Liverpool taking aim at United

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There is much more than simply local bragging rights at stake when Liverpool host Manchester United at Anfield.


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Manchester, England – It was only three months ago that Liverpool exited the Champions League at the group stage, was closer to the relegation zone than the top four in the Premier League, and their manager thought he was about to get fired.


Now, the Reds are the in-form side in England, Brendan Rodgers is being praised for his tactical acumen, and the team is one win away from a return to the Champions League qualification places.


To make it even sweeter for Liverpool, that win could come on Sunday against their fiercest rivals, Manchester United.


Liverpool hosts Manchester United at Anfield in what is traditionally seen as the biggest game in English football - and there is much more than simply local bragging rights at stake.


Liverpool can supplant United in fourth place with a victory that would maintain their unbeaten run in the league since the teams last met, at Old Trafford on December 14. On that occasion, United won 3-0 and Liverpool was on the slide - a far cry from the one that almost won the Premier League last season.


It has made up a 10-point deficit to the top four since then - a “monumental” effort, according to Rodgers.


“We haven't done anything yet,” Rodgers said, “but from where we were at the start of the season, the intent that they have shown and the work they have had to put in to claw that back and to give ourselves a fighting chance, (it) is great.”


United come into the match on the back of probably their most impressive performance of the season, a 3-0 win over Tottenham. It was the kind of upbeat, dynamic display that manager Louis van Gaal had been waiting for. The question, with nine matches remaining, is: can United keep it up?


For a while, it seemed England's two most successful sides were fighting for one of the two final Champions League places, behind the top two of Chelsea and Manchester City.


However, second-place City is stumbling and is only a point clear of third-place Arsenal, two ahead of United and four ahead of fifth-place Liverpool. Even Chelsea is within sight of the chasing pack now, with the leaders seven points clear of Arsenal.


Chelsea visits Hull, Manchester City is at home to West Bromwich Albion and Arsenal is away to Newcastle.


Here are some things to know about the latest round of fixtures in England's top division:


Di Maria dilemma


United's best display of the season coincided with the absence of Angel Di Maria because of suspension.


So, Van Gaal has a big decision to make: Does he bring back a player that cost almost 60 million pounds ($88 million) - a British record fee - in the summer, or stick with Juan Mata, who impressed against Spurs in his first start since mid-January?


Campaign trail


Chelsea has a new gripe - apparently, the team isn't being awarded enough penalties.


Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has spoken of a “clear campaign” against his side this season, a complaint that earned him a fine of 25,000 pounds (then $38,000) in January.


Now, the leaders have addressed the “abnormally low” number of penalties they have received, in an article on the club's website entitled “Penalty Puzzle.”


Chelsea earned seven penalties last season and 11 the season before. “This season's tally of two unquestionably bucks the recent trend,” the article says, “yet our position as clear league leaders and second-highest scorers suggests we can't be labelled anything other than an attacking side, spending plenty of time in the opposition box.”


Chelsea might be glad to be playing away this weekend - it has drawn three of its last four home games in the league, meaning that the team is creeping rather than powering to the title.


Advocaat’s debut


Dick Advocaat takes charge of his first match as Sunderland manager when his new team visits West Ham on Saturday. The experienced Dutchman replaced Gus Poyet, who was fired on Monday as Sunderland slips toward the relegation zone. Sunderland is a point and a place above the bottom three.


It is perhaps an ideal start for Advocaat - West Ham is winless in its last eight games in all competitions. – Sapa-AP






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News sport : Vikings won't release Adrian Peterson, his agent says

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The agent for Adrian Peterson says the Minnesota Vikings do not plan to release the All Pro running back.

Peterson’s agent, Ben Dogra, told Fox Sports that general manager Rick Spielman informed him of the Vikings’ decision on Wednesday.


“It was important for me to relay the position the Vikings are taking to Adrian,” Dogra said. “I want to make sure there is absolutely no confusion whatsoever.”


Peterson, the 2012 NFL MVP, met with team owners Mark and Zygi Wolf and Spielman earlier this week and has voiced concerns about returning to the team for the 2015 season.


