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2,900 | Kathryn Smith will serve as a special teams assistant coach.Buffalo Bills Hire First Full-Time Woman Coach In NFL History | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,901 | "We just got to rally around each other. I feel for him. He was having such a great season, making the All-Star team. It'sPaul Pierce Learns Rajon Rondo Tore ACL During Interview, Is Not Pleased (VIDEO) | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,902 | Taking the snap in the shotgun formation in a 3rd-and-goal situation at Bama's 10-yard line, Manziel (yes, his surname isn'tJohnny 'Football' Touchdown: Manziel Fumbles, Scrambles, Throws TD vs. Alabama (VIDEO) | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,903 | The night ended with the G.O.A.T. literally dropping the mic.Watch Abby Wambach Say Goodbye To Soccer In Emotional Final Game | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,904 | This year's games are bigger than ever.The 2018 Winter Olympics In Pyeongchang, By The Numbers | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,905 | Varvaro pitched mostly with the Atlanta Braves and started his law enforcement career in 2016.Anthony Varvaro, MLB Pitcher Turned Transit Cop, Dies In Crash On Way To 9/11 Ceremony | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,906 | One Of The Most Insane Football Plays You'll Ever See | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,907 | Rays closer Fernando Rodney had a tough time on Friday night trying to get out of the dugout bathroom at O.co Coliseum. ALSOFernando Rodney Locked In Bathroom At O.co Coliseum During Rays-A's Game (VIDEO) | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,908 | He's using the gridiron as a platform to help those who need it the most.Cliff Avril Is Winning On And Off The Football Field | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,909 | Arnaldo Tirone told ESPN Radio that the deal was ''50 to 60 per cent'' completed. He said they have agreed to financial terms with Riquelme, although he gave no details.
Tirone said only smaller details of the contract remain to be worked out.
Tirone said he had not spoken with Riquelme's former club Boca, but that he believes Riquelme is free to play in Brazil for the Sao Paulo-based team that last month was relegated to the second division.
Calls to Palmeiras' headquarters rang unanswered after hours Friday.
Riquelme left Boca last year after losing the final of the Copa Libertadores to Brazilian club Corinthians. | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,910 | How Would You Feel If You Were Clayton Kershaw? | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,911 | LIVE: Argentina vs. Iran | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,912 | The dominant "Great Wall Of Yao" provided a bridge to the NBA's future.Yao Ming Has Doubters, But He’s Unquestionably A Hall Of Famer | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,913 | NOTRE DAME, Ind. -- Odyssey Sims had a little bit of rust to shake off. But that didn't take long. After missing the equivalent of five games -- she suffered an injured hamstring early in Baylor's loss to Stanford on Nov. 16 in Hawaii -- the Lady Bears' point guard was back on the floor.
And everything just seemed "right" with Baylor again.
In a 73-61 victory over Notre Dame on Wednesday, Sims missed her first five shots, and her passes weren't as crisp as we're used to. At one point, she airmailed a ball in the general direction of center Brittney Griner, a target whom Sims rarely misses. Especially not by a mile.
But, hey, even outstanding players need a little time to get their mojo back when they've been sidelined. By the time the game was over, Sims had 16 points and six assists (with, admittedly, seven turnovers). And defensively, she had helped thoroughly frustrate her Irish counterpart, Skylar Diggins.
[+] Enlarge Matt Cashore/USA TODAY Sports Baylor coach Kim Mulkey admitted that Odyssey Sims didn't have one of her best games, but "she never stopped being tough on that floor, and she never stopped guarding people."
"This is the best point guard in the country," Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said, motioning toward the junior Sims in the postgame news conference. "You can put that in your notes."
Mulkey is never shy about going to bat for her players, and she wanted to get a message across about Sims. Not really to take a dig at Diggins, who was red-eyed and disappointed after a 4-of-19 night from the field when she finished with eight points in the Irish's first loss this season.
Rather, Mulkey's barb was more toward the hype about Diggins that she doesn't think Sims gets, but deserves.
"What else does she have to do to get that recognition?" Mulkey said. "She's played Skylar four times now and won every ballgame. She's won a national championship."
It can't surprise you, of course, that Mulkey knew exactly how many times Notre Dame and Baylor have met, all with Diggins and Sims on the court. Not a lot of details escape Mulkey's mind, and certainly not when they can be effectively used to illustrate a point she wants to make.
The first Baylor-Notre Dame meeting was in December 2010, when Sims was a freshman and Diggins a sophomore. Then they faced off twice last season: in the Preseason WNIT final in November, and the NCAA final in April.
Wednesday in front of a sold-out crowd at Purcell Pavilion, in her hometown and on national television, the senior Diggins surely would have liked it to be her night. But it wasn't, and Sims had a lot to do with that.
“ What else does she have to do to get that recognition? She's played Skylar [Diggins] four times now and won every ballgame. She's won a national championship.
†-- Coach Kim Mulkey on Baylor point guard Odyssey Sims
Mulkey always says she's the harshest judge of point guards, having been one herself. But for the most part, she finds Sims typically meeting or exceeding expectations.
"Odyssey didn't have one of her best games, either," Mulkey said. "But she never stopped being tough on that floor, and she never stopped guarding people. And that's a kid who hasn't played in 2آ½ weeks."
Sims had no interest in fanning any flame about her game versus Diggins -- "It's always fun going against great players آ… but we don't have a rivalry" -- but Sims didn't need to, either. As Mulkey said, Sims has the results that speak volumes.
Meanwhile, Griner had one of those "quiet" double-doubles: 24 points and 14 rebounds. She didn't force the action, but the numbers still piled up for her. And when asked the standard question about how she has learned the lesson of "letting the game come to her," Griner made one of her classic dry witticisms.
"I just let that come to me as well," Griner said with a little grin, then added, "about last year, I guess. I just was being more patient. I keep moving; I'm drawing some people to me, so somebody's open on my team."
One of the players Wednesday who benefited from the attention Griner always gets was fellow senior Jordan Madden, who finished with 12 points and eight assists. Madden has the well-earned "defensive stopper" reputation, but this game was an example of how she can damage opponents with her offense, too.
[+] Enlarge Joe Robbins/Getty ImagesBrittney Griner hit 10 of 16 shots to score 24 points, and grabbed 14 rebounds.
And another Baylor senior, Brooklyn Pope, was terrific off the bench, scoring 14 points on 7-of-10 shooting. Starter Kimetria "Nae-Nae" Hayden was apparently in hot water with Mulkey for an unexplained reason, and played just eight minutes. But the Lady Bears still had enough options without her.
"It's a comfort zone when you have that many returning players," Mulkey said of the fact that Baylor has back all its starters from the 40-0 championship team. "But as I told them in the locker room after the game, my comfort zone has extended now to more players."
Speaking of comfort zones, Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw actually is in one even though she lost three starters off last season's NCAA runner-up team. McGraw is developing a lot of youngsters, led by freshman sensation-in-the-making Jewell Loyd.
Yes, she has two "L's" in Jewell and only one in Loyd -- which is kind of the opposite of what you might expect -- but you probably won't see very many L's, as in losses, associated with this kid. She's going to help Notre Dame add quite a few W's to its record.
The freshman guard out of suburban Chicago led the Irish with 24 points, while Kayla McBride scored 18 and Natalie Achonwa had 11. Those three and Diggins accounted for all of Notre Dame's points. But McGraw was in an upbeat mood afterward, and she should be. The growth potential for the Irish seems tremendous.
"It's fun. It's like a puzzle, trying to put the pieces together," McGraw said. "Some days, the pieces fit really well together, and some days I'm still tinkering. I'm enjoying it."
Meanwhile, the right pieces are all there for Baylor, especially now with Sims having returned.
"I was excited to be back out there with my team," Sims said. "And be able to lead them."
As Griner put it: "It's nice to see Odyssey out there giving the [other] point guard heck. That trickles down to the wing players and post players. She gets us going."
Recommend 0 | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,914 | Brady's slated to serve his original four-game suspension.Tom Brady's Latest 'Deflategate' Appeal Rejected By Federal Court | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,915 | Tommy John won more games than 39 of the 59 pitchers enshrined in Cooperstown, including such greats as Bob Feller, Sandy Koufax, Whitey Ford, Bob Gibson, Catfish Hunter, Jim Palmer, Jim Bunning and Don Drysdale.Death of Father of 'Tommy John Surgery' Highlights Tommy John's Hall of Fame Credentials | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,916 | From my perspective as an agent, I really do not see a downside to an athlete embracing this cause. I would gladly work for an openly gay player or a player who speaks up in support of the LGBT community.Why Athletes Need to Exercise Their Influence: An Agent's Perspective | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,917 | With second place in Group H already tied up boss Andrea Stramaccioni made seven changes as he gave a run-out to a host of his youth team players.
Livaja seemingly set the stage for a comfortable night when he fired a ninth-minute opener and while Inter dominated Neftchi equalised through Rashad Sadygov on 52 minutes.
