News sport : 2014 Driver Reviews: No. 10 Kyle Busch

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After doing exit interviews for Sprint Cup Series drivers in 2013, we're turning the tables. We want the drivers to sell themselves. So here are the resumés for all full-time Sprint Cup Series drivers in 2014. Then, at the end, we'll provide a summation of the driver's season in 150 words or less.


Name: Kyle Busch


NASCAR Experience: 10 full seasons in the Sprint Cup Series. 141 wins across NASCAR's three national series.


Most recent team: Joe Gibbs Racing


Most recent season finish: 10th


2014 accomplishments: One win, nine top fives, 15 top 10s. 12 Seven Nationwide Series wins in 26 races and seven truck series races in 10 races.


Most memorable moment: The win at Auto Club Speedway in the Cup Series, was an appropriate bit of dejå vu, though it wasn't as dramatic as the win in 2013.



Strengths: Arguably the most adaptable driver in the Sprint Cup Series.


2015 goals: See Chase success. Sure, a title needs to happen sooner rather than later, but a third top-five finish in the standings is a good and realistic goal.


FTM's Take: Talladega can be so cruel. Busch had top 10 finishes in the first five races of the Chase yet was eliminated at Talladega because he crashed and finished 40th. (Yes, another lesson about how avoiding bad finishes is imperative to Cup Series success.)


The wheels fell off over the last two races of the season and instead of vying for fifth in the final standings Busch ended up in 10th.


Thanks to a summer swoon, the Chase actually inflated Busch's season standing. After back-to-back second place finishes at New Hampshire and Indy, Busch finished 36th or below in four consecutive weeks and dropped to 17th in the standings.


Barring something incredibly unforeseen, Busch will win a race or three in 2015 and make the Chase. Then we'll all wonder how Busch's title hopes will turn out once again. Just remember that he was title-worthy for the first half of the playoffs in 2014.


Previous reviews: No. 11 Jimmie Johnson, No. 12 Kurt Busch, No. 13 AJ Allmendinger, No. 14 Greg Biffle, No. 15 Kasey Kahne, No. 16 Aric Almirola, No. 17 Kyle Larson, No. 18, Jamie McMurray, No. 19 Clint Bowyer, No. 20, Austin Dillon, No. 21 Paul Menard, No. 22 Brian Vickers, No. 23 Marcos Ambrose, No. 24 Martin Truex Jr., No. 25 Tony Stewart, No. 26 Casey Mears, No. 27 Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 28, Danica Patrick, No. 29, Justin Allgaier, No. 30, David Gilliland, No. 31 Cole Whitt, No. 32 David Ragan, No. 33 Michael Annett, No. 34 Reed Sorenson, No. 35 Alex Bowman


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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!







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News sport : The 10-man rotation, starring three-team trade fallout

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J.R. Smith and Dion Waiters, two ships passing in the night. (AP/Tony Dejak) A look around the league and the Web that covers it. It's also important to note that the rotation order and starting nods aren't always listed in order of importance. That's for you, dear reader, to figure out.


C: Sports Illustrated, BBallBreakdown and Grantland. Rob Mahoney on the gamble that the Oklahoma City Thunder are taking; Seth Partnow on addition by subtraction, addition by addition and the potential for more in Cleveland; and Zach Lowe on how Monday's three-way dance could wind up being the rare win-win-win deal.


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PF: GQ. Bethlehem Shoals on J.R. Smith, the now-former face of the New York Knicks franchise, heading into what is for him something like the great unknown — a situation in which he'll be held accountable. (Over at Posting and Toasting, Seth Rosenthal bids farewell to the J.R. era as only he can. Also, a ruthless self-plug for the time I wrote about J.R. playing basketball with the Power Rangers.)


SF: Memphis Commercial Appeal ($). Chris Herrington's always wonderful Pick-and-Pop column focuses on the Memphis Grizzlies' life without injured big man Zach Randolph, which is a life that everyone who loves the grit-and-grind beasts of the Western wild would prefer end as soon as humanly possible, thanks.


