has always been in shorts. I don’t see why it should change to skirts just because you’re a female.”

There are other Olympians who wear skirts while competing. Ice skaters wear dresses created by top designers, but what their performance looks like matters. Tennis and field hockey players wear skirts and kilts, but both outfits are part of those sport’s heritage.

[Related: Detroit girl excels for high school football team ? as offensive lineman

In other combat sports in the Olympics, women wear the same thing as men. Judo players wear gis, wrestlers wear singlets, and fencers wear kits. Those sports don’t have a problem distinguishing between men and women.

Athletes should be allowed to wear what is right for their sport, regardless of whether it is elegant or not. Playing sports is not always elegant, but that does not make it any less womanly. Getting a knockout, grabbing a rebound, sticking a vault, hitting a home run or breaking a world record are all womanly, whether the athlete is wearing a skirt not.

Thanks to Women Talk Sports

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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Boxing-federation-wants-female-boxers-to-wear-sk?urn=oly-wp850

Joe Mauer Johnny Damon Josh Hamilton Juan Pierre Luke Scott

The UFC recently rewarded Forrest Griffin $5,000 for his “creativity” on Twitter, but he went too far on a tweet Tuesday, saying, “Rape is the new missionary.”

When a fan unfollowed him and called him out on what he considered a joke, he responded, “Keep it to yourself.” Later, he deleted the tweet and said, “I’m sorry, I’m gonna go ahead and put myself on Twitter restriction until next week.”

Yep, when “creativity” leads to jokes about sexual assault, that’s a good time to keep your mouth shut.

Let’s just be 100 percent clear on something: Rape isn’t funny. Every time a joke is made about it, victims are reminded of their trauma. If you think it’s funny, you clearly have never been held down and forced to have sex against your will. If you think it’s funny, you’ve never seen the path of destruction it causes in a victim’s life. If you think it’s funny, you have no empathy for the 81K reported rape victims in the U.S. every year.

I don’t think Forrest Griffin is that cold of a person, but he does need to learn that what he said is not OK, and that his words have weight. Taking that UFC Twitter bonus and giving it to a rape victim’s group like R.A.I.N.N. would be one way to properly apologize.

If he doesn’t do it, the UFC should step in and fine him. It’s been reluctant in the past to step in when fighters or any other representatives step over the line, but it just gave Griffin $5,000 for what he tweets. Letting him keep that cash would be condoning more of the same from him in the future.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/After-getting-Twitter-bonus-Forrest-Griffin-twe?urn=mma-wp9193

Josh Smith Kevin Durant Kevin Love Kevin Martin Kobe Bryant

Alabama Coach Anthony Grant has his No. 15-ranked Crimson Tide firing on all cylinders after two games. On November 11, Alabama destroyed North Florida by 20 points before defeating Oakland on Monday by 17.

Alabama is lead by senior JaMychal Green. Green is leading the Tide with 18 PPG. Junior Tony Mitchell is also a key competent for the Tide. His 14.5 PPG and 9.5 RPG are another reason why Alabama is favored to win the SEC West.

Alabama will have a tougher battle in their next game. The Crimson Tide will tackle Maryland on Thursday in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. Alabama is favored to meet Purdue in the tourney final.

Grant is in his third year as Alabama’s head coach. He came in at 42-27 overall at Alabama and 118-52 overall in his career. With the help of Green and Mitchell, Alabama will easily make the NCAA Tourney as long as freshmen Trevor Lacey and Levi Randolph provide a spark. 

With the SEC needing more quality teams in the NCAA Tourney, the growth of Alabama is a blessing for the conference.

Read more College Basketball news on BleacherReport.com

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/943494-sec-college-basketball-grant-has-alabama-firing-on-all-cylinders

Brett Gardner Carl Crawford Daric Barton David Ortiz Delmon Young

This is American junior wrestler Ellis Coleman performing an insane, flipping Greco-Roman wrestling move called “the flying squirrel” at the junior world championships:

It’s hard to decide which part is best: how fluidly Coleman leaps, grabs, lands and performs a two-pronged takedown or that his lack of expression afterward suggests that doing all of those things was as routine as crossing the street. The flying squirrel is cool. Acting like doing the flying squirrel isn’t cooler makes it even cooler.

It’s hard to imagine this will become a go-to move in Coleman’s wrestling arsenal though. The flying squirrel seems to rely on the element of surprise. If an opponent is expecting the maneuver, it wouldn’t end well.

Coleman would go on to win the bronze medal in the event.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Video-Greco-Roman-wrestler-8217-s-insane-821?urn=oly-wp543

Drew Brees David Garrard Jon Kitna Kyle Orton Jay Cutler

While Sergio Garcia and Rory McIlroy were busy pocketing multi-million dollar checks at international events, a group of mini-tour guys were busy grinding it out on Sunday at the Nationwide Tour Championship.

The goal? To get inside the top 25 on the Nationwide Tour’s Money List and grab a coveted ticket to the PGA Tour in 2012. You’ll probably notice a couple of names on the final list, but here are five notable ones to keep an eye on next season.

Billy Hurley III (No. 25 on the Money List): Next to Erik Compton, he might be one of the best stories to come out of the Nationwide Tour. A former Naval officer who spent time on battle ships in the Persian Gulf, China and Korea, it only took him one full season on the developmental circuit to make it to the PGA Tour. You’d have to think those five years spent serving our country in hostile waters made the final round of the Tour Championship a breeze.

Erik Compton (No. 13): The two-time heart transplant recipient is finally headed to the PGA Tour after years of wondering if he’d ever play professional golf again. Compton captured the Mexico Open earlier this year to secure his card with ease. He posted a couple solid finishes on the PGA Tour this season — including a T-25 at the Northern Trust Open — so it should be fun to see what he does with a full season on golf’s biggest stage.

Danny Lee (No. 6): It was only a matter of time before the 21-year-old Lee put it all together. After becoming the youngest U.S. Amateur winner at the age of 18, Lee struggled to find his footing in the professional game. But it all seemed to come together in 2011. With a win at the WNB Golf Classic, Lee nailed down his tour card in his first full season on the Nationwide Tour. He’ll be the only full-time Kiwi on tour next season.

Ted Potter Jr. (No. 2): Hard as it is to believe, Potter wasn’t even a full-time Nationwide Tour member at the beginning of the season. But after Monday qualifying for the South Georgia Classic and winning the tournament, he secured his status for the rest of the season. In just six months he managed to make enough to finish runner-up on the Nationwide Money List. Imagine what the guy could’ve done with a full season.

John Mallinger (No. 14): Mallinger, who had conditional status on the PGA Tour this season, needed only 9 Nationwide events to secure his tour card for 2012. After spending this year bouncing back and forth between both tours, you can bet he’ll come back in 2012 with the goal of making sure he doesn’t have to do the same thing again in the near future.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/blog/golf_experts/post/5-Nationwide-Tour-graduates-to-keep-an-eye-on-ne?urn=golf-wp6614

Miguel Cabrera Nick Markakis Nick Swisher Orlando Hudson Paul Konerko

British long jump champion J.J. Jegede jumped over three MINIs this week as part of a promotional event for a new, 2012 limited edition of the vehicle.

Placed side-by-side, the cars spanned six meters. Jegede’s personal best in the long jump is 8.04 meters (26.37 feet). A similar jump would have earned him eighth place at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Jegede is looking to make his first Olympics.

Three MINIs isn’t so cool, though. You know what’s really cool? Jumping from one end of the Tower Bridge to another. Get it done, Mr. Jegede.

Other popular stories on Yahoo! Sports:
? Video: Anna Kournikova “very proud” of titleless career
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? A 5-foot-3 former construction worker has a UFC title shot

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Video-British-long-jump-champ-jumps-over-three-?urn=oly-wp681

Brandon Jacobs Felix Jones Knowshon Moreno Jonathan Stewart Shonn Greene

ANAHEIM – What a lousy way to end the best fight of the night thus far at the UFC on Fox undercard.

Robbie Peralta and Mackens Semerzier slugged away at one another for 11-plus minutes then the fighters clashed heads. It nearly knocked Semerzier out cold, he couldn’t recover after a few more shots and referee John McCarthy stopped the fight to save the former Marine at the 1:54 mark of the third round in fight No. 4 at the Honda Center.

With 3:30 left in the fight, they both threw a big punch and Peralta’s head smashed into Semerzier’s. Semerzier flopped to his back and his arms went to the side. At first glance, it looked like he’d been nailed by a legitimate punch. The replay showed it was clearly a clash of heads.