Peterson said last month that he is “uneasy” about rejoining Minnesota (the team wants to keep him) after the team put him on the commissioner’s exempt list in September. That decision from the Vikings stemmed from a grand jury indicting Peterson on child abuse charges.


Peterson later pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor reckless injury charge in November for using a switch to discipline his four-year-old son. The NFL then suspended Peterson for the rest of the season. Peterson was later reinstated to the league on Feb. 26 when a federal judge ruled that his suspension should be vacated. When the suspension was vacated, the league put Peterson back on the commissioner’s exempt list.


Peterson still has three years remaining on his six-year, $96 million contract with the Vikings and is owed $12.75 million for the 2015 season. Since the Vikings won’t release him, the possibility of a trade could emerge if Peterson does not agree to return to the team.


Peterson, who will turn 30 on Saturday, has spent his entire career in Minnesota since the team drafted him seventh overall in 2007. In parts of eight seasons, Peterson has accumulated 10,190 yards and 86 touchdowns rushing. He also has 208 catches for 1,715 yards and five scores in his career.


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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 : Dolphins don't match Bills' offer sheet on TE Charles Clay

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The Miami Dolphins are not using their full allotment of five days. They have opted not to match the offer sheet signed by the Buffalo Bills and tight end Charles Clay.


Clay now will be a member of the Bills and yet another key addition to an offense that has imported several new projected starters as new head coach Rex Ryan and his staff continue to overhaul the team.


You'd have to expect that Clay — who signed for five years and $38 million ($20 million of it guaranteed) — will be a key contributor in a Bills' passing game that too often was dormant a year ago. But factor in Clay, Sammy Watkins, Robert Woods, LeSean McCoy and Percy Harvin, and the Bills' pass-catching options are quite interesting, even if Matt Cassel might be the one throwing them passes.


In an injury-plagued 2014 season, Clay was somewhat limited in catching 58 passes for 603 yards and three touchdowns. Even in his best season in 2013, though, Clay caught 69 passes for 759 yards and six touchdowns. What Ryan might like best about Clay is that he showed toughness last season in playing 14 games through pain, improved as a run blocker and is still ascending at age 26.


The Dolphins clearly didn't feel the need to match that massive offer for Clay, a player they liked but likely didn't love at that price. They also have free-agent signing Jordan Cameron, who will replace Clay's pass-catching role, and Dion Sims, a young player with upside. The Dolphins also could draft another tight end.


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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!






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News sport : Jim Boeheim calls the penalties against Syracuse 'unduly harsh'

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The best day on the college basketball calendar began with the equivalent of a trip to the dentist's office.


Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim hijacked the first day of the NCAA tournament with a 45-minute filibuster of a news conference Thursday morning in which he addressed the sanctions levied against him and his program for the first time.


Boeheim called the penalties from handed down by the NCAA two weeks ago "unduly harsh" and reiterated that he intends to appeal them. He also bemoaned that his side of the story was "disregarded by enforcement staff, insisting that he had no personal involvement in any of the violations and attacking the NCAA's assertion that he did not promote an atmosphere of compliance within his program.


"This could not be further from the truth," Boeheim said.


The NCAA suspended Boeheim for the first nine games of the ACC season next year, vacated more than 100 of his victories and took away 12 scholarships from the Syracuse men's basketball program over the next four years. The penalties followed a multiyear investigation that uncovered everything from academic misconduct, to impermissible benefits from boosters, to drug testing policy violations.


Syracuse announced Wednesday that its athletic director Daryl Gross had stepped down and that Boeheim intends to retire in three years. In doing so, the school essentially allowed the man overseeing the basketball program to leave on his own terms but made his boss the fall guy.


Boeheim addressed his impending retirement Thursday, calling three years "a long time" and saying that he could only guarantee he'd coach next season. The 70-year-old coach said he might have retired after Syracuse reached the 2013 Final Four were it not for the ongoing investigation into his program.


"There's no way that I would ever run away from an investigation in progress," he said. "Other than my family, this is the focus of my life."


Syracuse assistant coach Mike Hopkins has previously been acknowledged as Boeheim's successor at Syracuse, but that plan appears to be in doubt at this point. Hopkins has interviewed for a handful of other jobs the past few years and Syracuse chancellor Kent Syverud told the Post-Standard that he was not ready to address whether Hopkins would be the next coach.