SG: The Triangle. Lowe on the Toronto Raptors' chances of topping the Eastern Conference come playoff time, and the defensive failings that have made their candidacy look shakier of late.


PG: Canis Hoopus. In which it is argued that several other kinds of plays are at least as highlight-reel-worthy as slam dunks, with a host of supporting video documentation of said other cool play types.


6th: SB Nation. Paul Flannery on Rajon Rondo's exit from and return to Boston, a city he perhaps could have owned, had he ever deigned to take ownership.


7th: Grantland. Jonathan Abrams goes long on Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, two children of pros who have scrapped their way to recognition as the best backcourt in the NBA, and whose pure shooting (and advancing all-around games) have helped make the Golden State Warriors one of this season's top title contenders.


8th: ESPN.com. And yet, despite his team continuing to boast the NBA's best record, Golden State coach Steve Kerr seems awfully concerned with his Warriors nipping some bad habits in the bud before the postseason comes, according to Ethan Sherwood Strauss.


9th: Hardwood Paroxysm. With questions about the AAU system, European development and American players' skill-sets once again earning headlines, Robby Kalland proposes the development of a league-wide NBA Youth Academy, which seems both entirely too sweeping and complicated to actually happen but also might just be crazy enough to work.


10th: Nylon Calclulus. Ian Levy takes a look under the hood of the Detroit Pistons' five-game winning streak, and finds a pair of explanations for the uptick in form that probably don't have anything to do with jettisoning Josh Smith.


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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!



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News sport : College Football Playoff will provide travel assistance for families of athletes

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Dec 7, 2014; Grapevine, TX, USA; College football playoff executive director Bill Hancock speaks to the media at the Gaylord Texan Hotel. (Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports) The cost of traveling to Texas for the inaugural College Football Playoff National Championship is costly for the families of the student-athletes of Ohio State and Oregon, so the College Football Playoff is doing something about it.


The CFP announced Tuesday that it will “defray the cost of expenses” for parents to travel to the game in Arlington at AT&T Stadium on Jan. 12. This reimbursement, which is subject to NCAA rules, will “cover expenses for hotel accommodations in North Texas and travel reimbursement and meal expenses for a maximum of two parents or legal guardians per athlete.”


The reimbursement will be “capped” at $1,250 per parent or guardian, the CFP said in a release.


“We know how expensive travel can be, so we’re pleased to provide assistance for parents or guardians who want to see their sons play in the first College Football Playoff National Championship,” said Bill Hancock, executive director of the College Football Playoff. “It will make the game even more special for the student-athletes to know that their family members are receiving this benefit.”


The CFP announcement comes in conjunction with the NCAA announcement that it will help players’ families travel to the Men’s and Women’s Final Fours in the spring. The NCAA said in a release that the College Football Playoff “may provide up to $3,000 in travel expenses for families of each competing student-athlete.”


According to the NCAA, schools and conferences are also now able to “adopt new rules to provide these family travel expenses on a permanent basis or for other championships.”


“Championship experiences create memories of a lifetime for student-athletes, and we want to make sure their families are there to support and celebrate with them,” said NCAA President Mark Emmert.


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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!







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News sport : National Championship Preview: Ohio State's secondary

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The first College Football Playoff National Championship Game is finally upon us and Dr. Saturday has your pregame prep covered. Every day leading up to the game, we’ll breakdown a piece of each team and preview its role in the upcoming title game. Previous previews: Ohio State's front 7, Oregon's front 7.


Season highlight: The semifinal game against Alabama was arguably the best performance of the season for the Ohio State secondary. Even though it allowed 237 passing yards and two touchdowns, it held star receiver Amari Cooper to nine catches for 71 yards, which was only the second time Cooper didn’t average 10 or more yards per catch. The Buckeyes held Alabama to a 118.08 pass efficiency rating, which was their third-lowest of the season. And the 10.773 yards per completion were the second-lowest of the season.