Semerzier (6-4, 1-1 UFC) tried to push forward and grab a Peralta leg to slow down the fight. Peralta (14-3, 2-0 UFC) was relentless with 11 more shots and McCarthy had to stop it. When Semerzier rose to his feet, he was out of sorts and nearly fell forward.

Peralta made no mention of the head clash, but he wanted to get out of there once it happened.

“When I caught him I was just trying to throw everything I had to finish him as quickly as possible. I have a baby on the way at home so I’m excited to get back after a great performance,” said Peralta.

When he finally regained his senses, a frustrated Semerzier punched the canvas. Peralta didn’t come away unscathed from the head clash. He had a huge hematoma swelling over his left eye.

It’s been a good year for Peralta, who’s now beaten Semerzier, Mike Lullo and Hiroyuki Takaya in 2011.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/UFC-on-Fox-controversy-Peralta-and-Semerzier-cl?urn=mma-wp9316

Andrea Bargnani Blake Griffin Brook Lopez Carmelo Anthony Chauncey Billups

For the first time this year, Red Bull Racing failed to claim a spot on the podium of a Formula One race as Lewis Hamilton claims his third win of the season.

In other news, the FIA are idiots.

Few people would have thought it possible, but the FIA have managed to make to Abu Dhabi Grand Prix even more ridiculous and tedious than ever before.

The advent of DRS was supposed to make it easier for cars to overtake and, when properly applied, it actually works.

The system is divisive. Fans either think it’s a great addition to the sport or that it’s an abomination that signifies for all to see that the rule makers have failed in making the sport more exciting and have instead resorted to gimmicks.

DRS has, however, proven itself useful on the tracks where overtaking is notoriously difficult and could have done again in Abu Dhabi had the brains trust at the FIA not got in the way.

They took the decision that if one DRS zone is good, two must be brilliant.

The problem is that the two zones were lined up one after the other with separate detection zones.

The end result?

If a driver completed a pass in the first DRS zone then the car that they had just passed would cross the next detection line well within the one-second gap, allowing them to return the favour in the following DRS zone.

It neutralized the impact of the system altogether, so why bother?

It’s the sort of genius that drives fans to distraction.

Putting the idiotic DRS decision to aside, the 2011 version of the race at least delivered some drama and intrigue—unlike the appalling effort last year.

The drama started at the second corner when Sebastian Vettel had his first bit of bad luck for the year, spinning off with a mysterious flat tyre and the subsequent damage put him out of the race.

This allowed Lewis Hamilton to assume the lead, which he held all the way to the chequered flag with a flawless and controlled driving demonstration.

Elsewhere, Fernando Alonso delivered his Ferrari to another unlikely second position while Jenson Button secured the final spot on the podium by staying out of trouble.

Mark Webber was one of the victims of the DRS madness, passing Button early only to lose the spot again in the next zone. He picked up fourth place, but only after going to a three pit stop strategy.

Felipe Massa finished fifth after a spin late in the race. We are yet to hear how Massa will manage to blame the spin on Hamilton (given that they were three-quarters of a lap apart).

The only other thing of interest was the slightly deranged performance of Pastor Maldonado. He seemed incapable of seeing blue fags warning him of approaching leaders.

He received a drive through penalty for his first effort and rejoined the race, only to get in the way of Massa and Webber. The second transgression will cost him grid-places at the next race.

So Hamilton wins his third race of the season, Vettel has a DNF and very little else of interest happened.

Why did they bother?

Read more Motorsports news on BleacherReport.com

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/938439-abu-dhabi-gp-hamilton-wins-but-the-fia-mess-up-the-drs-zones

Kevin Love Kevin Martin Kobe Bryant LaMarcus Aldridge LeBron James

The end of the PGA Tour always brings a bevy of awards, and on Wednesday, the players up for the two biggest awards were announced. Here are the candidates for both the Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year and why they were nominated.

Rookie of the Year

Charl Schwartzel — Obviously winning the Masters put him on the list, but the young man from South Africa had ten top-25s in just 15 PGA Tour events, including a t-4 at last week’s HSBC Champions.

Chris Kirk — A win at the Vikings Classic put Kirk on the list, but it wasn’t his only good finish, as the 26-year-old had four top-10s in his rookie campaign.

Scott Stallings — A win at the Greenbrier Classic, two other top-10s, and nearly $2 million in earnings gets him on this list.

Jhonattan Vegas — The early season favorite to take in this award, Vegas wrangled up the Bob Hope Classic in a playoff and had four other top-10s.

Brendan Steele — Another rookie with a solid season, Steele took home Valero Texas Open and carded three other top-10 finishes.

Keegan Bradley — The only nominee with two wins, Bradley snagged both the Byron Nelson and the PGA Championship in his first season.

Who should win? Bradley, obviously (even Steele knows it’s Keegan’s award). Not many times does a rookie card his first win and his first major win in the same season, and along with that, it seemed Bradley was comfortable being one of the top dogs at the end of the season.

Player of the Year

Nick Watney — Watney won twice, at Doral and the AT&T National, and had 10 top-10s in just 23 events on the PGA Tour. His consistency is one of the things that got him on this list, and he’d possibly be the front-runner if he could have pulled out the win in Vegas.

Bill Haas – A great year for Haas, highlighted by that water shot to not only capture the Tour Championship but also the FedEx Cup. Haas only had one win, but was in playoffs for both the Greenbrier and the Bob Hope.

Webb Simpson — Two wins, two playoff losses, and twelve top-10s for Simpson, who finished second in the FedEx Cup race and had an all-around great season.

Keegan Bradley — You’ve seen his season up top; two wins, and the only person in the POTY hunt with a major championship on the resume.

Luke Donald – A career year for Donald, who had a win at the Accenture Match Play and the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Classic. Donald had the most top-10s of anyone on tour with 14 (in just 19 starts), and won the money title with a really gutsy performance at Disney.

Who should win? Before Disney, I was Bradley all the way, but I think Donald wrapped this award up. Normally the voters lean towards people with a major win that year, but Bradley’s mediocre performance in the tournaments he didn’t win might sway the voters towards Luke.

And your thoughts? Who should win both the Rookie and Player of the Year?

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/blog/golf_experts/post/Player-of-the-Year-and-Rookie-of-the-Year-nomine?urn=golf-wp6776

Ronnie Brown Chris Ivory Brandon Jackson Ryan Mathews Michael Vick

You know, Luke Donald won the money list title and the Children’s Miracle Network Classic, but what he was really excited about was landing on Devil Ball’s Shots of the Week list. It’s true. He told us. And just look how happy he is in the video.

Lots of short-game magic this weekend, clearly. Hopefully your game was equally as inspired.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/blog/golf_experts/post/Luke-Donald-who-else-fires-one-of-the-shots-o?urn=golf-wp6529

Victor Martinez Vladimir Guerrero Adam Wainwright Anibal Sanchez Brett Myers

Let’s face it, it’s a slow time in the golf world. No more majors, no more regular season PGA Tour events, and only one memorable event left in 2011 before all our balatas go into hibernation until the new year and the champion’s trip to Hawaii.

But over in China, there is a rather awesome golf tournament going on. It’s happening at the HSBC Champions, an event that always brings the ringers, but this year, the tournament means more.

Mostly because one player could wrap up the PGA Tour Player of the Year honors with a win, and some of the other players in the field are warming up for the Presidents Cup (and warming up is relative, given the fact that only one of the four American players heading to Australia are in the top-38).

The thing is, if you don’t mind staying up late to watch some golf, this is the weekend to do it. The leaderboard looks like a Who’s Who of the 2011 golfing world, with Keegan Bradley battling, Adam Scott long-puttering, and a host of other big names making some noise.

After two days, Fredrik Jacobson is leading, but only by a shot over Louis Oosthuizen and Scott. Bradley, trying to prove that he should have been included as a captain’s pick on this year’s Presidents Cup team, is one back of them, and a host of others are charging to win the World Golf Championship event.

What makes this event so great isn’t just the players, it’s the golf course. Sheshen International is a golf course that has so many risk/reward holes that it’ll make golfers go on tilt, but for the fans, it’s exciting. Just look at the Northern Irishmen to see how the course has played. Through two days, Graeme McDowell has posted consecutive rounds of 69, but they’ve been anything but routine. On Thursday, McDowell has seven birdies, a bogey and a triple-bogey. Rory McIlroy made just two pars on his front nine on Friday, and although the par-4 16th hole plays less than 300 yards, and Rory has gone for it both days, the U.S. Open champion is playing it one-over.