Livaja took two minutes to respond, firing his fourth goal of a European campaign that has marked the 19-year-old Croatian as a future star, but again Neftchi equalised through Canales' late header.
Livaja was the most notable young player in the much-changed Inter line-up and he immediately made his mark after poor defending allowed Alvaro Perreira's cross to get through to him at the back post.
Inter should have added to their lead before half-time but failed to make their dominance count.
Philippe Coutinho saw a shot deflected off Igor Mitreski and Jonathan's run and shot was only kept out by Neftchi goalkeeper Sasa Stamenkovic's outstretched foot.
Walter Samuel shaved the post after getting his head to a Coutinho free-kick while 18-year-old Luca Garritano's ambitious volley sailed wide.
Inter's profligacy was temporarily punished seven minutes after half-time when Sadygov smacked a 25-yarder into the top-right corner.
Yuto Nagatomo, who came on for Garritano immediately after the equaliser, made a difference with his first touch as he crossed for Livaja to head in from the centre of the area.
Livaja was denied a hat-trick by Emin Mehdiyev's timely block inside the six-yard box before Nagamoto thumped a shot against the crossbar late on.
Seconds later Neftchi were celebrating their equalizer as Canales headed in from six yards. | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,918 | In addition to preparing to try to better his 2012 runner-up finish in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings, Clint Bowyer is getting ready to make his debut in the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway.
Bowyer joins Michael Waltrip Racing co-owners Michael Waltrip and Rob Kauffman and Rui Aguas on the AF Waltrip Racing team for the event.
Bowyer, for his part, hasn’t found the speed in the cars that he might have hoped in recent runs. During the NASCAR Sprint Media Tour hosted by Charlotte Motor Speedway on Tuesday, Bowyer jokingly asked if he should wear cowboy boots and tuck his fire suit into them before climbing into his Ferrari 458 GT.
Overall, though, he deemed the looming race as “interesting.”
He said he joined the team because Kauffman asked him to.
“Rob does so much for us, it’s like this: If Rob asks you to do anything, the answer is yes. I don’t care what is in front of it or what we’re doing, I owe it to him to do that. I enjoy Rob, I’ve really enjoyed getting to know him,” Bowyer said.
“He’s a racer. That man is dedicated beyond belief to this sport, to us at MWR, and he’s fun to be around. I’m looking forward to it. Rui, our other driver, is way good. It’s been a long time since I showed up to a test and had to work that hard and, honestly, never found the speed he had.”
He didn’t get a real grasp of the rules of exchange, either. Bowyer says that he wants things to be explained and to have a clear plan for moves — especially things like being caught from behind by another racer.
LOOK AT ME
Bowyer already enjoys a strong racing resume. Check out his top racing accomplishments.
For that, he says, he wants a specific plan. Unfortunately, he just hasn’t gotten one.
“I’m not used to those cars. You see their headlights coming and then I get out of the way,” he said. “I’m off the track. They could be 1,000 yards behind you, but as soon as I see headlights — there’s no rules of the road. That’s the biggest problem. Just tell me to go to the inside or the outside and I’m going to be out of the way when you get there. There’s no rules. They just say kind of hold your line and we’ll . . . figure it out.
“I don’t like figuring things out when a car is 50 miles an hour faster than you. I want to know exactly what is going to happen. I can tell what’s going to happen if I’m going faster than them, but if they come up on you, I don’t know who that guy is and what he’s thinking and how tired he is a 5 o’clock in the morning.”
When asked how he would prepare for the lengthy event, he pointed to the logo of sponsor 5-Hour Energy on the backdrop.
”A lot of it,” he said. | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,919 | The league will be under pressure to respond swiftly and appropriately.Sacramento Kings' Darren Collison Arrested On Felony Domestic Violence Charge | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,920 | The Santa Cruz surfer is credited with inventing the modern wetsuit and elevating the sport of surfing.Jack O’Neill, Founder Of Iconic Surf Brand, Dies At 94 | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,921 | Screw the sabermetrics.Ranking NBA Rookies Based Entirely On Their Best Moves Thus Far | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,922 | The slumping U.S. ski star will leave the Beijing Winter Olympics without a medal but is "optimistic."Mikaela Shiffrin Barely Misses Medal In Mixed Team Event, Notes 'Special Feeling' | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,923 | And that's why you always leave a note.Missy Franklin Gets A Heartfelt Homecoming After A Tough Week In Rio | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,924 | Bowling Green Coach Fired For Harassing Women In Bar | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,925 | These 6 Inspirational Athletes Show Us How To Beat The Odds | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,926 | A running list.The Funniest Things That Have Happened During March Madness So Far | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,927 | Talk about a power couple.LeBron James And Michelle Obama Take Stage To Promote Education | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,928 | Billionaire Sheldon Adelson wants the stadium to lure the Oakland Raiders to Vegas.Vegas Taxpayers Could Spend A Record $750 Million On A New NFL Stadium | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,929 | "If you wanted to go off-topic as a sports person you had to go off-topic left."Curt Schilling Says ESPN Has 'Some Of The Biggest Racists' On Air | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,930 | Former Oakland Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler, who died in 2015 from complications resulting from colon cancer, also sufferedNFL Legend Had CTE When He Died | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,931 | It wasn’t enough for victory, though. Woods’ ball settled 4 feet from the 17th hole, but Luke Donald hit his tee shot evenRyder Cup 2012: Ian Poulter Leads Late Rally; Europe Withstands Tiger Woods' Pressure Play | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,932 | World soccer body FIFA has dispatched investigators to Egypt to probe allegations of government interference as the country prepares for potentially risky bids to host two international tournaments, the 2017 Beach Soccer World Cup and the 2018 FIFA Under-17 Women's World Cup.Lax FIFA Policing of Political Interference in Soccer Focuses on Egypt | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,933 | By Keeghann Sinanan, Goal.com Lionel Messi was in completely unstoppable form, scoring four times as Barcelona demolishedMessi's Four Goals vs Osasuna Lift Barcelona To 5-1 Win (VIDEO) | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,934 | International travel could be a concern for players in some leagues.Athletes Brace For Effects Of Donald Trump's Order Targeting Muslims | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,935 | By Nick Masuda, Golfweek SAN FRANCISCO – Beau Hossler walked down the second fairway at Olympic Club, suddenly surroundedBeau Hossler Stars At U.S. Open: 17-Year-Old Shows Maturity At Olympic Club | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,936 | How much winning can a guy do in one night?Alabama Player Proposes After Game Because A National Title Isn't Enough | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,937 | Titans coach Mike Munchak has talked with Williams and is interested in adding him to his Tennessee staff, said a person familiar with the situation. The person spoke Sunday to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because the Titans do not discuss personnel moves until they are finalized.
Before the Titans could hire Williams, he must be reinstated by the league. Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended him indefinitely for his role in the New Orleans Saints bounty program, and NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said Sunday the league has not yet addressed Williams' potential reinstatement.
Munchak did not immediately answer a message left by the AP on Sunday. The Titans coach has not talked with the media about his team since the day after the season ended.
How quickly the league considers reinstating Williams may take at least a week with the San Francisco 49ers arriving in New Orleans on Sunday to kick off festivities leading up to the Feb. 3 Super Bowl.
Williams is the only coach or player who has yet to return to the NFL in the wake of the bounty scandal.
Goodell just lifted the suspension for New Orleans coach Sean Payton on Tuesday, nearly two weeks earlier than expected. Saints general manager Mickey Loomis was suspended for eight games and assistant head coach Joe Vitt for six. Four current or former Saints players were also suspended after an investigation found the club had a performance pool offering cash rewards for key plays, including big hits. The player suspensions eventually were overturned.
Williams was the Saints defensive coordinator from 2009-11 and was hired by St. Louis in January 2012 by former Titans coach Jeff Fisher before being suspended indefinitely in March 20112. Williams' son, Blake, also was on Fisher's staff as the Rams' linebacker coach — but his contract was not renewed earlier this month.
Munchak has known Williams since 1990. Munchak was playing for the then-Houston Oilers when Williams became an assistant coach with the team. They also coached together with the Oilers; Munchak oversaw the offensive line starting in 1994 and Williams rose from defensive assistant to coaching special teams, then linebackers and finally defensive coordinator.
Williams left the Titans to become head coach of the Buffalo Bills in 2001 before becoming defensive coordinator with the Washington Redskins from 2004-07. He also was defensive coordinator in Jacksonville in 2008 before being hired by the Saints in 2009.
Williams also has a relationship with Munchak's current defensive coordinator, Jerry Gray. When Williams left for Buffalo, Gray went with him and served as Williams' defensive coordinator with the Bills.
Even though Gray currently has the job, the Titans' defense needs help and Munchak will be coaching for his job in 2013 after going 6-10 in his second season as head coach. One reason for the losing record was Tennessee's inability to stop anyone; the Titans set a franchise record allowing 471 points in 2012. The only change Munchak has made to his defensive staff was letting linebackers coach Frank Bush go and moving Chet Paralavecchio into the job from assisting with special teams.