Player to Watch: Senior cornerback Doran Grant has been the anchor of an Ohio State secondary that is loaded with young players. Grant, a senior captain, has five interceptions this season, including two that came in the Big Ten title game against Wisconsin. He has 58 tackles and nine pass breakups this year, and was an All-Big Ten first team selection.


Strengths: The Ohio State secondary has specialized in takeaways this year. Of the Buckeyes 24 interceptions, which ranks fourth nationally, 17 have come from players in the secondary. Sophomore safety Vonn Bell leads all Ohio State players with six interceptions and he snagged one off Alabama quarterback Blake Sims in the semifinal.


Weaknesses: Ohio State didn’t face a lot of great passing quarterbacks this season, but against Cincinnati and Michigan State, the two best quarterbacks Ohio State faced this year, the Buckeyes allowed 352 and 358 passing yards respectively. Cincinnati's Gunner Kiel had four passing touchdowns and Michigan State's Connor Cook had two. Oregon’s Marcus Mariota is by far the best quarterback the Buckeyes have faced all season and keeping his numbers down will be a tremendous challenge.


Overview: Ohio State’s secondary has great numbers.


It ranks fourth nationally in interceptions and fourth in passing defense efficiency. It’s only allowing 191.6 passing yards per game and of the 39 offensive touchdowns the Buckeyes have allowed, only 15 have come through the air.


However, the numbers can be misleading.


Only one of Ohio State’s opponents this season ranked in the top 25 in passing offense (No. 13 Cincinnati) and Alabama and Michigan State ranked Nos. 28 and 35 respectively. However, five of the Buckeyes opponents ranked 110th or worse in passing offense and seven of the team’s interceptions came off those offenses. Only one of those offenses threw for more than 181 yards. In fact Michigan’s 251 passing yards was a season-high by 31 yards. The Wolverines ranked 110th in passing offense.


There had been questions about the Ohio State secondary early in the season, especially after it allowed Cincinnati's Chris Moore to have 221 yards and three touchdowns. Moore, the Bearcats third-best receiver, didn’t have a 100-yard game and had three contests where he had no yards.


Many of the concerns about the Ohio State secondary were chalked up to youth. The Buckeyes depth chart has freshmen Eli Apple or Gareon Conley as co-starters at one corner spot and sophomores Tyvis Powell and Bell at the two safety positions. Grant is the only senior. However, playing the youth card doesn’t work when you’re about to play your 15th game of the year.


What Ohio State did against the Alabama passing game was admirable. Even though Cooper was able to have some success, it wasn’t his best game. The Buckeyes forced Sims to use other options. Down the stretch, Sims seemed reluctant to do so, which helped the Ohio State defense read his passes and pick him off. There were a couple instances where there were open receivers available, but Sims was fixated on Cooper and Ohio State capitalized.


Ohio State won’t get so lucky with the Oregon passing game, which is by far the best the Buckeyes have seen all season. Mariota has just three interceptions this year compared to 40 touchdowns and 4,121 yards. But what makes Oregon’s passing game so difficult to defend is its diversity. The Ducks do not have a 1,000-yard receiver this season, but they do have seven different players with at least 300 receiving yards and nine receivers with at least 10 catches.


The Ducks lost third-leading receiver Devon Allen to a knee injury on the first play against Florida State, but six different players caught the ball against the Seminoles as Mariota amassed 338 passing yards and two touchdowns.


The Ohio State secondary likely will need help from its linebackers in coverage, especially with the way Oregon uses its tight ends, but this game is going to be a tremendous challenge for an Ohio State secondary who has nothing which to compare this offense.


For more Ohio State news, visit BuckeyeGrove.com.


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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter!


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News sport : Court documents: USC doctor didn't 'agree with' FDA's Toradol warnings

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USC football team doctor James Tibone said in a deposition that he was at odds with the FDA's cardiovascular warnings regarding the painkilling drug Toradol.


The deposition is part of a lawsuit filed by former USC DE Armond Armstead, who says in the suit that he suffered a heart attack in 2011 because of repeated Toradol injections. He filed the suit in 2012 against USC, Tibone and University Park Medical Center.