It’s a great tournament for this time of year, and with the stacked leaderboard, looks like it will only get better. Good thing it doesn’t have to go up against that college football game this weekend everyone seems to keep talking about.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/blog/golf_experts/post/HSBC-Champions-living-up-to-the-hype-after-two-r?urn=golf-wp6704

Dallas Braden David Price Felix Hernandez Francisco Liriano Gio Gonzalez

Last year, Michael Phelps’ coach called Ryan Lochte the best swimmer of the year. Lochte is making a good case for that title again in 2011, as he beat Phelps to win the 200m freestyle title at the world swimming championships in China on Tuesday.

See the race here.

Lochte won with a time of 1:44.44. Phelps was just 0.35 seconds behind him, with German Paul Biedermann swimming a 1:44.88. None of the swimmers were close to breaking Biedermann’s world record of 1:42.00. His record was made when swimmers were allowed to wear high-tech suits. They were outlawed last year, and this is the first major, international meet to feature swimmers wearing traditional suits.

The American teammates turned to Twitter to congratulate each other after the race.

Their encouraging words on Twitter are no surprise, as the two fierce competitors are also close friends.

“He’s the only person I’ll even say anything to in the ready room,” Phelps said. “We can joke around. He can hear my headphones with having them on my head, so we were both singing along to the music. We’re super laid-back, super relaxed. We have fun. We love to race each other. … We bring the best out of each other.”

Lochte and Phelps will have another chance to face each other at the world championships as they will both swim the 200m individual medley later this week.

Source: http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Lochte-takes-200m-free-over-Phelps-at-world-cham?urn=oly-wp467

Mike Tolbert Ronnie Brown Chris Ivory Brandon Jackson Ryan Mathews

Last year, a Shrekish Wayne Rooney became the first footballer to ever get a giant, fireworks-filled effigy in his honor for Guy Fawkes Night. This year, the only man it could’ve been, Mario Balotelli — complete with Super Mario cap, diamond earrings, hand-held mansion, a giant bottle rocket and “Why always me?” shirt — gets one of his own.

Balotelli was a late, yet unanimous pick for this year’s effigy. But having a firework house fire and promoting fireworks safety days later made him an easy pick for the Edenbridge Bonfire Society.

From the Daily Mail:

Jon Mitchell, from Edenbridge Bonfire Society, said: ‘We were all quite worried a few days ago because no celebrities had done anything quite silly enough to be celebrated on November 5.

‘We thought about the politicians and the other usual suspects – but Super Mario earned a unanimous vote among the committee.’

The effigies are always done in good fun and Mitchell said that he’s sure a man like Mario will see the humor in it. And it’s even funnier when you realize that even after the 30-foot, fireworks-filled Balotelli has been set ablaze, it still won’t be the most dangerous Mario Balotelli out there.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/blog/dirty-tackle/post/30-foot-Super-Mario-Balotelli-to-be-burned-on-Bo?urn=sow-wp6267

Ray Rice Peyton Hillis Darren McFadden Cedric Benson LeSean McCoy

We dial up five picks every week (that’s no joke, TLR), using the line from Yahoo Pro Football Pick’Em. Make your own picks, keep score, win favor with the handicapping groupies. Your success is our reward.

You’re welcome to disagree with my aim on any of these throws, but you have to give a reason. Make us proud. Advance the conversation. Rise up to the level of the other commenters.

Giants +9 at Patriots: I liked this game a lot more in the middle of the week. Now, Hakeem Nicks and Ahmad Bradshaw are singing Don’t Let’s Start. But this line looks bloated ? probably a blind-faith reaction to the Brady/Belichick bounce-back history ? and I still expect Eli Manning and his receivers to be successful throwing the ball against that horrendous Patriots secondary. New York’s pass rush also showed me something last week, and Brady’s normally-perfect pocket awareness hasn’t been sharp of late. This game will likely be decided by one score.

[Get instant access to scores and stats with Yahoo! Sportacular app for iPhone and Android]

Bills -2 vs. Jets: Buffalo’s home field edge might be the best in the AFC. New York’s defense isn’t quite as good as its rep ? you can run on these guys. The Bills have made significant improvements to their offensive line and defensive backfield. Here’s hoping Ryan Fitzpatrick is smart enough to avoid Darrelle Revis, for two reasons: Revis is (obviously) exceptional in coverage, and he’s allowed to get away with whatever contact he wants. But I’m at the point where I fully trust Chan Gailey (and Fitzpatrick, and Fred Jackson, and the incredible fans of Buffalo).

Ravens +3 at Steelers: Generally this is a series where scoring is low and you want the points, though the Ravens cruised in the season opener. Pittsburgh is a much different and better team today, but with all those linebackers missing, I can see Ray Rice controlling this game. First team to 20 wins.

Broncos +8 at Raiders: There are 100 critiques you can throw at Tim Tebow and they’d all be correct. But is Carson Palmer any good? Does he knows this offense yet? Do the Raiders scare you without Darren McFadden? I’ll grab the big number, knowing we can cover it front door or in garbage time.

Chargers +5.5 vs. Packers: It’s funny how narratives are dramatically shifted depending on results. If Philip Rivers doesn’t fumble in the fourth period at Arrowhead, the story goes like this: “Rivers brilliant for final three quarters, wills Chargers to victory.” But because of the fluke turnover, the “What’s wrong with Philip Rivers?” story persists. Yes, he’s making a few loose throws every week and sure, that’s a major problem. But look at the YPAs here: 9.0 at KC, 5.6 at New York (give the Jets pass defense credit), 8.6 at Denver, 9.9 against Miami. San Diego can still push the ball downfield. And the offense looks so much better with Antonio Gates back, even if he’s merely at 70-80 percent. As wonderful as Green Bay is ? I’m as smitten with this offense as anyone ? the Packers are a public team that carries a heavy line burden everywhere. The hosts can keep it close.

Last Week: 2-3 (19-17-4 season)
Last Year: 49-34

———-

Image courtesy of Associated Press

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/fantasy/blog/roto_arcade/post/Throwing-Darts-They-Might-Be-Giants?urn=fantasy-wp10903

Ronnie Brown Chris Ivory Brandon Jackson Ryan Mathews Michael Vick

When NASCAR shuttled southwest to popular Texas Motor Speedway for the AAA Texas 500 in Ft. Worth, Texas, they knew all three series—Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Trucks—would provide exciting racing.

They didn’t know one event—the NCWTS race—would provide one of the biggest stories of the year.

As many followers of sports on the planet and almost all motorsports fans know all too well by now.  Kyle Busch wrecked Ron Hornaday Jr. during a caution and was parked for that action—not only for the remainder of the race, but for the rest of the weekend.

Busch sat out the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races.

While the media focused on Busch, and those following the motorsports world raged on about an obvious infraction of wrecking during caution, Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards joked with each other and discussed their performance on the track.

Busch was relegated to a seat on the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing pit box normally occupied by his wife, drawing media attention like a super magnate.  Real action coverage might have been seen by some as almost shared time.

Almost.

Busch needs to get past all the focus and live up to his regrets.  If he doesn’t, he may be looking at a shortened career.

All any NASCAR fan need do is look back to the career of Tim Richmond, who had big talent—as much or more than Busch—and much better looks.

Richmond had it all and lost it to his dalliances.  If Richmond had lived, he might have thrived more than Earnhardt.  Maybe Earnhardt would have been just a footnote in comparison to Richmond’s legend.

But that’s not NASCAR history.  Richmond died from disease, Earnhardt on the track he loved.

Busch has the talent to be in this very elite group and earn championships.  He may never get there, but this is a defining moment and he needs to learn to step up.

Yet again, Busch has become part of another Chase opportunity fading like a shadow well before the great sun in Homestead.

Busch might want to join fans in knowing what the top finishers had to say about the exciting race in Texas.

Check out what winner Tony Stewart, runner-up Carl Edwards, and third-place standout Kasey Kahne had to say before the green flag and after the checkered flag:

Tony Stewart (No. 14 Chevrolet) Finished first. (Started fifth)

Before the green flag:

“You have to be comfortable (at Texas Motor Speedway), or you’re not going to go fast,” Stewart said.  “The more comfortable I am, the faster we go.

“Every year that we come here, I think the racing just gets better and better, as far as being able to move around on the racetrack and guys not having to just follow each other and get stuck behind each other.  You can actually pass.  You can race.  You can get away from guys if your car’s fast.”