In Williams' last season with the Titans, Tennessee ranked first in the NFL in fewest yards allowed, first in passing yards allowed and third in rushing defense. The Titans also set a franchise-record for fewest points allowed with 191 with an aggressive defense. | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,938 | "I certainly can’t do anything good by rejecting what seems to be an olive branch.”Why Jen Welter Is Going To Sit Ringside At Floyd Mayweather’s Fight | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,939 | "My destiny was to make people happy."Meadowlark Lemon, Harlem Globetrotters Legend, Dead At 83 | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,940 | Patrick Connor acknowledged his comments on the Barstool Sports show were "lame and gross." Yeah.Radio Host Loses Gig After Calling Chloe Kim 'Little Hot Piece Of Ass' | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,941 | He'd pull his hair out if he had any.Area Man Yelling Courtside Is All Of Us During These NBA Playoffs | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,942 | Shaq got into it with an e-sports guy, then Barkley started saying Barkley things.'Inside The NBA' Tried To Talk E-Sports And Everything Went To Hell | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,943 | "Where there's a will, there's a way."Injured Sports Star Finds Ingenious Way To Keep Working Out | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,944 | The incident adds to a host of security and logistical problems at the Games.Rio Olympics: Camera Falls And Injures Multiple People | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,945 | Palmer is credited with making golf the internationally popular sport it is today.Arnold Palmer, Legendary Golfer, Dead At 87 | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,946 | In that case, Super Bowl 50 will indeed be his last rodeo.Peyton Manning's Friends Are Saying This Is It For The Quarterback | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,947 | CINCINNATI (AP) — Mike Trout flashed the skill that puts him at the front of baseball's new generation, just moments afterIt's All About The American League At MLB All-Star Game | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,948 | Stoke had hoped to take a closer look at Shea in a week-long trial, but negotiations with Major League Soccer have hit a snag, and the United States winger's arrival in England has now been delayed as talks continue between all parties.
The 22-year-old has not played since August following foot surgery.
Another possible arrival that could be scuppered due to injury is that of Pieters.
Stoke were due to watch PSV's Holland international defender on Friday - but because of cancelled flights, their scouting party did not make the game.
However, this was probably a good thing as Pieters was sent off against Zwolle, and on his way back to the changing room, smashed part of the dug-out which saw him suffer serious damage to his arm. The injury is now set to sideline him for several weeks. | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,949 | I was looking forward to my rematch with Juan Manuel Mأ،rquez. Our first fight had been exciting and even though it took a few years for Mأ،rquez to finally accept a rematch with me the fans seemed happy to see it, too. The arena was electric. It inspired me.
After I scored the knockdown, early in the fight, I went back to my corner thinking I would finish him in the next round. Freddie Roach told me, â€کWe have him right where we want him. Finish it.â€
Well, I couldn’t finish him in the next round and as the fight continued I thought â€کHere we go again.’ Mأ،rquez’s superb boxing skills and excellent stamina got him back into the fight.
After the eighth round Freddie told me the fight was becoming too close and we needed to win the last four rounds to avoid the close decision we had in our first fight.
“Take it to him Manny. Pick up the pace — double the pace. You’ve got the better speed and power. It's time to use all your weapons.â€
I stopped counterpunching in those last four and attacked him constantly. Staying away from his right hand helped me to score more, too.
Freddie’s advice was right and I thought it was a clear victory for me that night because I won those last four rounds.
I was so happy to be a world champion again. It’s a night I’ll never forget.
In my opinion the second fight was the closest of our trilogy. It was a very hard-fought fight and much more exciting than the first one.
This time Pacquiao surprised me a bit as he was not as aggressive as he had been in the first fight. He seemed to have become a more complete and certainly a much better all-around fighter. He was no longer a one-handed fighter like he was the first time we fought. The left-hand-happy Pacquiao had become a two-fisted fighter, using his right effectively.
I was able to control the first half of the fight by dictating the pace and I was able to build a lead. I felt that I was hurting him, which made me more confident. So I became a little more aggressive and it cost me as I caught with a left hand and went down in the third round. I was angry at myself, but I was not hurt.
The last six rounds were very competitive and I felt he was trying very hard and I was able to counter him very effectively. I was landing a lot of right hands and knew I had the fight won.
But once again the judges took my victory away by giving Pacquiao the nod by split decision. I still get very angry when I think about hearing those scores being read.
After two fights, I felt I had won at least 19 of the 24 rounds. Pacquiao's four knockdowns made the scores closer than they really were. Look, after 24 rounds, I have two scores in my favor and one even and Pacquiao's got three his way but one of them was by only one point.
Just like the first fight, I knew I beat him. And just like the first fight, the judges did not see it my way. There is not much I can do about that. I did my best. Too bad the judges did not do the same.
Episode #2 of the all-access reality series “24/7 Pacquiao/Marquez 4†premieres Saturday, Nov. 24 at 12:15 a.m. ET/PT on HBO.
Pacquiao vs. Marquez 4 takes place Saturday, December 8 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/ 6:00 p.m. PT. | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,950 | A.J. Perez previously worked at USA Today, AOL and CBSSports.com covering beats ranging from performance-enhancing drugs to the NHL. AJ has also been a finalist for an Associated Press Sports Editors award for investigative reporting. Follow him on Twitter @ajperezfox.
His TKO victory of Michael Bisping in the second round of UFC on FX 7 on Saturday centrally made the Brazilian middleweight relevant again, so much so he wants to move up a weight class and take on Jon Jones at April’s UFC 159 — a fight where Chael Sonnen will challenge for the light heavyweight crown.
“I want to get that belt,†said Beflort, a former UFC champ who lost to Jones via a submission in September. “Take that punk, Chael Sonnen, I don’t even know your name, and get out. (UFC president) Dana (White) and (UFC co-owner) Lorenzo (Fertitta), kick him out. I want to fight Jon Jones. Take that clown away. Go home. Let me fight the champ. Champ vs. champ.â€
Jon Jones. Chael Sonnen. What more could you want? New episodes Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on FX.
Belfort looked much more impressive against Bisping, who — unlike Belfort — would have gotten a shot at the middleweight titleholder Anderson Silva with a victory. Belfort first stunned the boisterous Bisping late in the first round with a kick.
While time ran out before he could follow it up in the first, he unleashed a left kick to Bisping’s temple early in the second. The shot dropped Bisping and Belfort followed with a series of fists before the referee stopped the fight a minute, 27 seconds into the second round.
“You win some. You lose some,†Bisping said. “I am not going away. Trust me.â€
The KO earned Belfort the $50,000 “Knockout of the Night†bonus and his post-fight comments earned him the ire of Sonnen.
“Let me be really, really clear and speak directly to you, Vitor,†said Sonnen, a Fuel TV analyst. “You’re telling the world that you want to meet Jesus and I will gladly arrange that travel. First, I’m going to get rid of Jon Jones.
“Let me be clear: I accept. You called me out twice now.â€
In the opening fight on FX, Khabib Nurmagomedov made UFC fans (and UFC bloggers who didn’t want to have to type his name multiple times) very happy when he made short work of Thiago Tavares. Nurmagomedov caught Tavares with a deft punch, leveling the Brazilian to the canvas. He then pounced with a series of vicious elbows, forcing the fight to be stopped inside of two minutes of the first round.
The Brazilian crowd received a boon in the second bout when their countryman Gabriel Gonzaga kept the action rolling, defeating Ben Rothwell in two rounds. Gonzaga showed great versatility for a heavyweight, controlling the striking game and pressuring Rothwell with a series of takedowns. Gonzaga outworked Rothwell, to the delight of the crowd, sinking in a guillotine choke for the finish.
And Daniel Sarafian, who had to miss the finale of TUF Brazil due to injury, entered the Octagon and put on a showcase with fellow middleweight C.B. Dollaway that earned "Fight of the Night" honors. With the entire country firmly in his corner, Sarafian came out blazing, delivering combinations and a wicked overhand right that rocked Dollaway early and often.
It wasn’t until the middle of round two that Dollaway turned the tides, implementing a counter right that opened up his grappling game. With the fight spending more time on the ground, Dollaway dealt damage to Sarafian diminishing his stamina. This led to a gutsy third round where the fighters constantly flopped dominant position, leaving the judges in a quandary. In the end, the judges sided with Dollaway in a split decision that caused some of the loudest booing ever to drown out a post-fight interview.
