News sport : Matt Kenseth wins pole at Bristol

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Matt Kenseth's streak of fast cars at Bristol is continuing.


Kenseth won his second career pole at the half-mile track on Friday, beating out Brad Keselowski for the top spot.


While Kenseth's last pole came in 2005, he's been very good at Bristol in recent years, even if his finishes don't completely show it. Kenseth has led laps in the last seven Bristol races and had one of the best cars in last yea's spring race despite sustaining damage early in the race after he was run into from behind.


Carl Edwards, winner of last year's race after an accidental pressing of the caution lights button and a fortuitously-timed rain shower, qualified third. Kevin Harvick was fourth while Denny Hamlin was fifth. David Ragan, teammate to Kenseth, Edwards and Hamlin, qualified 11th.


Joey Logano, Kurt Busch and Kasey Kahne rounded out the top eight, which means the first four rows for Sunday's race are filled with drivers who have previously won at Bristol.


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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 : Did Seahawks GM insinuate letting Russell Wilson leave is an option?

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(AP)

The thought was that once Russell Wilson could sign a huge contract extension with the Seattle Seahawks, he would.


Wilson has a 98.6 quarterback rating in three seasons. Seattle has won a Super Bowl with Wilson and only an incredible fourth quarter and New England Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler's great interception kept the Seahawks from winning a second.


Yet there's always been at least some question if Wilson is that good. The Seahawks have a great defense. Marshawn Lynch is the focus of the offense. And giving Wilson that massive contract would change the structure of the Seahawks, because he'd go from making one of the lowest salaries among starting quarterbacks to one of the highest. Seattle won in large part the past few years because its quarterback was cheap and they could use the excess money on other impact players. Wilson, a third-round pick in 2012, wasn't able to sign an extension until after his third season, per the collective-bargaining agreement.


But now the bill was due ... right?


An extension hasn't been signed yet and Seahawks general manager John Schneider had some odd comments to KIRO Radio in Seattle that made it sound like it's possible that Seattle won't give Wilson that deal. Here's what he said, via MyNorthwest.com and ESPN 710 Seattle:



"What I can tell you is that this is the ultimate team sport, we have a track record of rewarding our players that we recognize as core players," Schneider said. "We're going into our sixth draft now – I can't believe that; we've been here for a while now – but just that track record of being able to make those tough decisions. Every negotiation is unique in and of itself and this is no different. Ultimate team sport, he's our quarterback, we'd love him to be our quarterback. But the thing is, we need to keep as many of these guys together as we possibly can."



Tough decisions? Hmmm. To double down on the weirdness, Schneider mentioned having to make tough salary cap decisions in the past.



"I think you've seen over the last several years now a philosophy of competition at every position and trying to acquire as many players as you possibly can and to make it fit," Schneider said. "We've done this since Day 1. When we got here we had to make some very tough cap decisions with Cory Redding and Nate Burleson. They were two guys that we had a lot of respect for, but where we were on our cap at the time, we had to make decisions. And then we had a couple years without a cap and now we're back in a world with a salary cap and we need to be cognizant of that."



Let's be clear that Schneider's words are likely nothing more than your typical negotiating ploy (like, say, mentioning that you'd like to play baseball too). It's practically impossible to imagine the Seahawks not locking Wilson up to a contract extension that everyone figures he will get.


NFL teams don't let quarterbacks walk in their prime. The Chicago Bears, even though everyone who looked critically could tell Jay Cutler was an average starting NFL quarterback, still gave him one of the NFL's biggest contracts because that's just what NFL teams do. There's rarely any critical thinking when it comes to the quarterback position and its cost in regards to the cap. And even though the Seahawks are progressive, it would still be almost unprecedented if they didn't retain Wilson, who is entering the last year of his deal.


Wilson has been a highly productive and successful quarterback, and his arrival transformed the Seahawks into champions for the first time. He's just 26 years old. Realistically the Seahawks aren't going to let him go over salary-cap concerns. But it would be a heck of an interesting story if they did.


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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdowncorner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!