After the checkered flag:

“I don’t know that we ever got out of the top five there the whole race,” Stewart said.  “Seemed like we just kind of stayed there, stayed in the top three or four the whole day.  Restarts were key obviously.

“We’re controlling our destiny.  Today is a perfect example of that. We’re worried about what we’re doing. We’re not worried about what they’re doing.  We raced our race today.  We didn’t do anything worrying about what they were doing or how they were doing things.  We just ran our race.  That’s what we intend to do the next two weeks.

“I’m not worried about anybody.  I’m worried about what we’re doing, and that’s it.  I mean, make no mistakes, understand this when you leave here, for the next two weeks, I don’t care what he does.  I didn’t care what he did last week.  I didn’t care what he did this week.  I was worried about the 14 car and that’s all.”

Carl Edwards (No. 99 Ford) Finished second. (Started seventh)

Before the green flag:

“Texas is one of our strong points,” Edwards said. “I feel really good about going there, especially the way our Roush Fenway Fords run there.  Texas is different than any track we go to just because of the atmosphere.  It’s one of the biggest races of the year.  The fans, sponsors and drivers all know it; there is a lot on the line and there is a lot of pride in winning a race there.”

After the checkered flag:

“Man, we’re just going to hold Tony to it,” Edwards said.  “They’re going to have to run that well to beat us these next two races.  I think, really, it’s going to be a great battle.  I’m excited about it.

“I think that Phoenix is still a huge unknown.  It makes me think that Homestead could be a lot closer than I expected before this race.

“We’ll go to Homestead with the same package, same ideas, and hopefully have a similar performance.  It looks like Tony might be in the same boat.”

Kasey Kahne (No. 4 Toyota) Finished third. (Started ninth)

Before the green flag:

“The car has felt great ever since we got here,” Kahne said.  “We’ll try to be as smart about it as we can when we practice, compared to when we race, and how we go into the night, and how things change.  We’re trying to be prepared and have some good adjustments in the car built in so we can keep up with the track on Sunday afternoon.”

After the checkered flag:

“The Red Bull team just keeps doing a good job,” Kahne said.  “They’re working hard.  It’s pretty impressive for a lot of them not knowing their future, not knowing what’s going on there, if there will be a two-car team or one-car team, to keep putting the cars on the track like they are.

“I watched Tony and Carl.  They’re going for it.  Tony raced me as hard as he ever raced me.  I had to race as hard as I could.  They’re trying to get as many points as they can.  It’s intense trying to win these races right now.  It’s super close.

“Tony thinks he’s the guy right now.  The guy he’s going against thinks he’s the guy.  It’s going to be a battle to the end.”

FYI WIRZ is the select presentation of topics by Dwight Drum at Racetake.com.

Unless otherwise noted, quotes and information were obtained from official release materials provided by NASCAR and team representatives.

Photo credit: Dwight Drum at Racetake.com.

Read more Motorsports news on BleacherReport.com

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/929151-fyi-wirz-nascars-tony-stewart-carl-edwards-kasey-kahne-talk-tall-texas-win

Adam Wainwright Anibal Sanchez Brett Myers C.J. Wilson CC Sabathia

Did you miss a day or two of Devil Ball this week? No sweat, we’ve got you covered. Here’s what was happening as the season wound to its final weeks.

? Fred Couples has taken grief from pretty much everybody over his selection of Tiger Woods to the Presidents Cup team, and has finally begun firing back.

? Keegan Bradley won the Grand Slam, which is cool and all, but is it going to mean anything in the greater scheme of the season? Probably not.

? Tiger who? Tom Lewis won a tournament in only his third professional start. Not bad, laddie!

? Which pro won a tournament with a six-dollar club (actually, TWO six-dollar clubs) in his bag?

? Seve Ballesteros’ kid is making his European Tour debut next season. Good to see.

? Nice work by Bud Cauley to pretty much lock up the most unexpected Tour card of 2012.

? And Lexi Thompson stopped by to chat with us for a bit.

Don’t miss anything more. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter at @jaybusbee and get the news as soon as it’s live.

Source: http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/golf/blog/golf_experts/post/Enough-with-the-Tiger-second-guessing-and-more-?urn=golf-wp6490

DeMar DeRozan Deron Williams Derrick Rose Dirk Nowitzki Dorell Wright

Chael Sonnen is still talking and Anderson Silva is saying little.

What’s new, right? Well, it’s a little odd in this case because Silva was called out and disrespected in front of millions following Sonnen’s fight at UFC 136. Silva has gone the silent route. He’s never accepted or turned down the Super Bowl weekend challenge.

Sonnen knows Silva is unique, but he even is surprised by the champ’s actions.

“As it played that through my head, I saw a lot of different outcomes, but not in a million years did I think this would happen,” Sonnen told ESPN1100/98.9 FM in Las Vegas (2:35 mark) this week.

Then the American mentioned Silva’s roots.

“That is not the heritage of a Brazilian fighter or a Brazilian man in general. Brazilians will fight. Brazilians will come forward with courage. If you challenge them, they will step forward. That’s not in his culture or his heritage to just sit there and get clowned in front of the world, but he did it.”

Sonnen still thinks he’s next for Silva, but the fight has no shot of going down on Super Saturday.

“The fight’s going to happen for sure. I’ll be Anderson’s next fight. I don’t know that he’ll be mine,” said Sonnen.

With Silva nursing a shoulder ailment, it could be a long wait for Sonnen.

“I’m not going to sit around and wait for him. [...] I don’t just need the title, I need to be the best fighter in the world. If there’s someone who can knock me off and beat me then I don’t deserve to be there. So god bless them and let that guy have his shot,” said Sonnen.

Sonnen is hosting the World MMA Awards show in Las Vegas on Nov. 30 at the Palms. Tickets are $59, $79 and $99. Voting, open to fans in 22 categories at WorldMMAAwards.com, closes on Nov. 25.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Sonnen-interview-Silva-is-next-for-Chael-but-s?urn=mma-wp9236

Stephen Jackson Tony Parker Zach Randolph Tom Brady Philip Rivers

You know, Luke Donald won the money list title and the Children’s Miracle Network Classic, but what he was really excited about was landing on Devil Ball’s Shots of the Week list. It’s true. He told us. And just look how happy he is in the video.

Lots of short-game magic this weekend, clearly. Hopefully your game was equally as inspired.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/blog/golf_experts/post/Luke-Donald-who-else-fires-one-of-the-shots-o?urn=golf-wp6529

Ted Lilly Tim Hudson Tim Lincecum Tommy Hanson Trevor Cahill

One of the top high school DEs—and overall players—in the country, Adolphus Washington is getting close to making a decision. Washington originally was going to announce on November 9 but has postponed his announcement until later this month.

Washington amassed 23.5 sacks in his senior season and has offers from basically every major FBS program. But he has narrowed his schools down to a top four.

Let’s see who they are and make a prediction.

Begin Slideshow

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/936132-adolphus-washington-predicting-who-gets-the-call-from-his-top-4-suitors

Ichiro Suzuki Joe Mauer Johnny Damon Josh Hamilton Juan Pierre

From now until the start of the 2012 Olympics, Great Britain’s favorite parlor game will be guessing who will light the torch next July 27 in London. Recent Olympic torch lightings have ranged from the simple (Muhammad Ali) to the spectacular (a harness-wearing Li Ning running around the top of Beijing’s Olympic Stadium) and it’s a good bet London will try to up the ante with a unique lighting of its own.

A look at some of the candidates to light the Olympic cauldron:

David Beckham ? The soccer star represented London at the 2005 bid meeting in Singapore and participated in the handover at the Closing Ceremony of Beijing. He’s still harboring hopes of playing on the nation’s Olympic soccer team as one of the three overage players on the under-23 squad. If he’s successful, it would be the first Olympics for the 37-year-old and would make him a fine choice to be the final torch bearer. If he doesn’t make the team, selecting him to light the cauldron would be a nod toward celebrity rather than Olympic heroism.

Sebastian Coe ? If he wasn’t the chairman of the London Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, Coe would be a natural choice to light the flame. Since he’s the one ultimately in charge of selecting the final torch bearer, it’s hard to imagine he’d bestow the honor on himself.

Kelly Holmes ? When she stepped onto the track in Athens, Holmes had never won a major international championship. At 34, it appeared her career may be defined by near misses, runner-up finishes and injuries. Then she won two gold medals in Athens in the 800m and 1500m and, in turn, became one of the nation’s great Olympic champions. If any Brit personifies the Olympic spirit, it’s Holmes.