Documents from the case were obtained by Vice Sports. Armstead received the injections of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory throughout the 2010 season and said he received 10 injections from September to December. And he said neither he nor teammates were told what they were being injected with.


Toradol is a popular painkiller for football and in 2001, 28 of the 30 current NFL teams had said they administered the drug. It can be utilized in both preventative and reactive fashions. The drug's warning says it is for short-term acute pain.


From Vice:



In his deposition, Tibone said he didn't "agree with" FDA warnings about Toradol's cardiovascular risks. He did not provide supporting evidence for his position, admitting that before and during the period he gave the drug to Armstead and other USC players he: (a) conducted no research or surveys on Toradol's adverse effects; (b) read no peer-reviewed journal articles on the matter prior to Armstead's heart attack; (c) did not investigate the drug beyond talking to NFL trainers he knew and having a brief, informal conversation with a friend who is a cardiovascular surgeon.




Tibone also said that he doesn't prescribe Toradol to patients in his private practice, and that he personally had taken the drug once, to treat pain from a kidney stone.



In February of 2011, Armstead went to University Park Medical Center three times and initially diagnosed with costochondritis, which (guess what?) resulted in more Toradol injections. The school didn't comment to Vice for the story. The scheduled trial was delayed last April and, according to Boston.com, is set for March of this year.



By the beginning of March, Armstead's condition worsened. A MRI exam revealed that he had suffered an acute anterior apical myocardial infarction, more commonly known as a heart attack. Myocardial infarctions are specifically mentioned by the FDA as a possible risk of Toradol use, made likelier by repeated off-label use and combining the painkiller with other non-steroidal anti-inflammatories such as Ibuprofen and Naproxen, drugs that Tibone and USC training staff also had administered to Armstead during the season.




Tibone and USC argue they used Toradol properly because they were treating Armstead's acute pain resulting from a single injury. Whether or not the definition of "acute" pain includes an orthopedic injury lasting for months—a highly contested point in the lawsuit—the extended duration of Armstead's treatments seemingly disregarded FDA warnings, which impose a five-day limit on using the drug.




Moreover, the multiple Toradol shots approximately two hours apart alleged by Armstead and indicated by USC athletic records would exceed the FDA's recommended daily dose limit of no more than 60 milligrams, or one such injection.



Tibone also said in his deposition that he didn't follow the NCAA's sports medicine handbook and rather used his own judgment. Per Vice, USC now has student athletes sign a waiver about Toradol injections.


Armstead didn't play in 2011 because of the heart attack and wasn't selected in the 2012 NFL draft. He played in the CFL in 2013 and was signed by the New England Patriots before he retired in July.


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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!







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News sport : Relax, folks, there's no anti-Detroit conspiracy (podcast)

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Welcome to the latest Shutdown Corner podcast! On today's postseason-ready episode, we have:


• A thorough breakdown of the Dallas-Detroit game, except for That Play (0:41 mark)


• Frank loses his mind on the supposed "conspiracy theories" surrounding the pass interference call that wasn't (8:30 mark)


• The sad, painful end to the Cardinals' season (23:21 mark)


• The Lightning Round: Cam Newton's prospects? Where will Ndamukong Suh end up? Can the Ravens beat New England? And why does anyone want to hire Mike Shanahan? (32:55 mark)


All this and more as part of the Shutdown Corner Podcast. Listen below, and while you're listening, we would love it if you'd check out the following ...


Subscribe via iTunes right here.


Non-iTunes subscription link here.


Leave us a nice review here.


The Shutdown Corner podcast is the product of Kevin Kaduk (@KevinKaduk), Frank Schwab (@YahooSchwab) and Jay Busbee (@JayBusbee). New episodes every Tuesday and Friday, with bonus episodes when you least expect it. Enjoy!


____

Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter.