While Boeheim said, "I fervently hope that he will be the coach here," he also acknowledged that it will not be his decision.


If Syracuse chooses to hire from the outside when Boeheim leaves, the timing is not ideal. Prominent coaches who already would be wary of following a legend at Syracuse might be more reluctant to do so while scholarship restrictions were still in place.


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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!







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News sport : Columbia, Mo. police close Sasha Menu Courey case

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The Columbia (Mo.) Police Department has closed the case involving the alleged sexual assault of a former Missouri swimmer.


Sasha Menu Courey committed suicide in June 2011, about 16 months after she said she was allegedly sexually assaulted in February 2010. She had believed her alleged attacker was a member of the Missouri football team.


In a statement released Wednesday, Columbia police said that "after a year of following leads, reviewing evidence, and taking multiple statements, CPD detectives have been unable to identify a suspect in this case."


The case was assigned to a detective after a January 2014 report by ESPN's Outside the Lines that said the university didn't take steps to investigate the alleged incident. ESPN cited records that said a rape crisis counselor, a campus therapist and two doctors knew about the allegation and, according to Menu Courey's journal, so did a member of Missouri's athletic department.


Missouri countered the report by saying Menu Courey chose not to report the allegations to law enforcement and that healthcare workers are bound by privacy and confidentiality laws. A spokesperson also said the university hadn't received family authorization to access her medical records nor had it heard back from her parents regarding their wishes for an investigation.


An independent investigation after the OTL report criticized Missouri's (lack of an) investigation. It said the school should have launched an investigation in November of 2012 and that the school "acted inconsistently" with Title IX requirements.


The police department statement cited four obstacles in the case: the alleged victim is deceased, no forensic evidence exists along with chain of custody issues with Menu Courey's phone and computer, that much of the information obtained from witnesses is hearsay and "there is no information available to clearly establish that this person actually committed the act."


The police statement also included details from an interview with former Missouri football player Rolandis Woodland, who said he received a tape of the alleged incident in the mail from Menu Courey before her death.



Rolandis stated that he did not know that Sasha had been sexually assaulted until after her death. Rolandis stated that immediately after her death, he received a package from Sasha that was sent while she was in a treatment facility in Boston, MA. He advised he felt she sent the package just before committing suicide. Rolandis said that the package contained two letters and a CD. Rolandis said in one letter, she described her feelings for him. He said that in the other letter, she described the sexual assault incident and asked that he not disclose the details to anyone. Rolandis stated that the CD contained video footage of the assault.



You can view the complete statement here.


Menu Courey's parents responded to the police statement and questioned why police destroyed some of her belongings after investigating a previous suicide attempt by Menu Courey in a Columbia hotel in April 2011.


From the Kansas City Star:



Menu Courey’s parents requested their daughter’s personal effects after her death in June 2011, and several items were returned roughly a month later, Menu said.




During the course of the Columbia police investigation, Menu Courey’s parents learned that items logged as evidence from that April 2011 suicide attempt were not returned.




Those items, including a 10-day journal and a five-page suicide note, were subsequently destroyed by Columbia police.



According to the Star, a police official is working with her family to "clarify" what happened with Menu Courey's destroyed belongings.


“There could have been really relevant information,” her father Mike Menu told the Star. “The journal, we suspect — and we don’t know, because we’ve never seen it, but we suspect — was related to her stay at MU’s hospital.


“That’s also a pretty substantial note, which we didn’t see either. What was in there? A person that killed themselves, you don’t know what they might have divulged in there, but there could definitely be something to look into.


“We felt like that, at the very least, should be mentioned as an obstacle, but it wasn’t even mentioned. I think that’s more important than the fact that our daughter’s computer had been accessed since her death when we opened it a couple times to read her journal.”


For more Missouri news, visit PowerMizzou.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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News sport : South Carolina's Larenz Bryant sidelined with liver injury

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South Carolina LB Larenz Bryant is out for the rest of spring practice with what the team called a "low-grade liver injury."


According to a statement from South Carolina, Bryant was taken to a hospital after the incident during Tuesday's practice and was held overnight for observation. He's expected to make a full recovery.