Chris Hoy ? The Scottish cyclist is one of the nation’s most successful Olympians in history. His three gold medals in Beijing were the most in 100 years for a Brit in a single Olympics.

Steve Redgrave ? He’s been called the nation’s greatest Olympian. A five-time gold medalist in rowing (in five consecutive Olympics), Redgrave is one of Great Britain’s top sporting stars and has already been installed as the oddmakers’ favorite to light the cauldron. Can’t you already picture Sir Steve on his canoe rowing out with a torch to a cauldron perched in the middle of the Thames?

Paula Radcliffe ? Olympic success is the only thing that eluded the marathon star during her decorated career. Radcliffe won world championships, European championships and some of the biggest marathon races in the world, but never put it together at the Summer Games. Heavily favored in Beijing, Radcliffe finished 23rd after stopping mid-race to deal with cramping.

Daley Thompson ? Born just 10 miles away from Olympic Stadium in London’s Notting Hill, Thompson won two decathlon golds in the 1980s and was the long-time world record holder in the event. His reputation for abrasiveness — one critic called him “objectionable, charmless and rude” — could work against him. Or it could serve as the basis for a stirring turnaround of retribution.

Another name to consider:

Roger Bannister ? At 82, Bannister is almost certainly too old to be the final torch bearer. Organizers will want youth and vitality to begin the Games. But why not use Bannister, one of history’s greatest sportsman, in some capacity? Though he never won Olympic gold, finishing fourth in Helsinki in 1952, his feat of breaking the four-minute mile is one of the grandest achievements in sports.

Prediction: Redgrave’s status as the prohibitive favorite to light the torch may work against him. It’s almost too easy a choice. Though Sir Steve will doubtlessly be involved in the Opening Ceremony in some capacity, look for Kelly Holmes to become the fifth woman to light the cauldron at a Summer Games.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Who-will-light-the-Olympic-cauldron-in-London-?urn=oly-wp489

Francisco Liriano Gio Gonzalez Hiroki Kuroda Jaime Garcia Jered Weaver

It’s a loaded pod this week ? or at least it felt that way ? as we scrapped the usual game previews in favor of a forward-looking mid-season sweep of the league. We discuss buy-low and sell-high candidates, we talk trade strategy, we name a few players you can safely drop, then we list teams that have the friendliest fantasy playoff schedules. Again: Loaded. And then we spend the final minutes discussing fantasy pick-ups for Week 9. Do the do…

The Fantasy 46, Mid-Season Review

In future weeks, the idea is to focus more on individual match-ups and sit/start dilemmas, maybe take some Twitter questions. I’d like this thing to complement the fine audio work that Doug Farrar and Greg Cosell are already doing on Shutdown Corner. No need for multiple game previews. Please check out the SC podcast, because those two are as good as it gets. I’ll be over here, recommending running backs and receivers.

To subscribe to the 46, you can click this. (I won’t make anymore iTunes promises until that’s a done deal). If you have a question for the hosts, hit these links: @andybehrens, @bmac670. We’re both willing to respond, sometimes correctly. And as always, feel free to use the comments section however you like…

—

Photo via US Presswire

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/fantasy/blog/roto_arcade/post/The-Fantasy-46-Podcast-ep-10-Special-mid-seas?urn=fantasy-wp10853

Torii Hunter Vernon Wells Victor Martinez Vladimir Guerrero Adam Wainwright

The contenders for the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup title have been narrowed to only a few, but the road to Chase was paved with hopes and dreams for all the drivers who have made it to the top 10.

The 26-week preseason battle to make the playoffs in NASCAR’s most elite series is a grinding battle week after week, filled with the highs and lows of a sport built on danger.

Each race requires every driver to always be on his game, to focus on the win, and top finishes for his team, sponsors and fans.

The pressure on a Cup series driver comes in many forms and from many directions, but the most pressure comes from within.

Every driver wants to be the best, but only 10 will be considered Chase drivers at season’s end, and only one of those drivers will have captured the ultimate goal of a championship.

Let’s take a look at the 10 current contenders in the Chase with two races remaining in the season; we will look at some of the specific reasons for each driver that would make winning the title so special.

Begin Slideshow

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/925750-nascar-sprint-cup-what-winning-the-title-would-mean-to-top-10-contenders

Matt Schaub Peyton Manning Matt Ryan Drew Brees David Garrard

Days after a pregnant woman in Chicago finished a full marathon before giving birth, a London man was stripped of a third-place finish in a marathon after it was discovered he caught a bus for the final five miles of the race.

Rob Sloan, a 31-year-old former army mechanic, stopped running 20 miles into the race and then jumped on a bus to ride out the final few miles. When he disembarked, he ran through a forest, joined the race route and crossed the finish line in 2 hours, 51 minutes, good for third place at the Kielder Marathon.

Though he initially denied cheating, Sloan was forced to admit his guilt following an investigation by race organizers, one of whom called Sloan’s inactions “as bad as drug-taking.”

Cheating is cheating and I’m inclined to agree that hopping on a bus for the five miles is as bad as taking any illicit substance. More concerning is that Sloan cutting off the last quarter of his race by jumping on a vehicle only improved his personal best by 21 minutes and that third place was the best he could manage. If you’re going to cheat, make it count.

The worst part of the whole thing? Sloan took a goody bag for his efforts. Steven Cairns, the runner who came in fourth place thanks to Sloan’s maneuver, wrote on Facebook:

“I was third the whole way but somehow I crossed the line and was given fourth! I started to doubt myself as he was adamant he had gone past me. I could understand him taking the goody bag and the T-shirt but to do the press interview claiming he was third?”

Somewhere, Rosie Ruiz shakes her head in disgust.

Other popular stories on Yahoo! Sports:
? MMA fighter will sit in a kennel to help save puppies
? Video: NFL legend Steve Young gets flash mobbed for birthday
? Top 10 biggest losers in NBA lockout — where does Kobe rank?

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/London-man-DQ-8217-s-after-taking-bus-for-final?urn=oly-wp779

Brook Lopez Carmelo Anthony Chauncey Billups Chris Bosh Danny Granger

In 2010-11 Boston College had an overall record of 21-13 and 9-7 in ACC action. It was Steve Donahue’s first year as head coach, but he will be starting from scratch this season since all of his starters are now gone.

His junior star Reggie Jackson announced for the draft while his senior starters Joe Trapani, Corey Raji, Biko Paris, and Josh Southern all graduated. Jackson was the top scorer at 18.2 ppg and will be the most sorely missed.

Now, Boston College is considered the most inexperienced team in the ACC and could struggle to compete. With no veteran starters or players who have averaged more than 16 minutes per game, it will be difficult for the team to have much success this season.

Donahue is building a team with freshman players and this class was not rated that highly by any recruiting service.

However, Donahue saw success creating an Ivy League powerhouse in Cornell, so he might be able to the same thing for Boston College. Donahue is known for choosing players who can work with his system though they may not be the most athletic.

This is something we can look forward to this season for Boston College. They may not have the most talent, but if they play hard and follow what Donahue teaches, the team could surprise a few people.

Backcourt

In Boston College’s backcourt, we need to see how quickly the freshmen develop their games. Gabe Moton was the only freshman on scholarship last season, but he was just scoring 2.5 points per game. He shot just 26 percent from behind the 3-point arc. He may be good at defending the basket, but he needs to step up his offensive game.

Danny Rubin is a sophomore who shoots well from the 3-point range,at 43 percent. Jordan Daniels is a player who is a quick decision-maker, while Lonnie Jackson is an excellent shooter, but he needs to build up his body to be a great defender.

Frontcourt

In their frontcourt, a 7-foot freshman named Dennis Clifford had stats of 18 points, 14 rebounds, and 7 blocks per game during his senior year in high school.

KC Caudill is an excellent half-court player but has difficulty running the court, due to his weight being at 295 lbs.

Ryan Anderson was a sought-after player by many recruiters because at 6’8″, he can shoot from long range and plays smart.

Eddie Odio, Ryan Kilcullen, and John Cain Carney are other players who might be seeing some time on the court for Boston College.

Check out the entire Boston College basketball schedule.