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News sport : Dion Waiters dances his way to Oklahoma City with the help of pal Meek Mill

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Dion Waiters turns up. (David Richard-USA TODAY Sports) There was a touch of cold-world reality to the way things went down for Dion Waiters on Monday. With the Cleveland Cavaliers missing injured wing stars LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, the South Philadelphia native was expected to make his first start since Nov. 4 in a return trip to his hometown to take on the Philadelphia 76ers in front of "countless" family and friends in attendance at Wells Fargo Center. But just before the two teams' starters were about to be announced — "roughly 90 seconds before tip-off," according to Michael Lee of the Washington Post — Waiters was yanked from the lineup, pulled to the side and plopped into a three-team trade that included six players and two future draft picks.


When the dust was settled, guards J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert had landed in Ohio, frontcourt reserves/nonguaranteed contracts Alex Kirk, Lou Amundson and Lance Thomas were headed to the New York Knicks, and Waiters — the No. 4 overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft — was on his way to join the Oklahoma City Thunder. Things happen pretty fast in the NBA, and sometimes you don't get to go home again, even when you're already in the neighborhood. (What a difference 4 1/2 months makes.)


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But even with his head spinning from the trade that sent him south to a Thunder squad hopeful he'll fill the off-the-bench scoring and playmaking hole they've had ever since shipping out James Harden back in the fall of 2012, and with his arrival in Oklahoma City to take a physical expected Tuesday, the 23-year-old Syracuse product took a few free moments to find his center and celebrate the good life with Philly pal, mentoring partner and name-dropping rapper Meek Mill following Cleveland's disappointing loss to the 76ers on Monday:



It can't be easy to get traded for the first time, to experience the sensation of the team that drafted you deciding they no longer want you, and to have it all happen just moments before you were set to take flight in your hometown. So it's nice to see Waiters' spirits buoyed by some loud music, the company of friends and an opportunity to dance, dance, dance:



It ought to be fascinating to see how many opportunities Waiters gets to bust a move in Oklahoma City. After all, there wouldn't seem to be many more shots available behind Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Reggie Jackson than there were behind James, Irving and Kevin Love; Dion would seem to need to check his displeasure with watching an MVP work and ramp up his willingness to feed tall, wide-open rocket-launchers for things to turn out smoothly during his time with Scott Brooks' crew. (It'd also seem critical that he show an increased inclination to accept the role he's been asked to fill rather than, as he told Lee of the Post, suggest he "just [didn't] know" what was being asked of him.)


It's a high-risk, high-reward gamble, to be sure. As CBS Sports' Matt Moore notes, Waiters could be the tough on-ball defender and engaged shot-creator that can help keep the Thunder from stalling out when Durant and Westbrook hit the bench ... or he could continue his rock-pounding, shot-jacking-despite-posting-career-low-shooting-percentages, potentially disruptive ways and wind up being the last thing in the world a Thunder team clawing for its postseason life needs at this stage.


For now, though, Durant sounds eager to make Waiters "feel wanted," and the Thunder are betting that Waiters' physical tools and unquestionable competitive streak will do more for them now — and, if they let restricted free agent Jackson walk this summer, perhaps in the future — than the protected first-rounder they're now on the hook to send Cleveland. It's not like either the Cavaliers' ongoing attempt to live up to lofty preseason expectations or the Thunder's efforts to climb back to the top of the conference after their injury-plagued start needed any more intrigue, but, well, here we are. Let's dance, everybody.


Hat-tip to Ananth Pandian at Triangle Offense.


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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!



Stay connected with Ball Don't Lie on Twitter @YahooBDL, "Like" BDL on Facebook and follow Dunks Don't Lie on Tumblr for year-round NBA talk, jokes and more.






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News sport : Oklahoma WR Dorial Green-Beckham to enter NFL Draft

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Dorial Green-Beckham will never play a down of football for Oklahoma.


Sooners head coach Bob Stoops announced Tuesday that Green-Beckham, the receiver who was dismissed from Missouri last April and transferred to Oklahoma in August, will enter the 2015 NFL Draft.