Per GamecockCentral.com, Bryant sustained a lacerated liver during a collision with safety Chris Moody and was tended to by South Carolina's training staff on the field for a "good while" before he was taken to the hospital.


Bryant is expected to contend for a starting position at outside linebacker for the Gamecocks. In 12 games last year he had three tackles and a sack. South Carolina's defense looks to make a big bounceback after a porous 2014 campaign.


The Gamecocks were one of the worst defensive teams in the SEC and have transitioned from a 3-4 set to a 4-3 in 2015. In Tuesday's first practice of the spring, the defense was in both a 4-3 and 4-2-5 look and will likely alternate between the two primary alignments based off an opponent's offensive style.


For more South Carolina news, visit GamecockCentral.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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News sport : What were the greatest upsets in NCAA tournament history?

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What's the greatest upset in NCAA tournament history? Villanova over Georgetown? Texas Western over Kentucky? Mercer over Duke? The great thing about the NCAA tournament is that there's the possibility of an amazing upset with virtually every tip-off. Here, we take a look back at some of the best.


[DraftKings: Free $25,000 March Madness Fantasy Basketball Contest]


This is part of Yahoo Sports' Grandstanding series, in which Jay Busbee and Kevin Kaduk kick around a range of sports topics with some of sports' most notable figures. For the NCAA tournament, they chatted with Kentucky's Jamal Mashburn and Loyola-Marymount's Bo Kimble on a range of topics, including upsets. Check it out here:



Subscribe to the Grandstanding podcast via iTunes right here, or via other podcast feeds right here. Hit us up on Twitter (@kevinkaduk and @jaybusbee) Facebook (Kaduk here, Busbee here) or via the hashtag #grandstanding. Thanks for checking it out!


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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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Kane named in England squad

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Striker Harry Kane has been called up by England for the first time after a rapid rise from the fringes of Tottenham's squad.


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London – Striker Harry Kane has been called up by England for the first time after a rapid rise from the fringes of Tottenham's squad to becoming a key component of the team.


The 21-year-old Kane has scored 26 goals in 42 games so far in his breakthrough season at Tottenham, and was voted Premier League player of the month in January and February.


Kane will be hoping to make his England debut in the European Championship qualifier against Lithuania next Friday or the friendly in Italy four days later. He will be competing for a starting spot up front in Roy Hodgson's team alongside captain Wayne Rooney, Daniel Sturridge and Danny Welbeck


Only Diego Costa of Chelsea and Manchester City's Sergio Aguero have scored more goals than Kane in the league.– Sapa-AP






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England’s fall from grace

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The blanket failure of Premier League clubs in the Champions League has left England looking like Europe's poor relation.


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Despite their new £5.1 billion ($7.8 billion, 6.9 billion euros) television rights deal, the blanket failure of Premier League clubs in the Champions League has left England looking like Europe's poor relation.


After Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal fell, Manchester City's elimination by Barcelona on Wednesday left England with no quarter-final representatives in Europe's elite club competition for the second time in three years.


For a country that supplied three of the four semi-finalists in 2007, 2008 and 2009 -- and eight of the 16 finalists between 2005 and 2012 – it appears to represent a startling fall from grace.


And with Hull City, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur having all fallen short in the Europa League, Everton were the last English team still standing in Europe prior to the second leg of their last 16 tie against Dynamo Kiev on Thursday.


In the Champions League, English clubs have acquired an unfortunate queasiness about progressing beyond the last 16.


Since 2009-10, 18 of the Premier League's 24 participants have made it past the group phase, but only eight have progressed to the quarter-finals and only three have gone on to reach the last four.


Attempts to explain the malaise have fallen back on old concerns about England's draining mid-season schedule, which once moved UEFA president Michel Platini to observe that English clubs were “lions in the winter, but lambs in the spring”.


“This round (of 16) is particularly difficult for English teams,” City manager Manuel Pellegrini told The Guardian this week. “Not having a winter break gives other leagues' teams an advantage.


“Boxing Day is non-negotiable, a wonderful tradition, and changing it would be absurd, but you can't play nine games in December and nine in January. It's a heavy load.”


But although the jam-packed festive programme undoubtedly takes a toll, English teams have not played signficantly more games than their continental opponents.