FOXSports.com’s Eric Pierce contributed to this report. | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,951 | "But not until, like, February hopefully."Stephen Curry Thinks The Warriors Will Lose Before The Panthers | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,952 | The suicides of several high-profile professional athletes, beginning with NFL player Terry Luther Long in 2005, brought CTE into the public consciousness.Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Season (AKA Football Season) Starts Today | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,953 | The five-time Grand Slam winner plans to fight the suspension.Maria Sharapova Banned For Two Years For Doping Violation | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,954 | Jen Floyd Engel covered local sports for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram since 1997 and became a columnist in 2003. Sports opinions? She’s never short of them. And love her or hate her, she’ll be just another one of the boys. Follow her on Twitter or like her on Facebook.
Hope Solo may or may not have married an ex-NFL player with a long criminal history who may or may not have added to that rap sheet that same day by beating on Solo in a fight over where to live in wedded bliss.
A radio report had them exchanging “I dos†late Tuesday.
This hardly qualifies as shocking in the wide world of sports, where a trail of T.O. and Kobe, Tiger and Josh Hamilton have disabused us of the belief that athletes lead clean lives. We accept a little dirt around the edges, even relish that ugly, in our male sports superstars. We have no idea what to do when it shows up in the females.
We like our female athletes squeaky clean, like Mia Hamm, or crazy hot like Anna Kournikova. We have trouble with somebody like Solo, who has a little bit of crazy in her, a little bit of jerkhole and, yes, a little bit of hot mess. She does not fit the paradigm. She is not necessarily whom we want our little daughters emulating.
But Solo can’t be dismissed because she is amazingly talented and infinitely interesting. She intrigues us, keeps us watching because she operates like one of the guys. One of her biggest controversies was born of her calling out her coach for starting Brianna Scurry in goal instead of her during the 2007 World Cup. The decision was all about worshipping at the altar of sacred cows in a sport that does way, way too much of this. Solo was right and did what Kobe, Tom Brady or just about any athlete with an ounce of competitiveness would do. For doing so, she was vilified, ostracized and finally vindicated.
The thing about Solo is she always keeps it interesting and, as evidenced by this alleged marriage to former NFL tight end Jerramy Stevens, does not give a flip about what we think. And I find this refreshing. Why should she play by and be judged by a different set of rules?
Can't get enough of Hope Solo? Check out her best career shots.
This is not to defend the relationship with Stevens. What Solo is doing with a guy like Stevens is beyond me. He reeks of scum bag thanks to a laundry list of accusations ranging from a savage beating of a fellow high schooler to rape in college. There are also countless reckless driving and marijuana busts. And while plea deals were usually reached or prosecutors declined to prosecute in the case of the alleged rape, what is obvious is Stevens always seems to be around trouble. That’s why allegations of abuse with him are so eyebrow-raising.
At the very least, a qualified marriage counselor might suggest that if, at any point leading up to the wedding, one of y’all is wearing an orange jumpsuit, arrested and charged with domestic violence, it could be time to reevaluate the relationship.
In fairness, a judge later found no probable cause to hold Stevens and he was released with Solo quietly there in attendance. By all accounts, it was a fascinating pre-wedding party at The Kirkland Municipal Court on Tuesday with Seattle TV reporter Chris Daniels live-tweeting the festivities.
@ChrisDaniels5 BREAKING: Jerramy Stevens in orange jumpsuit accused of domestic violence, involving Hope Solo.
@ChrisDaniels5 BREAKING: Police report says Stevens and Solo were set to get married on Tuesday and argument was about whether they’d live in FL or WA.
@ChrisDaniels5 BREAKING: Police report says Marcus Solo (Hope’s brother) said there was altercation in house with unknown person, and involved a stun gun.
Sometimes relationships just don't work out, even for sports stars. Here's some of the most explosive sports break-ups.
@ChrisDaniels5 Court documents under “length of relationship†says Solo and Jerramy Stevens have been together 2 months.
@ChrisDaniels5 Solo did not speak to media. There are multiple indications she will be marrying Jerramy Stevens tonight.
Now there is one report saying she did. And while he would not have been my first choice in grooms for Solo, the outrage hits me as just a little bit sexist. It is time we stop expecting every female athlete to be role models and perfect team players, especially if we do not have these same standards for the guys.
Yes, Hope Solo is a hot mess.
She’s just one of the guys.
Jen Floyd Engel covered local sports for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram since 1997 and became a columnist in 2003. Sports opinions? She’s never short of them. And love her or hate her, she’ll be just another one of the boys. Follow her on Twitter or like her on Facebook. | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
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2,972 | Taking the plunge
Tulane Stadium left mark on New Orleans
Tulane Stadium was the site of three Super Bowls before the Superdome showed up. In fact, it paved the way for the Superdome to exist. (Focus On Sport/Getty Images)
January 24, 2013
Focus on Sport/Getty Images
The Superdome has been the site of seven Super Bowls and decades of Sugar Bowls, but both of those games were equally at home in Tulane Stadium.
Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
Tulane Stadium attracted an NFL team, the Saints, in 1967.
Chris Graythen/Getty Images
These days, LSU has the upper hand when it plays Tulane, but that hasn't always been the case.
Focus On Sport/Getty Images)
Halftimes were something at Tulane Stadium. This one just happened to take place during Super Bowl VI.
Focus on Sport/Getty Images
Memories like this one, from Super Bowl IV, will live on forever, even if Katrina washed away some of the evidence of them.
NEW ORLEANS — It's quaint, narrow, this stretch of Willow Street, lined with colorful houses and dotted with puddles. A stray cat will scamper across if you wait long enough. The pavement buckles in spots, sinks in others, just as all roads in New Orleans are wont to do. There are too many of those stubborn, ancient live oak roots, with the ground more like swamp, after all, and so sometimes a line of cones and flags will say you simply cannot proceed. Not over that crack, you can't. And so you turn around and find another route. It's not like there's too much traffic on Willow Street, anyway.
Audubon Boulevard is majestic. It's old New Orleans, the Old South, each house grander than the next, with columns and porticos and picture-book flowers. The neutral ground – or median, to New Orleans neophytes – is green and lush, and if you close your eyes and there's a break in the traffic, it could as easily be 1940 as 2013.
The two roads meet, inconspicuously these days, on the edge of Tulane University's campus. It's another intersection, nothing noteworthy, just a line of fence behind the houses on the east side of Audubon.آ
The fences are old. No one's sure how old, not really. The wood is battered and mossy, but in New Orleans, that means little; new wood looks that way after a summer. Still, they must have been replaced, people say, since then. But maybe not. It's only been 33 years. Maybe not.
Thirty-three years ago, Tulane students could walk by the pile of rubble just beyond that intersection and pick up shards. Plenty snatched bricks and such, took them home over break to New Jersey and California, to Baton Rouge and Mobile and who knows where else. By 1980, the steel had been sold and the bricks were being hauled away, and that was all that was left of Tulane Stadium, the building at the northeast crook of Audubon and Willow, the behemoth that had once been the largest stadium in the South.
******
As fans flock to New Orleans for Super Bowl XLVII, the city's first since Katrina in 2005, they'll slurp hurricanes at Pat O'Brien's and queue up outside Galatoire's in hopes of snagging a table. They'll buy beads and mugs and nameplate key chains and tote them from sticky-floored bar to sticky-floored bar. On game day, throngs of 49ers and Ravens jerseys will push toward the Superdome, the home to seven Super Bowls, without a thought to the other three, the first three. Maybe they remember the Chiefs upsetting the Vikings in 1970, or the Cowboys beating the Dolphins two years later, or the Vikings again losing, this time to Pittsburgh, three years after that. It's unlikely, though, that they remember where all that happened.آ
From the Superdome, hang a right, then a U-turn, head three miles uptown, and you're there. Or at least, you're where it was, but in its place you'll see a small field, a rec center, some students jogging. You'll wonder where on earth, how on earth, there was ever a stadium, much less a Super Bowl.
Tulane Stadium opened in 1926 on the heels of the Green Wave's undefeated 1925 season, and over its 53-year life it was home to 49 Tulane and nine New Orleans Saints seasons, 41 Sugar Bowls and those three Super Bowls. The 35,000-seat concrete structure rose up at the edge of Tulane's campus, growing over the years to a capacity of 80,985. Its expansion was propelled by the 1934 birth of the Sugar Bowl, the New Year's Day game named for the old Foucher plantation, where sugar was first refined and upon which the stadium squarely sat.
With the bowl game growing in prominence each year, the stadium grew along with it, to the point that it was the biggest stadium in the South and smaller only than the Rose Bowl, the Los Angeles Coliseum and Michigan Stadium. The Sugar Bowl pushed Tulane and New Orleans to prominence with the teams it brought in each Jan. 1, and from it the stadium took its alternate moniker, Sugar Bowl Stadium. The building saw its share of spectacle over the years, from the inaugural Sugar Bowl in 1935, a 20-14 Tulane victory over Temple, to the Tulane-LSU rivalry. From early NFL exhibition games to the Saints' opening day, a 27-13 loss to the Rams in which rookie John Gilliam ran the opening kickoff back 94 yards for a touchdown.