Read more College Basketball news on BleacherReport.com

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/935833-ncaa-basketball-predictions-boston-college-eagles

LeBron James Luis Scola Luol Deng Manu Ginobili Michael Beasley

UFC 137 was bizarre weeks before the card even started, with no-shows at press conferences, rearranging bouts, and a weighin that featured one fighter who didn’t make weight and another one who learned the value of a good headbutt. But who stood out once the actual fights began?

No. 1 star — Nick Diaz: Heading into UFC 137, Diaz promised that he always shows up for a fight. He came through, beating up on B.J. Penn so badly that Penn said that he would walk away from his 10-year MMA career. Then, Diaz launched into a string of expletives to call out Georges St. Pierre. It was not as smooth as Chael Sonnen’s heel act, but it was more effective. Diaz will fight GSP on Super Bowl weekend.

No. 2 star — Roy Nelson: Showing off an improved physique, he withstood the best that Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic had, and then took out the MMA legend in the third round. The win halted a two-fight losing skid.

No. 3 star — Donald Cerrone: Speaking of streaks, Cerrone extended his winning streak to six with submission of Dennis Siver. He used his kickboxing prowess to knock Siver down, then smartly slapped on a rear naked choke to finish the fight. Next, he’ll fight Nate Diaz at UFC 141, giving Cerrone his fifth fight in a year.

Those are Cagewriter’s Three Stars. Who are yours? Tell us in the comments or on Facebook.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/UFC-137-s-Three-Stars-Diaz-Nelson-and-Cerrone?urn=mma-wp8828

Francisco Liriano Gio Gonzalez Hiroki Kuroda Jaime Garcia Jered Weaver

It’s a loaded pod this week ? or at least it felt that way ? as we scrapped the usual game previews in favor of a forward-looking mid-season sweep of the league. We discuss buy-low and sell-high candidates, we talk trade strategy, we name a few players you can safely drop, then we list teams that have the friendliest fantasy playoff schedules. Again: Loaded. And then we spend the final minutes discussing fantasy pick-ups for Week 9. Do the do…

The Fantasy 46, Mid-Season Review

In future weeks, the idea is to focus more on individual match-ups and sit/start dilemmas, maybe take some Twitter questions. I’d like this thing to complement the fine audio work that Doug Farrar and Greg Cosell are already doing on Shutdown Corner. No need for multiple game previews. Please check out the SC podcast, because those two are as good as it gets. I’ll be over here, recommending running backs and receivers.

To subscribe to the 46, you can click this. (I won’t make anymore iTunes promises until that’s a done deal). If you have a question for the hosts, hit these links: @andybehrens, @bmac670. We’re both willing to respond, sometimes correctly. And as always, feel free to use the comments section however you like…

—

Photo via US Presswire

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/fantasy/blog/roto_arcade/post/The-Fantasy-46-Podcast-ep-10-Special-mid-seas?urn=fantasy-wp10853

Delmon Young Derek Jeter Elvis Andrus Evan Longoria Hideki Matsui

Joe Paterno‘s tenure as head football coach at Penn State ended on a sour note, as he was fired Wednesday due to failing to report sexual abuse of children by a former assistant coach to the police. 

Paterno had earlier in the day revealed that he would be stepping down at the end of the season, and said that there was no need to fire him since he would be leaving of his own free will. 

The board of trustees decided that JoePa’s tenure shouldn’t last until the end of the season, and fired him effective immediately.

So who was in the right on this matter; JoePa or the board of trustees?  The unsatisfying answer is that both were right, and both were wrong. 

There was no clear-cut correct decision here.  It was clear that JoePa’s reign at Penn State needed to come to an end soon.  It’s just not clear whether that end needed to be immediately or if it should have occurred after the season ended.

Let’s take a closer look at each of those perspectives.  Before doing so, I wish to make it perfectly clear that this analysis of the situation is in no way meant to defend the actions of those who failed to protect the rights of children in this case, and whose inaction led to multiple innocent lives being irreversibly damaged.  This is meant as an examination of the issue of whether or not it was the correct decision to fire Paterno immediately rather than let him retire after the season ended.

Why he needed to be fired now

Let’s not sugar-coat this.  Joe Paterno knew that there was reason to believe that children were being raped, molested and assaulted by a longtime friend. 

Paterno brought that information to his “boss” (in all honesty, Paterno was the most powerful man in the city, which makes his inaction all the more disturbing).  JoePa then did nothing more, and never got the police involved. 

Even as his “bosses” remained inactive on the situation, Paterno simply did nothing.  That inaction allowed the assaults, rapes and molestations to continue, and more innocent lives were damaged as a result.

Any person who allows such atrocities to occur without doing everything in their power to put an end to them is severely lacking in moral judgment.  Part of Paterno’s job is to be in charge of supervising the growth and maturation of those players entrusted to his care.  Didn’t he just prove himself unfit to fulfill those responsibilities by demonstrating the lack of moral judgment mentioned above?

Besides, Paterno wasn’t “owed” the privilege of being able to retire on his own terms.  Yes, the man has influenced countless lives for the better over the course of his career, but those successes don’t make up for his role in allowing Sandusky’s continued violation of children.  The only ones “owed” anything in this case are those children whom Paterno could have saved from their own personal hells, but didn’t.

Why he should have been allowed to retire after the season ended

As horrific as Sandusky’s actions are, JoePa was not a part of those atrocities.  He didn’t encourage them or participate in them, and he reported them to his boss.  Paterno isn’t guilty of any crime or even any NCAA rules violation. 

His offense was moral in nature, and since there is no standardized universal moral code, it may be unjust to hold Paterno to a higher standard.  Was Paterno only fired in order to appease a sense of moral outrage and take scrutiny off the university?  If that’s the case, that is an unacceptable reason for firing him.

Besides, removing Paterno from his position right now deprives his entire team of their coach and mentor just as their world is turned upside down.  How is this fair to the members of the Penn State football team who are now left alone to navigate this turmoil by themselves?  They have done nothing wrong, so why do they also have to suffer?

It also doesn’t help matters that the witness to the horrific incident in 2002 is still on the Penn State staff.  Mike McQueary is the one who actually witnessed the incident, while JoePa only heard about it from McQueary. 

Paterno didn’t know if the allegation was true or not, while McQueary knew for a fact that the atrocity had occurred.  McQueary was the first line of defense and responsibility, and he failed.  So why did Paterno get fired first if McQueary had the much larger moral obligation to go to the police?

The fact that McQueary wasn’t canned before Paterno lends pretty strong support to the argument that Paterno’s firing was merely meant to satisfy an outraged nation, and wasn’t justified.

In the end, Joe Paterno’s firing is just like the rest of this scandal; unpleasant, unclear and leaving the public feeling morally confused.

Read more College Football news on BleacherReport.com

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/935599-paterno-fired-timing-of-his-departure-both-right-and-wrong

Paul Konerko Rajai Davis Robinson Cano Shin-Soo Choo Torii Hunter

We’ve already seen how Petr Cech’s broken nose has pushed him closer to his total transformation into Darth Vader, but the question as to whether he could actually play in the Czech Republic’s Euro 2012 playoff against Montenegro remained. So, during Thursday’s training session, Cech strapped on his helmet and his new protective mask and tested it out pretty much the only way he could. By having balls thrown at his face.

From Soccernet:

“It’s a bit unusual but I used to play ice-hockey when I was a kid so I had wires before my eyes and I never minded that,” Cech said. “[In training] They threw a ball from a metre at it and it hurt only as if they had touched the nose.

“If I considered all risks, I wouldn’t have to come here. There are things in the game that you can’t influence. If I get hit, I’ll get hit”.

And with that, he declared himself fit to play.

Cech has an impressive Ivan Drago (“If he dies, he dies.”) level of detached fortitude about this. Between this and skull fracture, no one can ever question Darth Petr’s toughness.

Photo: Getty

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/blog/dirty-tackle/post/Cech-tested-protective-mask-by-having-balls-thro?urn=sow-wp6548

Ted Lilly Tim Hudson Tim Lincecum Tommy Hanson Trevor Cahill

Week 8 is another tricky partial session for fantasy owners, given that all six resting clubs have winning records. There’s a lot of firepower on the sidelines, and we’ll have to dig deep with some starting calls. Let’s give the injury report a thorough audit here; we’ll start with the receivers, then hit all the other positions in this order: RB, QB, TE, non-skill guys.

? Hines Ward (ankle) didn’t practice Friday and although he’s listed as questionable, context clues point to him not playing against New England. Given that it’s a late game, I don’t see how you can risk anything with Ward in Week 8. Emanuel Sanders is in line to start if Ward doesn’t play, but I like Antonio Brown a little more, no matter how he’s classified on the depth chart. New England’s pass defense has been horrendous, as you know.