Chelsea have played 44 games this season – one fewer than Paris Saint-Germain, the team who eliminated them from the Champions League. Arsenal have played 45 times to Monaco's 44 and City 42 times to Barcelona's 44.


Besides, the Christmas schedule did not appear to be an encumbrance during England's 2004-2009 continental peak.


For others, the explanations lie elsewhere, with former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher claiming the Premier League's vast wealth has allowed sloppiness to creep into clubs' recruitment practices.


“With the new TV deal, the clubs get a lot of money,” he said. “You can bring a player in, but if it doesn't quite work out, you still have the money to bring another in.”


Any evaluation of the English teams' woes in this season's Champions League must, however, also take into account the major club-specific failings that led to each side's elimination.


Chelsea showed complacency by electing not to press home their advantage following the dismissal of PSG's Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the second leg of their last 16 tie, enabling the French champions to claim a 2-2 draw that sent them through on away goals.


Arsenal paid the price for kamikaze attacking -- a habitual failing -- in their 3-1 first-leg loss to Monaco, while in setting City out in a porous 4-4-2 formation, Pellegrini allowed Barcelona to take control of their tie with a 2-1 first-leg win.


Success is also cyclical, and with Manchester United currently in transition following legendary former manager Alex Ferguson's retirement, England have lost their dominant European force of the last 20 years.


According to Steven Gerrard, who saw Liverpool bounce back from a fourth-round Uefa Cup exit in 2004 to win the Champions League the following season, it is too soon for soul-searching.


“I don't think it has been our year, but I don't think it is a crisis,” said the Liverpool captain.


“It has happened before where teams have gone out early and then come back the next year and won it. It's not a major problem. It's just that this season, English teams have not been good enough.” – AFP






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Writing on the wall for Pellegrini

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If Manchester City want to dominate Europe, in a way that Barcelona did when they won the Champions League in 2009 and 2011, then Manuel Pellegrini is not their man.


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The art of management is to create an aura, to brainwash the players into believing that they have the beating of a team every bit as good as Barcelona.


It is to inspire, to send them out into the tunnel ahead of kick off to look down their noses at Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, Neymar and Luis Suarez.


Out on the training pitches, the role of Manchester City’s manager is to come up with a plan to squeeze the pips out of his players over two legs in order to beat one of the best teams we have ever seen.


So far, at the elite level of European competition, Manuel Pellegrini has come up short.


Not once, but every single time.


The temptation for the money men at Manchester City is to wave a wad of cash at Pep Guardiola and ask him to start over at this club.


City spilt their guts here, exposing themselves on one of the biggest stages in European football. It was not a pretty sight.


Guardiola, in the stands to watch his former club Barcelona outclass City, has it all sewn up as Bayern Munich head into the quarter-finals of the Champions League.


He is not coming any time soon.


If Manchester City want to dominate Europe, in a way that Barcelona did when they won the Champions League in 2009 and 2011, then Pellegrini is not their man. That much is clear.


City need innovation, a man with the stature and the confidence to redevelop this team and take them to the next level.


Clearly there is a decision to be made at the highest level of the club at the end of the season because there is evidence that they are starting to regress.


Last season they won the Barclays Premier League and carted off the Capital One Cup, when they beat Sunderland at Wembley. This year they will be empty handed.


The job of a manager at a club of City’s standing is to provide the players with the coaching and tactical acumen to test the very best teams. Pellegrini is not doing that.


He has not beaten Barcelona since 2008, a dreadful record for a man who previously coached Real Madrid and has been given the backing to spend some major money recruiting players at City.


The job now is to motivate the players to finish in the top four, to galvanise them this weekend against Tony Pulis and his West Brom team.


There was a brief moment last night, in between the shocking ill-discipline among his players, when Pellegrini ventured towards the edge of City’s technical area.


They were being fried alive at the time, barely able to get a touch of the ball after Ivan Rakitic had left Yaya Toure behind to score Barcelona’s goal.


Pellegrini waved at his players, ushering them into Barcelona’s half in a lame attempt to provide them with some inspiration. It was an empty gesture.


Every time they crossed that halfway line after the midway point of the first half, they lost possession and allowed Messi to drift across City’s entire back four.