And here's the thing: Without Tulane Stadium, there would have been no John Gilliam, at least not with the Saints, no kick return that old men are still jawing about today. There would have been no team, not without the preexisting stadium in which to install it, and college football might have died out in the city years before. There'd have been none of the unique culture that the Saints bred, and the passion the city heaps upon its beloved teams would have been directed elsewhere. (In fact, when the Superdome became reality, it talked first to Tulane about becoming tenants, rather than to the Saints. It was a symbolic gesture, of course, an acknowledgment that Tulane made professional football possible in New Orleans by providing its stadium.)
Knowing what we know now, seeing the fierce love and joie de vivre of New Orleans sports, it would have been a damn shame. Longtime New Orleans Times-Picayune sportswriter and Sugar Bowl historian Marty Mulأ© puts it like this: "If it weren't for the stadium, we'd all be out watching volleyball matches."
Instead, and fortunately, New Orleans got the Saints; the team was officially created on Nov. 1, 1966 and began play in 1967. It had been a long audition for the city; Tulane Stadium had hosted exhibition games (with record crowds to boot) throughout the 1960s, and its presence was a deal too sweet to pass up for the NFL. There was little more than the idea of the Superdome when the Saints arrived, only a stadium commission in place, and it was Louisiana, after all, where nothing political is ever easy, so the NFL knew it would be years before a new home existed.
"The Saints came with just the gleam, and the promise, and the talk of all that," said Darryl Berger, a New Orleans developer who's lived 61 of his 65 years within four blocks of the old stadium. "But it was years."
******
In the spring of 1970, Steve Barrios was a sophomore receiver at Tulane. He and his teammates were going through reps at the stadium when a well-dressed man stopped by their workout. He approached the team and asked the players a question none expected: Would y'all like to play in a domed stadium someday? Wouldn't that be fun?
"I remember that like it happened yesterday," Barrios said. "It was like, who is this crackpot, you know?"
The crackpot in question was Dave Dixon, the father of the Superdome and the man most responsible for bringing the Saints to New Orleans. He'd spent years wrestling with government to get antitrust legislation passed, which ultimately landed him the Saints and paved the way for the NFL-AFL merger. But even knowing that, figuring out who Dixon was and the lengths to which he would go for the Saints, Barrios still thought the man was nuts. This was his stadium, his and his teammates', and by that point it was the Saints' too. Tulane was accustomed to practicing after NFL games on Sundays, sharing the field with pros. Barrios and his teammates had just months before snuck into Super Bowl IV through the Tulane coaches' offices, entering through an unmanned tunnel and scattering to find seats throughout.آ
They didn't see anything wrong with their home. It was theirs, and in New Orleans there's a sense of history and ownership like no other, a sense of place and pride. How else does a city built in such a fragile fishbowl of a place rebuild after a devastating hurricane, with pride and tenacity to spare? In a way, Tulane Stadium shared that same improbability as New Orleans, that same sense of being squeezed into a space it shouldn't have been squeezed. Instead of Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi, there was Audubon Blvd. and Claiborne St. for the stadium, houses and schools and narrow streets upon which the whole thing seemed poised to overflow.
Back then, the tight confines and lack of parking mattered less if you knew the right people, and really, of course you knew the right people if you were going to the game. Berger parked cars in his parents' driveway, charging commensurate with the caliber of the game. Everyone had their favorite spot, their friend who had a corner of his lawn reserved and a Bloody Mary waiting. Tailgates were cocktail parties, and afterward there was hardly the crush out of Uptown you'd expect; everyone went back to finish off those drinks and pour a few more.آ
"It was literally this huge stadium just right in the middle of the neighborhood," Berger said. "Yet that was part of the charm and part of the event. … Gosh, the closer you lived to the stadium, the more privileged you felt. All the friends would come to your house. Your uncle so-and-so and your daddy's best buddy so-and-so would get together and park in your driveway."
Elliott Laudemann attended Tulane, and his uncle, F.D. "Hap" Reilly, was one of the inaugural Sugar Bowl members. Laudemann frequented games at the stadium from its early days to its last, from Tulane tilts to NFL exhibitions. He went to parties at his uncle's before and walked over, navigating through the Uptown streets until they gave way to what the Times-Picayune called in 1975 "sports Camelot."آ
"It was (crowded)," Laudemann said. "But it worked. It worked because it had to."
The same could be said for New Orleans, and where the Superdome is looming, shining, metal glory, Tulane Stadium was a product of its place. The Superdome provided a home to refugees for days, damaged but still mostly dry, the beacon of an underwater city. Tulane Stadium was never that and never could have been. It was squeezed and smushed and sardined into a neighborhood, and it took on the flavor of that neighborhood, of New Orleans, creating a tight-knit football society that still exists to this day.
******
In 1981, nearly two years after Tulane Stadium was torn down, a cherry tree split in two near Tiger Stadium on LSU's campus. According to Mulأ©, it was the result of some Tulane students who'd snuck up to Baton Rouge, a lock that was apparently too easy to pick and one giant, freed tiger by the name of Mike. He was Mike IV, more specifically, the live jungle cat that lived on LSU's campus and for many years and traveled with the football team to road games. In the wee hours of Nov. 28, the Tulane students had let him out of his cage and then run, leaving the police to eventually tranquilize him and get him back behind bars, but not before he hopped up into that cherry tree and shattered the thing.
In 1981, the Green Wave and Tigers had achieved some parity, rare in the years after Tulane left the SEC in 1966, and that night, LSU lost at the Superdome, 48-7. It was Tulane's second win in three years in the rivalry and just eight years since it broke its 25-year drought against LSU in a 14-0 rout at Tulane Stadium. That game set college football attendance records for a night game and for any game played in the South, drawing 86,598 fans, and when it was all but over, the Tulane faithful are said to have urinated onto retreating LSU fans off of the upper deck.
No one thought much of it. That's just how the rivalry went, and even tampering with Mike wasn't a first. In 1950, before a 14-14 tie, Tulane students stole Mike I while his cage was left unmanned outside Ye Old College Inn, a popular restaurant around the corner from Tulane that exists to this day. His handlers had gone in for a bite, and the students capitalized on the moment, hiding Mike under the stadium and painting his cage green before eventually returning him. To this day, no one will concede to having been the perpetrator, short of vague murmurs and knowing glances. "I know a couple of people to this day who will not admit it," Mule said, "but they'll kind of wink at you."
New Orleans is best characterized by a mix of tradition, which that rivalry brought in spades, and utter nonsense. Some things just don't make sense, like the notion that stealing a tiger is a good idea or the conspicuous lack of road striping, while others have been ingrained in to the culture such that they must make sense. That's everything from Tulane hating LSU even now, when one has been terrible and the other a perennial SEC contender for years, to Mardi Gras krewes to the little plastic Jesus babies they wedge into king cakes. The stadium was the same way. It didn't teach the city its piquant tradition – that's been there since long before 1926 – but it built it, bit by bit and sometimes through stories you couldn't make up if you tried.
Today, the biggest name among football bigwigs in New Orleans is Tom Benson, the owner of the Saints and the NBA's Hornets. Benson is also a donor to the new, 30,000-seat stadium that Tulane is about to erect just off the footprint of the old one. That seems strange, you'd think, because what does Benson care about a struggling team about to enter the turmoil of the Big East, but it's more complex than that. Look at the documents from the original Tulane Stadium, back when it broke ground, and you'll notice a familiar name: Benson. It's Herbert Benson this time, Tom's great uncle, who was the architect of the original stadium and a president of the Sugar Bowl in the 1930s. So yes, it makes sense, Benson's donation, because this thing, this notion of football in New Orleans and the community it builds, spans decades and generations.
Darryl Berger's father was one of the many businessmen in the 1930s to purchase Sugar Bowl bonds. They were sold to increase the size of the stadium – Tulane wasn't about to front the cost – and by buying them, purchasers were guaranteed certain perks, like seats to the Sugar Bowl every year. The Bergers got 12 prime spots in Tulane Stadium, and when the show moved to the Superdome, their real estate was just as good.
"To this day, I still go to the Sugar Bowl every year, and … I call those my daddy's seats," Berger said. "There are hundreds and hundreds, thousands of others, that have the same sort of deep connection. That's back to the roots of Tulane Stadium."
The same holds for some Saints tickets, though the history is shorter. Laudemann, who was in his 30s when the NFL came to New Orleans, purchased seats in the upper deck of Tulane Stadium. He and his friends, about 300 of them, he said, all got seats together, and they'd split into groups before and after for cocktails, dinner and more cocktails at someone's house nearby. Things changed, obviously, when the Superdome came into play, but Laudemann still has those tickets. He's had them since Day 1, and to suggest he might have gotten rid of them – well, to him that's borderline ridiculous.