Green-Beckham was the No. 1 recruit in the nation in the 2012 class and caught 87 passes for 1,278 yards and 17 touchdowns in two seasons for Mizzou before being dismissed from Gary Pinkel’s program after several run-ins with the law.


Green-Beckham was arrested twice for marijuana and then was investigated for a “physical altercation” in April in which he allegedly forced his way into an apartment and pushed a woman down several stairs. The woman declined to press charges and Green-Beckham was never arrested in the incident, but it did lead to his dismissal.


Oklahoma hoped the 6-foot-6, 225-pound Green-Beckham would be able to suit up this season and filed a waiver request with the NCAA. The school learned on Aug. 22 that the request had been denied. Green-Beckham would have been eligible for the 2015 season with the Sooners but decided to enter the NFL Draft instead.


Oklahoma went 8-5 this season.


For more Oklahoma news, visit SoonerScoop.com.


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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!







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News sport : Charlotte asks banks to write off nearly $18 million in loans to NASCAR HOF

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The city of Charlotte has made a request to banks to write off a significant portion of construction loans for the NASCAR Hall of Fame.


The city, according to the Charlotte Observer, wants to make a $5 million payment to Bank of America and Wells Fargo as part of a proposal to take care of debt from the Hall of Fame. In turn, the banks would then write off the rest of the loans, which tally $17.6 million after principal and interest.


From the Observer:



The proposal is part of a city plan to get out of about $22.8 million of NASCAR hall obligations. If the deal is approved, the hall would also be given a break from future payments owed to NASCAR.




“The whole goal is to bring the hall into a break-even position,” said Deputy City Manager Ron Kimble.




The City Council, which heard the proposal Monday, will vote on the loan modifications next week. But even if the agreement is approved, the hall is still estimated to lose between $200,000 and $500,000 a year in the future.



In the proposal, NASCAR would also waive royalties that it was supposed to receive from the Hall of Fame. The two loans were part of funding for the museum that also included a hotel and motel tax. One of the loans was backed by the sale of commemorative bricks and sponsorships.


The NASCAR Hall of Fame lost $1.4 million in the previous fiscal year, down from $1.6 million the year before. So the quoted estimates are significantly below those numbers. However, lofty and unachievable goals have been touted for the Hall of Fame before. The original attendance goals for the museum were 850,000 people a year. From June 2013-2014, the Hall of Fame had approximately 170,000 paid admissions.


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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!







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News sport : Bob Osborne to crew chief for Trevor Bayne in 2015

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Trevor Bayne will have a crew chief familiar to many NASCAR fans atop his pit box in 2015.


Roush Fenway Racing announced Tuesday that Bob Osborne would serve as Bayne's crew chief. Osborne was Carl Edwards' long-time crew chief and was the crew chief when Edwards finished second in the Sprint Cup standings to Tony Stewart in 2011. In mid-2012, he stepped down because of medical reasons. Until stepping down, Osborne had served as Edwards' crew chief for all but 27 races of Edwards' career.


Bayne, the 2011 Daytona 500 winner, will drive full-time in the Sprint Cup Series in 2015. He has driven a part-time schedule in the Cup Series over the past four seasons for the Wood Brothers.


Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will also have a new crew chief. Mike Kelley served as Stenhouse's crew chief in 2013 after the two won Xfinity Series titles together in 2011 and 2012. Kelley will continue with the team as Stenhouse's car chief but Nick Sandler, the head engineer for Edwards in 2014, will be Stenhouse's crew chief.


Greg Biffle will continue to work with crew chief Matt Puccia. With the addition of Bayne to the No. 6 car, Roush Fenway is staying at three cars in 2015 after Edwards left to join Joe Gibbs Racing.


Jimmy Fennig, Edwards' crew chief for the past two seasons, is now Roush's R&D coordinator.


Phil Gould will crew chief for Elliott Sadler in the Xfinity Series. Gould moves over from Richard Childress Racing to join Sadler, who joins Roush from Joe Gibbs Racing. Darrell Wallace, who will also drive for Roush in 2015 after leaving Joe Gibbs Racing, will have Chad Norris as his crew chief. Norris was named Edwards' crew chief in 2012 after Osborne's departure and served as Bayne's Xfinity Series crew chief in 2014.