There is a reason Messi is the three-time winner of the Ballon d’Or — and it is down to the coach to provide the solution for his players. Hacking him to bits is not one of them.


City could take a chainsaw to this squad in the summer and it still feels like a team that needs to be rebuilt under another manager.


They scored more than 150 goals in all competitions last season, winning friends along the way with their freedom and their ability to outscore the opposition.


Here in the Nou Camp they surrendered again, failing to come up with a masterplan to stop Iniesta and Rakitic dictating the tempo from the centre of midfield.


From there the pair sprayed everything wide, feeding Messi or Neymar to wreak havoc.


These guys are playing at an elite level.


City’s owners out in Abu Dhabi will want answers, a natural consequence of another premature elimination from the Champions League.


To Pellegrini’s credit he is always unmoved by the speculation about his future. But after this it has to be right at the top of the agenda. – Daily Mail






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News sport : Giancarlo Stanton smashes first home run wearing protective guard

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New-look helmet, same Giancarlo Stanton.


Sporting the protective guard he plans to wear all season, the Miami Marlins slugger got back to what he does best on Wednesday: smashing home runs.


Stanton hit his first dinger since being hit in the face with a fastball on Sept. 11 and suffering several facial fractures. He did it in style too, going opposite-field off Nationals right-hander Casey Janssen in the sixth inning of Miami's 5-4 Grapefruit League win.


[Yahoo Sports Fantasy Baseball: Sign up and join a league today!]


"Today was a good day, obviously, in terms of timing and barrel placement," Stanton said after the game. "It's where I want it to be."


The towering shot looked just as sweet from the dugout as it did from the batter's box.


''He looks great,'' added Marlins manager Mike Redmond. ''He looks confident. His swings look good."


You can't ask for anything more than that. One of the game's premier power hitters is sending balls over the outfield wall again and there should be many more to come this season.


More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:





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Israel Fehr is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him at israelfehr@yahoo.ca or follow him on Twitter.






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Arsenal miles behind top clubs

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Per Mertesacker had to admit that the prospect of ever winning the European Cup was a distant dream for Arsenal as they came to terms with another early exit.


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Per Mertesacker had to admit that the prospect of ever winning the European Cup was a distant dream for Arsenal as they came to terms with another early exit.


Arsenal won 2-0 in Monaco on Tuesday but lost the first leg 3-1 in London and went out on away goals. Arsene Wenger was downbeat and introspective after the game as he tried to sum up the disappointment of a fifth successive campaign ending in the first knockout round.


The Arsenal boss claimed flippantly that it might be better to finish third in the group and drop into the Europa League than keep losing in the last 16. His captain was equally sombre when asked how far this team was from seriously competing for the top prize. ‘Far,’ said Mertesacker. ‘Monaco were very under- estimated. But they deserved it by playing well in the first leg. We had one bad game and that was enough to get knocked out. We were missing some good fortune but we didn’t deserve it because we played so poorly in the first leg.


‘It’s difficult after such a good performance to look back and think that in the first game we missed that mental level you need to compete at the highest level. You can see how good we are as a team and how well organised we can be. We need to consider that every single day in training and in games. That’s why we are so far away.’


Wenger said: ‘Maybe it would be better not to pass the group phase and play the Europa League than to be eliminated in the last 16. We would have more chances to win a title.’


The Arsenal manager insisted this was meant to be a comment about the abrupt and unforgiving nature of the Champions League in its knockout phase rather than a serious realignment of ambitions.


Wenger’s team have won 13 of their last 15 games and are third in the Barclays Premier League. Aaron Ramsey thinks they can catch Manchester City and finish even higher.


‘The top two is within our grasp,’ said Ramsey. ‘It’s only one point and anything can happen. We still have the FA Cup to go... we’re still on for a successful season.


‘We’re more than capable of beating anyone and it’s a case of being more wise over two games in Europe. Hopefully if we get a chance next year we can put that right.’ – Daily Mail






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News sport : Watch Jonathan Quick get out his anger to Limp Bizkit's 'Break Stuff'

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Those of us that grew up in the late 90's, early 00's, may not like to admit we listened to Limp Bizkit, but most of us did. Of their handful of songs that get annoyingly stuck in your head for weeks on end, 'Break Stuff' was one of the top offenders.