? Andre Johnson (hamstring) has been ruled out for Week 8, and while it’s a pain that he’s not back, at least we have early closure on the injury. Owen Daniels is your best bet in the Houston passing game; if you have to gamble on one of their wideouts against the underrated Jaguars, I’d go Jacoby Jones over Kevin Walter.

? Malcom Floyd (hip) was at Friday’s practice and our friend Michael Gehlken thinks Floyd will play at Kansas City on Monday, barring a setback.

? Percy Harvin (ribs) had limited practices Thursday and Friday and I’d do all you can to look away from him. The Vikings haven’t really figured out how to best use Harvin, and he’s clearly not healthy anyway. Michael Jenkins makes some sense as a Minnesota rental; while he doesn’t have any special skills, Christian Ponder has been targeting him often the last two weeks.

[Never miss a point/run/touchdown with the free Yahoo! Sportacular app for iPhone and Android]

? Braylon Edwards (knee) did some work in practice this week and looks like a game-time decision against Cleveland. You should be able to find safer plays.

? Early Doucet (quadriceps) had a full practice Friday, though he remains questionable on the injury report. The only Arizona player I’m willing to run with this week is receiver Larry Fitzgerald.

? Donald Jones (ankle) is down for another week, which pushes David Nelson into flex value. Nelson has a significant height advantage over the Washington corners.

? With Santana Moss (hand) down 5-7 weeks, Jabar Gaffney becomes a viable fantasy play. Anthony Armstrong and Niles Paul will fight for the other reps.

? Lee Evans (ankle) isn’t expected back anytime soon; he’s definitely out for Week 8. Torrey Smith makes for an interesting play against a Cardinals secondary that’s allowing all sorts of production (especially on the deep ball).

? Mohamed Massaquoi (post concussion) has been ruled out for the match at San Francisco. Greg Little is the only Cleveland wideout to consider in the first place.

? Danario Alexander (hamstring) is considered doubtful for the game against New Orleans. Your receiver play here is Brandon Lloyd, and maybe Greg Salas in desperate spots.

? Matthew Stafford (ankle) took all the Friday reps and although he’s listed as questionable, it looks like he’ll be starting at Denver.

? Tarvaris Jackson (pectoral) had a full practice Friday and looks likely to start against Cincinnati (Seahawks beat writer Liz Mathews expects Jackson to play). While Jackson is no great fantasy shakes, his presence has a trickle-down effect on the rest of the Seattle offense: you can feel better about Sidney Rice and Doug Baldwin.

? Sam Bradford (ankle) won’t dress for the Week 8 game against the Saints. Given how Bradford has struggled in 2011 (much of it not his fault), A.J. Feeley isn’t a gigantic drop down.

? Matt Hasselbeck (thumb), Cam Newton (illness), Tony Romo (ribs) and Matt Moore (ribs) are all probable on their respective injury reports, so deploy as usual.

? BenJarvus Green-Ellis (toe) had a week of partial practices and is listed as questionable for the 4 p.m. game at Pittsburgh. All logical signs point to the Law Firm playing, but you should have a late-game caddy available if at all possible.

? Daniel Thomas (hamstring) is questionable for yet another week. He had two days of limited work after sitting out Wednesday. Reggie Bush (neck) had a full day Friday. The Giants haven’t been great against the run (4.5 YPC), though they might get Justin Tuck (neck/groin) back this week. Saturday PM Update: Thomas has been ruled out, which pushes the burden onto Bush and Lex Hilliard.

? Jahvid Best (post concussion) won’t be available at Denver. Maurice Morris isn’t a bad spot play, and Keiland Williams could get some work at the goal and in the fourth quarter (assuming Detroit is ahead).

? Mark Ingram (heel) is off the board for Week 8, which could mean more work for Pierre Thomas and Darren Sproles against that awful St. Louis front seven. Beware that Christopher Ivory might also enter the rotation, and you know Sean Payton ? he loves to give Jed Collins some goal-line looks now and again, just to mess with us.

? Marshawn Lynch (back) had a full practice Thursday and Friday and is listed as probable. Last week’s surprising scratch makes you wary, but it looks like Lynch will go against Cincinnati.

? It’s going to be a game-time decision for Beanie Wells (knee) at Baltimore. I can’t imagine a happy ending for Wells, no matter if he plays or not. Alfonso Smith and LaRod Stephens-Howling are the fallback options if you’re absolutely stuck in the backfield, but I have nothing optimistic to say on either player. I’ll be surprised if this game isn’t a cakewalk for the Ravens.

? Peyton Hillis (hamstring) looks like a long shot at best for Sunday’s game against the Niners, though he hasn’t been ruled out yet. Figure on Montario Hardesty to duplicate last week’s effort: a ton of volume, nothing special on a per-play basis. Maybe he’ll come through for you if the Browns find themselves at the goal line.

? Joseph Addai (hamstring) surprised everyone with a full practice Friday, not that I’d want my Week 8 status resting on Addai’s shoulders. But if he dresses, it makes us less interested in Delone Carter and Donald Brown. If I had to use one guy here, Carter is the pick.

? Mike Tolbert (hamstring/hand) didn’t work Friday and looks unlikely to play at Kansas City. That means more work, in theory, for Ryan Mathews (thumb, probable), and maybe some scraps for Jacob Hester (probable, foot).

? Tashard Choice (hamstring) didn’t practice Friday and Felix Jones (ankle) is out, which means the Cowboys will once again roll with DeMarco Murray and Phillip Tanner in the backfield against Philadelphia.

? With Willis McGahee (hand) out of the way for at least one week, Knowshon Moreno and Lance Ball get the work against Detroit. The Lions have been surprisingly weak against the run, handing out five yards per attempt.

? Cedric Benson (suspension) is finally set to take his week off, which means Bernard Scott gets a look for the Bengals. Be aware of two caveats here: Seattle has the best run-stopping unit in the league (3.1 YPC), and the Bengals also want to give some work to Brian Leonard and Cedric Peerman.

? Brandon Jacobs (knee) had a limited Friday but the Giants nonetheless list him as probable. He should play against Miami.

? Adrian Peterson (ankle) is listed as probable, so go ahead and dial him up at Carolina.

? Antonio Gates (foot) took Friday off but he’s expected to play Monday against the Chiefs. I’d use him.

? Jermaine Gresham (hamstring) missed some Friday reps, but he’s probable for Week 8. He’s a reasonable play at Seattle.

? Visanthe Shiancoe (foot) missed some Friday reps but is expected to see his normal work against the Panthers.

? Chris Cooley (knee/hand) is out for the season, just another reason to buy in on Fred Davis.

? Benjamin Watson (post concussion) had a limited Friday after missing the two previous practice days. He’s too risky to use at San Francisco. If you’re in a pinch at tight end, consider Evan Moore.

? Redskins left tackle Trent Williams (high ankle sprain) is out, which will make things a little tricky for the Washington offense. Mind you, Buffalo has no pass rush to speak of (four sacks, last in the league).

? The Eagles expect both of their offensive tackles (Jason Peters and Todd Herremans) to play in the showdown against Dallas.

? Miami guard Richie Incognito (ankle) should be able to start Sunday. I just like saying “Richie Incognito.”

? Broncos defensive end Elvis Dumervil (ankle) is a game-time decision.

? Philadelphia defensive end Trent Cole (calf) is expected to return. He’s probable.

? Steelers linebacker James Harrison (eye) remains out.

? Patriots linebacker Jerod Mayo (knee) did a little work Friday and has a shot at the Pittsburgh game.

? Redskins linebacker London Fletcher (hamstring) is listed as questionable but should go against the Bills in Toronto.

? Cleveland cover ace Joe Haden (knee) took some Friday reps and should play at San Francisco, though he’s listed as questionable.

? Vikings corner Antoine Winfield (neck) has a chance to go at Carolina. Officially, his status is questionable.

? Miami corner Vontae Davis (hamstring) has been ruled out, something the Giants will appreciate.

? Ravens safety Ed Reed (neck) is listed as probable and should be ready to haunt the Cardinals.

————–

Images courtesy Associated Press

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/fantasy/blog/roto_arcade/post/Injury-Wrap-What-can-Sanders-and-Brown-do-for-y?urn=fantasy-wp10630

Shin-Soo Choo Torii Hunter Vernon Wells Victor Martinez Vladimir Guerrero

Big Ten football teams like the Michigan State Spartans and Penn State Nittany Lions have had good seasons, while players like Wisconsin Badger Russell Wilson and and Illinois Fighting Illini A.J. Jenkins are tearing it up.