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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!







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News sport : Coaches linked to Jim Harbaugh's staff appear in Michigan directory (Photos)

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Since Jim Harbaugh was formally introduced as Michigan’s head coach last week, he has not formally hired any assistants. Several names have been linked to his staff however, and on Monday the names of three assistants linked to his staff were added to the school directory.


Per the Detroit Free Press, Tim Drevno, D.J. Durkin and John Morton all now have official Michigan email addresses.



(http://ift.tt/1Ce0ohm)

Drevno, the current offensive line coach at USC, has been linked by multiple reports to the offensive coordinator job under Harbaugh. Drevno has been a part of several Harbaugh staffs. He was his offensive coordinator at San Diego from 2003-06, his tight ends and offensive line coach at Stanford from 2007-10, and then his offensive line coach with the San Francisco 49ers for three seasons.



(http://ift.tt/1Ce0ohm)

Durkin was Florida’s defensive coordinator under Will Muschamp for the past two seasons and served as interim coach in the team’s bowl game over the weekend. He was linked to the defensive coordinator opening at Texas A&M as well, but the Aggies came to an agreement with LSU’s John Chavis, so Durkin seems to be Harbaugh’s man.


Durkin was an assistant under Harbaugh at Stanford from 2007-09



(http://ift.tt/1Ce0ohm)

Finally, Morton was the wide receivers coach under Harbaugh with the 49ers since 2011 and also spent a year with Harbaugh at San Diego in 2005. Morton is a Michigan native who played collegiately at Western Michigan. He was the wide receivers coach at USC from 2007-2008 and then was elevated to offensive coordinator from 2009-2011.


For more Michigan news, visit TheWolverine.com.


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News sport : Tomas Hertl takes puck to face while on bench, resumes smiling soon after (Video)

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Early in the third period of Monday night’s 3-2 San Jose Sharks victory over the Winnipeg Jets, Logan Couture cleared the puck out of the defensize zone and nailed Tomas Hertl in the face. The only thing here was that Hertl was on the bench at the time:



After being tended to, Hertl left the ice and did not return to the game, so he was left to watch and celebrate Marc-Edouard Vlasic’s game-winner by himself in the dressing room.


According to Sharks play-by-play man Randy Hahn, Hertl was fine, and only suffered a cut lip, as seen on CSN Bay Area, which also caught the fact that he’s never without a smile:



Fun must be always, as Hertl once said, even when taking a puck to the chops. How can anyone not love this kid?


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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!


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News sport : 2014 Driver Reviews: No. 11 Jimmie Johnson

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After doing exit interviews for Sprint Cup Series drivers in 2013, we're turning the tables. We want the drivers to sell themselves. So here are the resumés for all full-time Sprint Cup Series drivers in 2014. Then, at the end, we'll provide a summation of the driver's season in 150 words or less.


Name: Jimmie Johnson


NASCAR Experience: Six Sprint Cup titles. Speaks for itself, doesn't it?


Most recent team: Hendrick Motorsports


Most recent season finish: 11th


2014 accomplishments: Four wins, 11 top fives, 20 top 10 finishes and a Chase berth. And was the defending 2013 champion.


Most memorable moment: Because six titles overwhelms everything else, there will be a positive and a negative category. In the positive, it's the win at Michigan, which was a third win in four races and the first career win there.



In the negative, it's what happened at Kansas Speedway in the fall.



Strengths: Everything


2015 goals: Tie Richard Petty


FTM's Take: Even more than a month after the fact, it's jarring to see Jimmie Johnson this low in the standings, isn't it? Entering 2014, Johnson's lowest finish in the Cup standings had been sixth. Sixth!


But don't start with the "Jimmie-proofing" stuff when it comes to this Chase. Johnson's Chase was abysmal under any circumstances and he would have been near the bottom of a 10-race cumulative Chase. After finishing 40th at Kansas (and basically ending his Chase), he was 24th at Talladega two weeks later and then 32nd at Martinsville. He was 39th at Phoenix, too. Under the old Chase format Johnson would have finished 11th as well.