Prepare to get it stuck in your head once again, as you watch two-time Stanley Cup winner, Kings netminder, and possibly the angriest person in the NHL, Jonathan Quick, do exactly as the song says, and 'Break Stuff':



Perfect. Just perfect.


(s/t @PeteBlackburn)


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Jen Neale is a staff writer for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow her on Twitter!










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News sport : NHL Three Stars: Darling earns first NHL shut-out; Kesler knocks off Kings in OT

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No. 1 Star: Brad Richards, Chicago Blackhawks


Richards, in his first season with the Blackhawks, gave a big old F-YOU to the team that bought him out in the off-season, the New York Rangers. He scores a beautiful, patient goal on Cam Talbot to win the game for Chicago and end New York's 5-game win streak.





No. 2 Star: Ryan Kesler, Anaheim Ducks


Needing just 45-seconds in the overtime frame, Kesler scores the game winning goal after Hampus Lindholm sets the pick on Drew Doughty.





No. 3 Star: Curtis McElhinney, Columbus Blue Jackets


Getting the start against the Oilers, the Jackets netminder stopped 44 shots in regulation and overtime, and 2 of 3 in the shoot-out.


Honorable Mention: Cam Talbot made 30 saves for the Rangers in the loss. Scott Darling recorded his first ever NHL shut-out with 25 saves. Here's one of his best of the night on the always dangerous Rick Nash:





... Who knew it would be the addition of Derek Roy to Edmonton's roster that would reinvigorate Nail Yakupov? Yakupov assisted on Roy's power play goal to bring the Oil within one of Columbus. Later it was Yakupov again to put Edmonton ahead by one before Mark Letestu tied it up 54 seconds later ... The Ducks had scored 2 straight goals in the third period when Justin Williams scored the game tying goal against Anaheim with 4:14 left. Earlier in the game, Dustin Brown did what a lot of the NHL wants to do - lay Corey Perry flat on his, err, tail-feathers:





Did You Know? With a goal against Columbus, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins reached the 20-goal plateau for the first time in his NHL career.


Dishonorable Mention: Kris Versteeg was a healthy scratch for Chicago. The Rangers had 2 goals disallowed in the game ... After Jakob Silfverberg put the Ducks ahead of the Kings, Jonathan Quick slightly berserk. He thinks he should have gotten a call here. What do you think?





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Jen Neale is a staff writer for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow her on Twitter!










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Chelsea bemoan lack of penalties

♠ Posted by channel-top-news in ,,,,,,,,,,,

Chelsea's tally of two penalties in 28 Premier League games this season “seems abnormally low”, the runaway leaders said


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London - Chelsea's tally of two penalties in 28 Premier League games this season “seems abnormally low”, the runaway leaders said.


Appearing to back up manager Jose Mourinho's belief that there is a 'campaign' against his players, the Stamford Bridge outfit said the spot-kick count “unquestionably bucks the recent trend”.


“Our position as clear league leaders and second highest scorers suggests we can't be labelled anything other than an attacking side, spending plenty of time in the opposition box,” the club said on their website (www.chelseafc.com).


“Our two closest challengers in the Premier League this season, Manchester City and Arsenal, have both been awarded seven penalties, the most in the division. City have only scored one more goal than Chelsea (58) and Arsenal two less.


“Last term the two teams that finished above us, Man City and Liverpool, were awarded more penalties than any other team bar us.


“Of course it could be that when teams have played the league leaders they have been particularly careful inside their own area. We all have plenty of recollections suggesting this is not the case however.”


The previous lowest penalty count for Chelsea in the last six league seasons was the five they were awarded in 2011-12.


The club also bemoaned the fact that the last spot-kick they were awarded in the league was four and a half months ago.


“From the first half of our very first league game at Burnley, a number of key penalty box decisions have not gone our way,” said Chelsea.


“Diego Costa was the victim that evening after being felled trying to round the keeper. He should have been awarded penalties against Liverpool and Paris St Germain recently too.”


Chelsea, who are six points clear of second-placed City with a game in hand, visit Hull City on Sunday. – Reuters






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