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News sport : Kareem Abdul-Jabbar undergoes quadruple coronary bypass surgery, is expected to recover

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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar underwent quadruple coronary bypass surgery on Thursday. The longtime Laker and all-time NBA leading scorer is expected to fully recover from the operation.


Abdul-Jabbar underwent the surgery after being admitted to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center earlier in the week. From a UCLA spokesman:



Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was admitted to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center this week with cardiovascular disease, and he underwent quadruple coronary bypass surgery on April 16. The operation was performed by Dr. Richard Shemin, UCLA’s chief of cardiac surgery.




Shemin said the surgery was successful and he expects Abdul-Jabbar to make a full recovery.




At this time, Abdul-Jabbar would like to thank his surgical team and the medical staff at UCLA, his alma mater, for the excellent care he has received. He is looking forward to getting back to his normal activities soon.




He asks that you keep him in your thoughts and, most importantly, cherish and live each day to its fullest.




For those wanting to send well wishes, he thanks you in advance and asks that you support those in your own community who may be suffering from various health issues.



Abdul-Jabbar led the UCLA Bruins to three NCAA titles. After moving on to the NBA, Abdul-Jabbar was the focal point of the Milwaukee Bucks’ 1971 NBA championship team. Following a trade to the Los Angeles Lakers in 1975, Kareem eventually teamed with Magic Johnson to win five more titles.


Playing until the age of 42, Abdul-Jabbar finished his storied career with 38,387 points, an NBA record that only Karl Malone (36,928) and Kobe Bryant (32,482 and counting) and Michael Jordan (32, 292) have come close to challenging. Abdul-Jabbar won six NBA MVPs, the all-time record as well, and he made the All-Star team in all but one (after missing an early chunk of the 1977-78 season after a fight with Milwaukee’s Kent Benson) of his 20 NBA seasons.


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Kareem has followed literary, acting and coaching pursuits in the years since retiring from the NBA in 1989. Frustrated at a lack of NBA head coaching job offers, the former Clippers and Lakers assistant coach gave up on his post-playing dream of getting to lead an NBA team several years ago. He successfully battled leukemia in 2009.


The surgery took place on Kareem’s 68th birthday. As he recovers, UCLA announced that Abdul-Jabbar will not giving public updates to the press while on the mend. All of us at Ball Don’t Lie and Yahoo Sports send our best wishes to The Captain.


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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!






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News sport : Big Ten pens paper discussing idea of freshman ineligibility

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The Big Ten isn't backing down from its stance that freshmen should be ineligible.


The league released a 12-page paper on Friday titled "Education First, Athletics Second: The Time for a National Discussion is Upon Us" that elaborated on a possible recommendation of potential freshman ineligibility for football and men's basketball players.


The league made sure to explicitly say that the idea was not a proposal. Rather it portrayed it as an examination of the current state of the main revenue-producing college sports. It cited the O'Bannon lawsuit and the efforts at Northwestern to unionize, two movements that highlighted the revenue and attention that athletes bring in to universities. It also called the NCAA a "house of cards" if education was not prioritized among athletes and cited data that said football and men's basketball were last in academic progress and graduation rate.


You can view the entire paper here.



Despite the good intentions, it must be acknowledged that a shortcoming of adopting a year of readiness in football and men’s basketball is that to do so would treat student-athletes in those sports differently than student-athletes in other sports. Notwithstanding the fact that there already are eligibility rules that treat football and men’s basketball student-athletes differently than student-athletes in other sports (9-hour rule in football; transfer restrictions in both sports), such an eventuality would have to be acknowledged when considering any idea for addressing the imbalance present in football and men’s basketball. At the same time, any shortcoming associated with maintaining the status quo must also be acknowledged. If we are comfortable that the current system is providing an adequate educational experience to student-athletes in football and men’s basketball at a level commensurate with what is being asked of them athletically, we should not change course. On the other hand, if maintaining the status quo presents a greater risk, then we should be open to changing course, even if it requires treating football and men’s basketball differently than other sports..