Are Johnson and the No. 48 team mortal? Of course they are. But we knew that, right? To borrow from the other sport in our coverage realm, there are a lot of similarities between Johnson and Florida State. Sometimes when the bad luck happens, it happens all at once and you can't do much to stop the slide.


Previous reviews: No. 12 Kurt Busch, No. 13 AJ Allmendinger, No. 14 Greg Biffle, No. 15 Kasey Kahne, No. 16 Aric Almirola, No. 17 Kyle Larson, No. 18, Jamie McMurray, No. 19 Clint Bowyer, No. 20, Austin Dillon, No. 21 Paul Menard, No. 22 Brian Vickers, No. 23 Marcos Ambrose, No. 24 Martin Truex Jr., No. 25 Tony Stewart, No. 26 Casey Mears, No. 27 Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 28, Danica Patrick, No. 29, Justin Allgaier, No. 30, David Gilliland, No. 31 Cole Whitt, No. 32 David Ragan, No. 33 Michael Annett, No. 34 Reed Sorenson, No. 35 Alex Bowman


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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!







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News sport : Snoop Dogg on NFL's return to Los Angeles: 'We need it. We deserve it.'

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Sep 14, 2014; Santa Clara, CA, USA; Music artist Snoop Dogg performs during the halftime show of the San Francisco 49erss vs Chicago Bears game at Levi's Stadium. (Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports) The NFL's return to Los Angeles is looking more likely now than at any time in the past two decades thanks to a new stadium deal. And according to at least one Los Angeles ambassador, that return is long overdue.


Snoop Dogg is making the promotional rounds for his new ESPN documentary "Snoop & Son," a story of his son's pursuit of high school football glory. On Monday night Snoop attended the premiere of the documentary at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta, and addressed the possibility of finally getting an NFL team back to L.A.


"We need it," Snoop told Yahoo Sports. "We need a football team. We're one of the biggest markets for football. We deserve it. Hopefully we'll get a great team to come and restore the feeling. All we've got right now is USC and UCLA."


The two likeliest candidates for relocation to Los Angeles are the Rams, whose owner is developing the stadium property, and the Raiders, who have flitted back and forth between Oakland and Los Angeles over their existence. Snoop's preference? Whichever one arrives.


"The Rams are rebuilding right now, so they might be the better bet," Snoop said. "The Raiders have been here before and it didn't work out. Either/or, it don't matter."


There you have it. The D-O-double-G has spoken. We'll have to wait a year or so to see how prophetic he is, however.


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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter.



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News sport : Oklahoma reportedly dismisses OC Josh Heupel

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Oklahoma is making staff changes after a disappointing 8-5 season.


The changes reportedly include offensive coordinator Josh Heupel, who will be fired according to SI.com and confirmed by the Tulsa World.



The changes are set to be announced at a press conference on Tuesday at 11 a.m. According to SoonerScoop, Stoops came back from vacation early to finalize changes and make the announcement.


Earlier in the week, co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach Jay Norvell was reportedly let go.


Heupel has served as Oklahoma's offensive coordinator for the past four seasons. The Sooners were 20th in points per game in 2014 and 23rd in yards per game. The Sooners scored just over 36 points per game and had nearly 465 yards per game at 6.41 yards per play.


The offense struggled in the final game of the season, a 40-6 loss in the Russell Athletic Bowl to Clemson. In all five losses in 2014, Oklahoma gave up at least 31 points. In three of those losses, the Sooners scored at least 30 points.


Heupel was Oklahoma's quarterback when the Sooners beat Florida State for the 2000 BCS Championship and finished second in the Heisman voting to the Seminoles' Chris Weinke that year. He served as Oklahoma's quarterbacks coach for seven seasons before becoming the offensive coordinator.


For more Oklahoma news, visit SoonerScoop.com.


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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!







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