******
The Saints now are a regional phenomenon. Fans come from Baton Rouge, from Houma, from Lake Charles, trucking across the state for those games. At the beginning, though, that wasn't the case; in 1967, the NFL in New Orleans was a whole different beast. Gilliam's kick return was fun, sure, but the Saints lost that game, and most of the ones after it. They didn't have a winning season in Tulane Stadium, not for 20 years after their inception, not until 1987. They were the lovable losers, Berger said, but boy, if the games weren't fun. No one puts it better than Marty Mulأ©: "The game," he said, "it was not just a football game. It was a happening."
Al Hirt, a famous trumpeter and minority owner of the Saints, would lead the whole place in song, and it wasn't uncommon to see an ostrich race or a woman paraded out on a camel at halftime. (The Times-Picayune described one such camel sighting as a "zoological triumph.") Before the 1970 Super Bowl, a balloon containing the Vikings mascot went up, and then all too quickly down, crashing near the stands without actually injuring anyone. Then, at halftime, performers reenacted the Battle of New Orleans, and the whole thing went awry when a cannon misfired, blowing off one man's hand. That caused the horse carrying the fellow playing Andrew Jackson to bolt and, by proxy, the British to win, rewriting fake history. Then, to add insult to literal injury, the man with the bloody hand was almost run over by one of those very ostriches and the small chariot it pulled.
"I have to say that was far more entertaining than the game," Laudemann said of those early halftime shows. "And for whatever reason, that kind of discontinued."
For every cherished football moment in the old stadium, there's a commensurate memory of the weird. It went beyond just those halftime shows, beyond even the Super Bowls, although the 1975 contest set an auspicious record for the most pockets picked at a sporting event, according to the Times-Picayune. (They estimated 4,500 total.) The weird goes all the way back to the origins of the stadium in the 1930s, when the newspaper housed homing pigeons in a specially constructed cage on the sideline and then used them to fly film of games back to the office to be developed. The pigeons were in large part owned by the New Orleans Racing Pigeon Club, and the paper saw fit to run three long feature articles on them in a decade.آ
Then there was the underneath to contend with, where plaster casts of Mayan ruins were stored for decades. Tulane was a leader in excavations in Central America for a time, and when it ran out of space, the casts were simply shoved next to the football dummies. There were Tiffany windows, too, which were found with little damage and later installed on campus. Same goes for two ancient Egyptian mummies, Got Tothi Ankh and Nefer Atethu, who beginning in 1955 spent 23 years in a room under the bleachers. They're still in fine shape today, especially the female, Nefer Atethu, although she's been relocated to a specially outfitted room where the mummies' curator, John Verano, is all too happy to bring her out and poke gently at her "crispy" skin.آ
It's surprising but almost not. The stories around the place have piled up over the years, from cannons to mummies to tarps frozen to fields – that happened in 1964 – such that they've almost ceased to shock. It's New Orleans, after all, and it was a different time, and now we know where to put mummies and to have Beyoncأ© sing at halftime, and we've put a roof over the thing, too.
******
After Tulane and the Saints moved to the Superdome in 1975, Tulane Stadium stayed open on a limited basis. In 1978, the Broncos practiced in it before the Superdome's first Super Bowl, and high schools played there until just weeks before demolition began at the end of 1979. When the decision was made that the place had to come down – the steel upper decks had already been condemned and were unusable – Tulane organized a sort of funeral for the place, charging $5 for admission. About 15,000 fans showed up for a colorful program that included a narrated slideshow of the building's history.آ
At the end of the program, two Tulane greats were present: Lester Lautenschlaeger, the quarterback of the undefeated 1925 team who was an assistant coach in 1926, and Roch Hontas, the 1979 quarterback. Lautenschlaeger was 75 at the time, Hontas in his senior year of college. The two clinked wine glasses, generation to generation, and the thing was over, the eulogy finis, the stadium abandoned to be disassembled.آ
You could do that back then, bring in the man who was there for Day 1 to smile and pose with the current golden boy. You can't do that anymore. That first game, Tulane-Auburn, was played nearly 87 years ago. People are dying and memories are fading, and when you walk across that small quad where the stadium used to be, you don't hear the rattling of steel that the place was famous for, not even faintly. You can no longer picture hundreds Cub Scouts clustered in one end zone, stomp, stomp, stomping, finished with their drink- and program-selling and there to make the place sound like it was jam-packed full, even if the draw was only 30,000. The fences may remain, but the memory is nearly gone.آ
When Katrina hit, the Sugar Bowl offices flooded. The bowl's artifacts and historical documents were kept there, and Laudemann remembers going back in after the storm and seeing old photos waterlogged and ruined. After that, the members learned their lesson, putting it all in offsite storage, but to even think about what was lost and looted is staggering.
When Darryl Berger was a kid in the 1950s, he'd wait by the Tulane tunnel after games. The players were cleared to give their chinstraps to the waiting throngs of children, and everyone's goal was to come back with one, no matter how dirty, how smelly, how much your mama wanted you to throw it away. Berger's collection sat on the shelf in his room for years until someone trashed it or put it in storage, and so many of those chinstraps, too, must have washed away in the floods.
But this is more than just Katrina. This is time and age and an obsession with the modern. When Tulane's new home, Yulman Stadium, opens in 2014, it'll sit just northeast of where the old one was situated, but no matter its amenities, it'll never be as imposing or magnificent as its predecessor. The school saved the stone archway from old Tulane Stadium's faأ§ade, though, and it plans to install it over the entrance of the new one. It's a beautiful tribute to a long-gone era, and maybe, just maybe, the echoes of the old stadium will return, however faintly, in its shadow.
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The game had looked up for Tottenham, despite a second-half rally which had built to a climax. Villas-Boas made bold substitutions and, by the end, attacking roles for his players were no more than guidelines. They roamed and they interchanged and they pressed for the solution. If there had been a kitchen sink handy, Villas-Boas would have thrown that on, too.
Then Dembélé seized possession. There was 30 seconds of the 90 minutes remaining and he was some way away but, with a dip of his shoulder, he slithered away from Clément Grenier, Lyon's outstanding player, to open up the shooting chance.
Dembélé's drive, left-footed and from fully 25 yards, was true and packed with power. The ball fizzed low into the far corner and sent everybody connected to Tottenham into raptures.
Tottenham had been undermined by late concessions earlier in the season but Villas-Boas could reflect on a decisive turning of the tide. In the first leg at White Hart Lane Gareth Bale's second goal had come in stoppage time. The full-time whistle brought further passion from Villas-Boas and his staff and plenty of general cavorting. He won this trophy with Porto in 2011 and the elation was also to be cherished here.
"When you score in the last minute, especially with a goal that brings you into the next round, there are all the emotions going round," Villas-Boas said. "Everyone is buzzing to continue in this competition, which is why we reacted so joyfully. We regret sometimes being a team who needs to react and we only reacted after we conceded the goal tonight, but over the two legs we deserved to go through."
Lyon's participation in this tournament had represented something of a comedown, in light of their having been Champions League ever-presents since 1999, but Villas-Boas had made plain his delight to have a tilt at the trophy.
His use of the Europa League, initially to familiarise the squad with his match-day methods and then to build belief and momentum, has been a feature of his first season in charge, and now he has a mouth-watering last-16 meeting with Internazionale, his former club, which will stoke memories of Bale-fired Champions Leagues ties from two seasons ago.
"We still have to make even bigger steps and Inter Milan represents exactly that," Villas-Boas said. "We had two magnificent games against them and we just want to recreate that special night [in the home tie] that everyone remembers at the club.
"Going through against Inter Milan and Lyon puts you in a good place to win the competition," he added.
Tottenham's first-half display had hardly advertised what was to come, at an arena where the atmosphere was pulsating. The capacity crowd whistled Bale from the outset while they jeered the goalkeeper Brad Friedel whose crime, presumably, was not being Hugo Lloris, the ex-Lyon favourite. Friedel made a yapping gesture at his tormentors at full-time.
Lyon took control of the tie after Kyle Walker, not for the only time, conceded a needless free-kick and the alarm bells sounded as Grenier addressed the ball. His delivery benefited his threat and, with Bale's defensive challenge heart-hearted, the captain Maxime Gonalons powered his header past Friedel. Lyon might have scored sooner only forbut Alexandre Lacazette's header lacked power.
Tottenham were laboured in the first half, there was a recklessness in some of their tackling and their passing lacked incision. Lewis Holtby hit the post from 25 yards before the break but Lyonhad other chances, and looked the slicker and more thrusting.
Villas-Boas's team had to be better in the second half and they were. Their tempo was higher and they pressed further up the pitch. The action pulsed and there were chances at both ends. Bale volleyed wide from Emmanuel Adebayor's cross while Grenier shot straight at Friedel and Lacazette sought a penalty, after going down over Friedel's leg. The referee, Wolfgang Stark, was correct to ignore the appeals. Friedel had pulled his leg away.
Adebayor hooked on to the top of the crossbar; Bale twice worked Remy Vercoutre from distance. It shaped into a thriller. Villa-Boas brought on Clint Dempsey on the left and unleashed Bale through the middle. Gylfi Sigurdsson was introduced on the right and Tottenham pushed. Bale was everywhere.