The "year of readiness," per the Big Ten's paper, would also give players the option of heading to the professional ranks immediately out of high school. While it certainly presents a solution for those who lament players going to college for a season and declaring for the NBA draft, it's not a feasible option for the NFL without a radical shakeup of the league's format. Few, if any, NFL teams would risk a roster spot on an 18-year-old kid if high schoolers were eligible for the NFL draft.


A year of readiness is responsive to the issues that are not purely academic in nature. First and foremost, requiring a year of readiness would make clear to prospects that they have a choice. On one hand, they would be free to pursue their sport as a vocation, where development in the sport is their primary—if not sole—objective. To the extent such avenues are limited in the sports of football and men’s basketball, it is the responsibility of the professional leagues in those sports to provide such opportunities. It is not the
responsibility of intercollegiate athletics to serve as professional minor leagues in any sport.


On the other hand, prospects would be free to choose intercollegiate athletics with the understanding that participation in athletics is incidental to a long-term educational commitment, not the primary purpose for attending college. Specifically, the year of readiness would allow student-athletes to have a year ofassimilation to campus life before worrying about competition and the pressures and scrutiny that would follow. Provided the year of readiness were accompanied by corresponding limitations on required>athletically related activities (e.g., no travel to away contests), it would provide an opportunity for these individuals to be students before being asked to compete.

The purpose of the paper was for a "national discussion," something the league also mentioned in February when the idea was first brought up. The paper is fairly self-aware and addresses criticisms of the idea while openly admitting the move to make freshmen eligible in 1972 was motivated by financial gain.


The motivations behind the initial move are why going back to the old system of freshman ineligibility is quite the long shot. You shouldn't expect to see Kentucky's basketball recruiting style drastically change or players like LSU RB Leonard Fournette have to sit out for a season anytime soon.


While the educational wellbeing of football and men's basketball athletes may truly be at the center of this letter, it's not hard to wonder if the only reason the topic is being discussed is because the NCAA's revenue-producing model is being challenged and open to change. Poor academic performance among athletes in the two sports isn't a brand-new development, and if academics are indeed a priority, this is likely just one of many proposals we'll see in the coming months and years to change the NCAA's current structure.


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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 : Maryland RB Reid, DB Dancel decide to transfer

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October 6, 2012; College Park, MD, USA; Maryland Terrapins running back Albert Reid (5) runs past Wake Forest Demon Deacons linebacker Riley Haynes (45) and safety A.J. Marshall (17) at Byrd Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mitch Stringer-USA TODAY Sports Maryland granted releases for two seniors on Friday.


The school announced that both running back Albert Reid and safety Zach Dancel will transfer out of the program and pursue graduate transfers for the 2015 season. Both players are expected to be immediately eligible.


According to the Washington Post, Dancel is on track to graduate from Maryland in May while Reid will earn his degree later in the summer.


Reid has competed in a crowded Terps backfield throughout the spring but was not expected to see many carries when the season rolled around behind senior Brandon Ross, junior Wes Brown and sophomore Jacquille Veii.


Reid appeared in 25 total games in his first two seasons, but saw action in only four games as a junior after going down with a knee injury. Overall in three seasons, Reid rushed for 447 yards and three touchdowns on 122 carries. Additionally, Reid had 15 catches for 129 yards and a score.


Dancel was taking reps with the second-team defense during the spring, but made the decision to move on to another program for the second time in his career. Dancel began his career at New Mexico and made eight starts with 32 tackles and an interception as a true freshman.


After sitting out in 2012 due to the NCAA’s transfer rules, Dancel appeared in 22 games for the Terps over the past two seasons mainly on special teams and registered 26 tackles.


The Terps went 7-6 last season – their first in the Big Ten.


For more Maryland news, visit TerrapinSportsReport.com.


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News sport : Mark Cuban on his beloved Rockets, save James Harden: 'That’s not a very good team'

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As it always is with Mark Cuban, there is a little bit of truth here, there’s a bit of bluster and there’s a righteous, knowing dig.