However, the Big Ten has its fair share of busts during this 2011 college football season.

Whether it is a player, a unit or a team, these nominees have not executed well, lived up to their potential or had off-the-field issues,

Who are the Big Ten’s biggest busts this year? Read on to find out.

Begin Slideshow

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/934639-college-football-rankings-week-11-this-years-biggest-busts-big-ten-edition

Clayton Kershaw Cliff Lee Cole Hamels Dallas Braden David Price

FC Union Berlin have a long history of financial troubles, almost collapsing on a few occasions, save for the actions of the supporters. In 2004, fans actually sold their own blood to raise the ?1.5m required to keep their professional status.

In 2008, the charmingly-named-but-decrepit Stadion An der Alten Försterei (“Stadium by the Old Forester’s House”) was in such a poor state that it was no longer eligible for use in the top three tiers of German football. So, 250 supporters volunteered their time to oversee a huge renovation, while those who couldn’t make it to Berlin were able to ‘buy hours’ from the club website, donating the ?15 hourly rate of a skilled worker.

The 18,400-capacity stadium is in a much better state these days, but with just over 3,000 seats and facilities that pale in comparison to their rivals, the 2. Bundesliga side need to act if they are to compete at a higher level. This week, awesomely-named president Dirk Zingler announced that the club is going to “sell its soul”. By that, he doesn’t mean it’s going to do a deal with the devil at a crossroads like Lionel Messi obviously did in exchange for his talent, but that club members will be effectively be able to buy their own stadium by purchasing stock.

To help pay the ?15m cost of a new stand, fans will be offered the chance to collectively own a 58% stake in the Alte Försterei. They can buy shares at ?500 a pop, with a maximum of ten per fan. The club fully expects to sell them all, and thus can fully fund the redevelopments, without risking the financial insolvency that nearly killed them in the past.

It’s a similar story to that of AFC Wimbledon, whose passionate fans bought their Kingstonian stadium through a share issue. (What’s that you say? Dirty Tackle writer Ryan Bailey is one of those passionate fans who owns AFC shares? Wow, he sounds amazing…)

Image: theringleaders.ca

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/blog/dirty-tackle/post/Union-Berlin-fans-no-longer-selling-blood-buyin?urn=sow-wp6399

Matt Schaub Peyton Manning Matt Ryan Drew Brees David Garrard

Portugal arrived for their Euro 2012 playoff against Bosnia-Herzegovina and they were greeted by a local welcoming committee in the airport. As the players made their way through the terminal, the crowd chanted “Messi, Messi” at Cristiano Ronaldo.

At this point, Ronaldo is probably so used to hearing that chant that he sometimes thinks that is, in fact, his own name. But the fans’ attempts to put him off his game probably won’t work. After all, this is how Ronaldo explains jeers for him:

“It is because I am handsome, rich and a great player, because I am envied. I have no other explanation.”

So I’m sure Ronaldo appreciated those jeers he considers compliments about his wealth and facial symmetry.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/blog/dirty-tackle/post/Bosnia-fans-chanted-Messi-8217-s-name-at-Cristi?urn=sow-wp6507

Kyle Orton Jay Cutler Eli Manning Jason Campbell Carson Palmer

When Michael Phelps and the American 4×100-meter freestyle relay team finished a surprising third on Sunday at the world championships, the 14-time gold medalist was pragmatic about the disappointment.

“It’s a good thing that it’s not the Olympics,” said Phelps. “We have time to prepare and get ready and change some things.”

It’s a mantra Phelps will be repeating to himself a lot in the upcoming 36 months. For the second time at this week’s world championships in Shanghai, Phelps was upset by American teammate Ryan Lochte, this time in a thrilling 200 IM race Thursday night that saw Lochte set the first world record of the meet. If Lochte’s win earlier this meet in the 200 free was a shot at Phelps’ dominance in the sport, this was the decisive blow.

There’s no more question about it: Ryan Lochte is the best swimmer in the world. But will he be when the Olympic Games start next July 27 in London?

Phelps saw this coming. His “it’s a good thing that it’s not the Olympics” comment was a self-fulfilling prophecy. He made it on Sunday, before all the individual events and before Lochte had a chance to beat him twice. It was like he knew what was coming and convince himself beforehand that it wasn’t a big deal.

Maybe it’s not. Like other great champions in individual sports — Roger Federer, Tiger Woods, Serena Williams, Usain Bolt — Phelps gears his game to the big events. The world championships qualifies as one of those, but they’re no Olympics. Phelps-Lochte is just beginning. It won’t be until London that the rivalry will begin to take shape.

In the meantime, the worry for Phelps and his coach, Bob Bowman, is how the great champion responds to the challenge? He’s been winning dominating meets since he was in the 10-and-unders. He made an Olympic team at age 14. At Beijing, he completed the greatest Summer Games in the 112-year history of the competition. Now, for the first time in his life, he’s not the favorite every time he steps on the block.

Will he wilt under the pressure? Is this going to be the motivating factor that pushes him to new heights? Is this going to be Ali-Frazier or Russell-Chamberlain? It’s not like Lochte is lapping the field in his recent victories. Thursday’s win was by 0.16 seconds. Monday’s was almost as close. If Phelps doesn’t feel he’s at 100 percent, making up the ground is feasible.

Then again, Lochte may not be at 100 percent either. Phelps isn’t the only one keeping one eye on the world championships and another on London.

The era of Michael Phelps dominating the pool is over. Can he prevent Ryan Lochte from doing the same?

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Uh-oh-Michael-Lochte-beats-Phelps-again-at-wor?urn=oly-wp533

Clay Buchholz Clayton Kershaw Cliff Lee Cole Hamels Dallas Braden

In this week’s edition of “The Ultimate Fighter,” you’ll see the last first round fight, pranks, a gross foot, and a clever use of spray paint. Read on for spoilers and a recap.

Rolande Delorme is back, and his foot is infected, swollen, and looking nasty. Antibiotics should clear it up in time for his fight, but sheesh. It looks gross. He is not at Team Miller’s camp when famous trainer Rafael Cordeiro made a cameo to work with the fighters. He teaches the fighters about movement and cutting angles. It’s a pretty cool thing to watch such a talented coach run through a training session.

At Team Bisping, Tito Ortiz showed up. Seeing him next to bantamweight and featherweights is hilarious, especially as his much larger frame teaches the fighters about ground and pound. Marcus Brimage puts it best.

“I’m just like, wow. That’s a big [expletive] head!”

T.J. Dillashaw from Team Bisping supposedly asked if he could have an easier first round fight because he considered himself the better bantamweight. That didn’t sit well with his teammates, and they took it out on him in practice. The sparring escalated, and Dillashaw got pissed.

Later, Akira Corassani told Bisping that he planned to knock Dillashaw out. A team meeting full of expletives followed.

Pranks! While Tiki Ghosn, Bisping’s assistant coach, was in practice, Miller had Ghosn’s car surrounded by highway barricades, then spray painted “M” and the date of the fight with Bisping on the barricades. Well done, Mayhem.

Roland Delorme (Team Miller) vs. T.J. Dillashaw (Team Bisping)

Round 1: Dillashaw, who has a strong wrestling background, started with an immediate takedown, and controlled Delorme from the side for the first minute. Delorme got back to his feet, landed a few punches, but then got taken down again. This time, Dillashaw is more violent from the top, and creates much more damage. He twists Delorme into a choke, but Delorme gets out.

Round 2: The second round started like the first, with Dillashaw getting a quick takedown. Dillashaw must have paid attention to Ortiz’s lessons, because he has some nasty ground and pound. Dillashaw took his back and finished with a choke.

Final record of the first round is Miller 5, Bisping 3. Dana White listened to the fighters and the coaches in making match-ups for the next round, and all of Miller’s guys want to take out Dodson.

Dillashaw (Bisping) vs. Pague (Miller)

Dodson (Miller) vs. Bedford (Miller)

Akira Corassani (Bisping) vs. Denis Bermudez (Miller)

Bryan Caraway (Miller) vs. Diego Brandao

Next week, the semifinal fights will start. Huzzah!

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/What-you-need-to-know-from-this-week-on-8216-T?urn=mma-wp8932

Chris Ivory Brandon Jackson Ryan Mathews Michael Vick Ricky Williams