Dempsey had headed over from a Bale corner and it looked as though Tottenham's calvary charge might yield nothing more than gallant failure. Dembélé, however, tore up the script.
"We want to continue setting the example in this competition," Villas-Boas said. "We think it's a real example for England. I don't think the Europa League is a distraction, I think it's an inspiration. Results like this give confidence for Inter and the Premier League." | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,984 | Monday’s events beg the question -- would a blond Popovich really be more fun?Gregg Popovich Wishes He ‘Had The Guts’ To Dye His Hair Blond | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,985 | CAUGHT ON VIDEO: Ball Boy Hit In The Groin By 121 MPH Serve | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,986 | Cris Collinsworth remembers the wind knifing his bones when he moved from the Bengals' locker room to the artificial turfSUNDAY: 'Soul-Crushing' Subzero Temperatures Expected For NFL Playoff Game | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,987 | In 1975, the organizers of the traditional chess tournament in the Dutch coastal town of Wijk aan Zee inaugurated a prize for the most spectacular game. They expected breathtaking encounters, griping contests, and some glamour and charm.40 Years of Spectacular Chess | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,988 | “One way to determine what is missing in day-to-day American life may be to examine what behaviors spontaneously arise whenSoccer And The Supporter-Built Spirit | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,989 | "It all starts with kids."Warrick Dunn Wants Us To Fight Gun Violence By Focusing On Family | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,990 | He is accused of attacking his wife at the Four Seasons in Maui.Rockies Shortstop Jose Reyes Arrested For Domestic Violence | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,991 | National Golf Day was May 21, 2014. There are so many great things about golf that extend far beyond the actual sport.For the Love of Golf | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,992 | The Super Bowl is usually a time of great emotions, excitement, anger, joy, and sadness. A time of great feasts and beer drinking across the United States. Perhaps the largest and oldest staple of the Super Bowl is the Chicken Wing. This great American past time and celebration of the majestic chicken wing has now been slaughtered and left behind, all thanks to two men.
Dewayne Patterson and Renaldo Jackson are the two men who you can thank for higher wing prices and/or a shortage of the tasty chicken wing. These two stellar citizens used a rental truck to steal $65,000 worth of wings, one more time
SIXTY FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS WORTH OF CHICKEN WINGS.
These two wing-nappers used a forklift to relocate 10 pallets worth of chicken wings into a rental truck in Lawrenceville, GA from a cold storage facility. For their attempt at becoming the Chicken Wing Czars they each were awarded Felony Theft charges and we were left with the loss of $65,000 worth of wings (the wings were sadly not recovered). It’s a pretty sad day that will change the way this country partakes in the Super Bowl festivities. Minus this great theft, wings have already seen an increase in price due to high demand and the cost of chicken feed rising. Now another blow to the wing fans wallets and appetites.
Seriously though, what the hell happened to $65,000 worth of wings? Apparently smaller non-franchise wing restaurants are having to hunt around to find wings right now because of shortages and large franchises having secured amounts. So did these two steal all those wings for the chicken wing black market? I wonder if that is the new underground sensation. I certainly hope they didn’t eat all those wings. Man that is a lot of wings, I suggest using the pre-order technique to ensure a wing filled Super Bowl.
Seriously, What The Fuck wing thieves? | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,993 | Brady just wants everyone to leave him alone, so he can Make The Patriots Great Again.Tom Brady Is Still Confused As To Why People Care What He Thinks About Trump | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,994 | ï»؟Jamie Trecker is the senior editor for FOXSoccer.com. A working journalist for 25 years, he covers the Champions League, European soccer and the world game. Follow him on Twitter.
Manchester City saw their hopes in the Champions League all but extinguished Tuesday night after a 2-2 draw against Dutch champions Ajax left their fate out of their hands. The game was marred by two contentious refereeing decisions that had City fuming at the whistle, but that will not change an essential fact: Roberto Mancini and his men simply have not deserved their place in Europe this season.
It was always going to be a tough road for the new English champions, who were drawn into one of the toughest “groups of death†in recent memory. Comprised entirely of past European Cup winners — save, of course, Manchester City — even the most faded side of the bunch couldn’t be taken lightly.
That team is Ajax, currently fifth in what most agree is a second-tier, selling league. So what? They have now collected four points off the English champions and reminded everyone that Dutch soccer’s not as dead as you might believe. Ajax fielded eight players from their illustrious academy – City fielded none – and dominated this home-and-away series.
Ajax racked up five goals in two games on a team that has only conceded nine goals in their first ten games of league play. In fact, City have conceded as many goals in their four European games as they have in all their Premier League encounters. They did it with a squad that combined costs less than an average City’s player’s yearly wage. They did in the face of some big-name, big-pedigree talent. And in doing so, they have exposed City for what it is: hollow.
City, like Chelsea, like Paris Saint-Germain and yes, like Real Madrid, have tried to buy their way into titles. They have succeeded in taking three pieces of silverware in a short amount of time – one of those, the Community Shield, really doesn’t count for much. Though feat deserves credit, City have not been able to gain any sort of steel for the competition that truly measures a club’s success – and this deserves derision.
A lot must and will be heaped on Roberto Mancini’s shoulders. He has demonstrated an alarming fecklessness during his tenure as City’s manager and seems more concerned with career-climbing than with developing an actual team. His body language Tuesday night was suggestive. When Siem de Jong rattled his first goal home, Mancini’s face was dismissive of his own team, a deflective gesture that was utterly self-serving.
This is a manager who seems unable to stop self-aggrandizing, inexplicably telling reporters last week that “seven or eight†clubs were inquiring about his services after the Guardian revealed he had held high level talks with a second-division French team. He seems unable to manage the powerful egos in his squad, enduring a series of frustrations and humiliations nearly every time he makes a substitution. Most damning, however, is that he keeps employing systems that do not suit the players he has on the payroll, with the result that teams with continental experience are able to outwit and then outlast his side time and time again.
Both goals scored by Ajax were painful: schoolboy errors converted smartly that revealed a lack of preparation and concentration. City’s defenders seemed unable to focus on the pace or intensity of the game, with Gareth Barry particularly victimized. As they did in Amsterdam, City seemed to take a positive result for granted. As they do so often in England, City seemed to think that they could get out of any hole they had dug. But Europe is not England, Ajax are not Stoke or Norwich, and with all due respect to fans of the Premier League, there is far more at stake in the European Cup.
That attitude comes from the top, and it is telling that Mancini has always been a flop on the European stage. As a player, the best he could muster was a Cup Winner’s Cup and a bronze medal at a World Cup his nation hosted. As a manager, he’s conquered two leagues but has always fallen badly when he has to play teams outside the borders.
His answers at Lazio, at Inter and now at City are eerily familiar: go buy more players. That’s a manger’s way of saying it’s not his fault, but the truth is, a fine craftsman doesn’t blame his tools. Mancini’s no craftsman. Just look at Manchester City, stocked with talent, aching for leadership, and wonder what a coach with true European caliber could accomplish.
| true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,995 | The show didn't even last five months.HBO Cancels Bill Simmons' 'Any Given Wednesday' | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,996 | His induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame was one of three wonderful things that happened for Mr. Davidson in his last year.
For more than half of my life, I’ve worked for Mr. Davidson, the great, great Pistons owner who died last week and took the air out of the room for the entire Pistons family and great Pistons fans everywhere. He and the Pistons took a chance on a young broadcaster back in 1976 and they’ve allowed me to do what I love to do ever since. I don’t know how you could ever try to repay that debt, other than to thank him as I so often did in the past and to thank his family and all his associates for allowing me to broadcast the team’s games night in and night out for all these years. Bill Davidson was truly everyday people 24-7-365, yet he had the brilliance to dream big and the will to carry it through to fruition. He always looked for the best in his friends, his employees, and probably even in his competitors, if the truth be told. But as ordinary as he acted, he was an extraordinary guy. You don’t do what he has done in the business world without a razor-sharp mind.
And above and beyond all of that, if we could quantify it – and I’m not sure we ever will be able to – what he’s done as a philanthropist for not only organizations with a worldwide scope, but also for individuals, we might be able to prove he’s the most generous guy ever in our area and in our state.
That’s an unbelievable quality. Nobody expects wealthy people to go out of their way to give away their money and that’s exactly what he did.
There was a great connection between Mr. Davidson and his players as far back as my first few years with the team. They were in awe of him, in many ways, because of what he had accomplished, but also because of his down-to-earth, friendly personality. It didn’t take anybody long to understand that he really cared about the people and the players in his organization. I remember Bob Lanier telling me how much they had shared personally, as friends. I know how much Dave Bing respected Mr. Davidson. Those are the two greatest players during his early years as owner.
After that, there were strong friendships with Isiah and Joe Dumars and many others, but to bring this right into our living rooms today, the current Detroit Pistons felt a kindship with Mr. D, as they called him, because of the time they spent with him in the practice facility – and he was in there at least five days a week, keeping himself in shape and talking to them, not just about basketball but about their families and their friends.
And I think when Rip Hamilton scrawled on his shoes, “We miss you, Mr. D,†that really said it all. It’s 2009. Mr. Davidson was 86 years old when he passed away and here’s Rip Hamilton, a young guy barely 30, more than half a century his junior, but old enough and wise enough to know what a friend he had lost. That speaks volumes not only about Rip, but also about Mr. Davidson.
I was just thinking about something this morning – that three wonderful things happened for Mr. Davidson in his last year. It started with our 50th anniversary celebration for the Pistons last spring and it allowed him to renew old acquaintances with some of his greatest players. They had the chance to chat and socialize with him and he hung out with the guys – because, after all, he truly was one of the guys. It was at least as much fun for them as it was for him.
And then we had The Palace’s 20th anniversary last summer and we were all able to reminisce with him about all the successes there have been with regard to this building – a building some people really didn’t believe he should build in the first place. Certainly, it stands as one shining moment to a great man’s foresight.
And then came the ultimate honor for anyone involved in the game of basketball – enshrinement in the Hall of Fame. There couldn’t be a more deserving owner when it comes to Hall of Fame credentials. Everybody in basketball – and I was lucky enough to be there that night – that I saw was truly happy for Mr. Davidson and felt the honor was long overdue.
That’s an amazing chain of events that I’m so glad he got to experience in the last year of his life. We didn’t want to bid adieu to Mr. D, but if we had to, that was the right way for him to go out. | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,997 | The most sickening part about watching Robert Griffin III crumple in a heap just outside his own end zone with 6:19 left in the Washington Redskins’ 24-14 wild card loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday wasn’t the way the rookie quarterback’s right knee contorted, gruesomely, in a way that knees most certainly are not designed to bend.
Nor was it the chilling silence in the immediate aftermath from a FedEx Field crowd — one attending a home playoff game for the first time in 13 years — seeing the same thing you and I did and shuddering at the thought of what it might mean for their star player’s once-bright future, and, consequently, the outlook of their team.
The most frustrating and maddening — and downright infuriating — aspect of the injury wasn’t that the fumble resulting from Griffin’s injury ended the Redskins’ already-slim chances at a comeback or that one of the league’s most enjoyable feel-good stories came to an abrupt end in the most disheartening way possible, either.
No, the worst thing about the way Sunday’s game ended, both for the Redskins and Griffin, the No. 2 pick in April’s draft and a leading candidate for Offensive Rookie of the Year, was that all of it — the injury, the loss and the mindless babbling to explain it all away afterward — could have been prevented. None of it should have ever happened.
If Redskins coach Mike Shanahan had any good sense about him, he’d have taken Griffin, who first sprained his right LCL on Dec. 9 against Baltimore, out of the game late in the first quarter, the moment he came limping back from the sideline after his knee buckled while planting to throw a pass. At worst, Shanahan should have stripped him of his helmet at the half, following a quarter of startling ineptitude with a visibly hobbled Griffin at the helm.
But because a young player was too competitive to quit in his first playoff game and his veteran coach didn’t have the guts to make the tough decision for him, the Redskins will be watching from home as the Seahawks move on to face Atlanta, and one of the league’s most exciting players may never be the same again.
The extent of Griffin’s injury won’t be known until later this week, but given the way the knee appeared to shred, and given Griffin’s history with his right ACL, which he tore in 2009 while still at Baylor, it’s hard not to fear the worst. And, unfortunately, it was something seemingly everyone but Shanahan and Griffin saw coming.
“I think I did put myself at more risk by being out there,†Griffin said. “But every time you step on the football field in between those lines, you’re putting your life, your career (and) every single ligament in your body in jeopardy. That’s just the approach I had to take towards it. My teammates needed me out there, so I was out there for them.â€
As poorly as things ended for the Redskins, it’s easy to lose sight of how well things started. Washington easily scored on its first drive on a touchdown pass to running back Evan Royster, and followed it up with another unabated scoring drive on the next possession, which ended with a 4-yard toss to tight end Logan Paulsen.
But it was a play two snaps before the Paulsen touchdown that should have been a watershed moment in the game that could have saved the Redskins’ season and Griffin’s knee. On first-and-goal from the Seattle 4-yard line, Griffin took the snap and rolled out to his right and eventually, after running out of real estate, threw an awkward, sidearm pass toward Pierre Garأ§on that fell harmlessly to the turf.
After the play, Griffin returned to the field, and to say he did so gingerly would not do his condition justice. He looked like a wounded animal, to the point where he could hardly walk, much less run the read-option. After the touchdown pass, Griffin retreated to the locker room with Dr. James Andrews, a Washington team physician who, earlier Sunday, publicly expressed concern over Griffin playing, and got his knee taped.
When he came back, Griffin was still something short of mobile, and sure as heck couldn’t move the way he did when he helped lead the Redskins to seven straight wins to close the regular season. But Shanahan looked an ineffective, and potentially already injured, quarterback in the face and told him to strap back up and get on the field anyway.
“I talked to Robert and Robert said to me, â€کCoach, there’s a difference between injured and being hurt. I guarantee I’m hurting right now; give me a chance to win this football game because I guarantee I’m not injured,’†Shanahan said. “So that was enough for me.â€
From that moment on, Griffin, who moved the football effortlessly before that incomplete pass to Garأ§on, could do very little to combat a Seahawks defense that is already good enough without a gimpy quarterback’s help.
After amassing 129 yards of offense, nine first downs and two touchdowns on their first two drives, the Redskins only managed 74 more yards of offense, six first downs and no points. The Seahawks outgained the Redskins 271-38 in the second and third quarters, alone.
Some of that had to do with the Seattle defensive unit, which was among the best in the NFL this season and allowed a league low in points per game. But more of it, if not most of it, was a result of RG3 not being RG3.
“That’s my guy,†Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman said of RG3 after the game. “He’s a hell of a player. He’s one of the best players I’ve ever seen. He presents a lot of challenges. I’m sure if he were 100 percent it would have been a different game.â€
Offensively, Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch carried the ball 20 times for 132 yards and a touchdown, and overcame an earlier goal line fumble with a tough 27-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to give the Seahawks the lead for the first time — and for good. And quarterback Russell Wilson, an Offensive Rookie of the Year candidate in his own right, threw for 187 yards and a touchdown and ran for another 67 yards, only serving to underline what Griffin couldn’t do.
“You saw the difference between a healthy Russell Wilson and Robert not being healthy,†Redskins linebacker London Fletcher said. “I don’t know what percentage (Griffin) was at, but you could tell he just couldn’t do the things that he had done all season long to make those dynamic plays.â€
With that in mind, it made little sense to leave Griffin in, regardless of whether he was endangering himself physically by doing so. Backup quarterback Kirk Cousins has proven capable this season, especially in a win over Cleveland on Dec. 16 with Griffin on the mend, and 100 percent of him would have certainly been more effective against Seattle than 50 percent of the starter — maybe even effective enough to win.
In the end, though, the most disconcerting part of Shanahan leaving Griffin in was the safety risk and lack of concern for his livelihood that it represented. Every game is full of players too hurt to play and too competitive to realize it, and it’s up to the coach to know when enough is enough.
After the game, Griffin speculated that, had Shanahan pulled him, he would have run back out onto the field and continued to play anyway, and his equally blind teammates seemed to agree that the decision should have been left up to the player.
“This is the playoffs, it’s a do-or-die situation,†Fletcher said. “Guys have a great deal of intestinal fortitude; never underestimate the heart of an athlete in a competitive situation. I think with Robert, he’s willed himself to be able to play, and he’s earned the right to be able to play if he tells coach he can play.â€
But it’s not up to the player. It can’t be. That’s why the dangers of concussions are such a hot-button issue today, and other injures should be treated with equal care. Leaving Griffin on the field, with a tattered knee and a precedent for knee injuries, was reprehensible, and if the news turns out to be as bad as it looked, Shanahan should be held accountable for what he did to Griffin’s future.
There’s a fine line between being tough and being dumb, and RG3 crossed it while his team enabled him. After the game, Shanahan said he would have deserved to get fired had he not taken Griffin out of the game following the fourth quarter injury, but the real shame is that he didn’t take Griffin’s injury that seriously from the start.
You can follow Sam Gardner on Twitter or e-mail him at [email protected]. | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,998 | Some folks say baseball has nothing to do with race relations in St Louis, but as a native St. Louisan, I beg to differ.Ferguson, the Murder of Michael Brown, and the St. Louis Cardinals | true | sport | ['Sport'] |
2,999 | Don't ask him to rephrase it without cursing, either.Kyle Lowry Thinks Trump's Refugee Ban Is 'Absolute Bullshit' | true | sport | ['Sport'] |