Just in time for the 2015 playoffs, with Cuban’s Dallas Mavericks set to take on the James Harden-led Houston Rockets, Cuban was asked to give his personal scouting report on Harden and his teammates by Grantland’s Kirk Goldsberry:



“[The biggest difference is] practice time. There’s no more predictable team than the Rockets. You know exactly what they’re gonna do,” he says. “But James Harden is so good. That’s what analytics have begot. Right? Predictability. If you know what the percentages are, in the playoffs, you have time to counter them. Whether you’re good enough to do it is another question. Because they are very talented, and James Harden, I think, is the MVP. Because that’s not a very good team over there.”



He gave Harden his MVP vote! In a tight race that Stephen Curry may have pulled ahead in, Harden could use all the help he could get! What better voice than Cuban’s, a man who inherited a perennial loser in 2000 before proceeding to act as the top-of-the-fish leader of a club that has made the playoffs in 14 out of 15 full seasons in the years since?


Also, Mark Cuban hates the Houston Rockets. And the feeling is mutual, pal.


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Last fall Rockets general manager Daryl Morey went after Cuban after the Mavs owner spent months belittling the Rockets franchise following Dwight Howard’s free-agent decision (in choosing a younger Houston team over Dallas) and Houston’s attempts to sign Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki when he hit free agency.


The enmity between the two camps intensified over the 2014 offseason when Cuban (after a gutsy and studied but ultimately frustrating few years of offseason whiffs) possibly overpaid former Rockets swingman Chandler Parsons (to the tune of three years and $46 million) when the Rockets took their own gutsy and studied but ultimately frustrating calculated risk on allowing him to hit restricted free agency.


In late September, Morey offered this in talking to Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski:



"We've been pretty good, and I think he's doing a smart thing to take on a rival," Morey told Yahoo Sports late Sunday. "He should want to beat up on San Antonio, too, but it's hard to paint the Spurs that way. So he's directed his bully pulpit onto us. Our owner stays above the fray, so I'm outgunned honestly.




"But let's be clear: If the money's equal between the Rockets and Mavericks, I think players are picking Houston. Every time. For Dwight [Howard], I just don't think it was a hard choice between us and Dallas. If you want to win, you're going to want to join our organization. We have a first-team All-NBA player in his prime [James Harden]. They have an enormously talented superstar [Dirk Nowitzki] but he obviously isn't 24 years old.




"The choice was pretty obvious between the two teams. Dwight is the smart guy in this."



For once.


The Rockets managed to top the Mavs by six wins in 2014-15 despite Howard playing exactly half the season, despite Patrick Beverley missing 26 games with a season-ending hand injury and despite being without contributors Josh Smith and Corey Brewer for the first chunk of the season. Donatas Motiejunas, who helped the Rockets circle the wagons in several different ways, will miss the postseason because of back woes. James Harden has done a masterful job with this team, and though most analysts’ personal MVP choices will likely give Stephen Curry the award, nobody can deny that Harden has had an MVP-level season that is well worth the hardware.


Cuban may be needling, and this interview came even prior to news about Motiejunas’s injury explanation, but he’s also not far off. Houston may currently be stocked full of unheralded contributors, but they’re not … they’re not great.


Most wouldn’t go as far as “not a very good team over there,” as Cuban did, but Howard has only been dominant (if that) in fits and spurts this season, Smith and Brewer are very specialized players who possibly could be coached out of a contest in a seven-game series up against a very good coach (the Mavericks, in Rick Carlisle, have one of the best), other contributors remain quite streaky. The Rockets finished only 12th in offense this season even with Harden turning a brilliant offensive turn. And Harden himself is coming off of a disappointing personal offensive turn in the 2014 postseason.


This is Cuban going aggressive/aggressive, though. Maybe toss in yet another “aggressive.”


He lauds Harden’s fantastic play, opines that the Rockets are easy to figure out because they’ll take the best percentage shot or make the most successful analytics-driven defensive decision, before calling out Harden’s supporting cast as “not very good.” Part of that cast, mind you, includes a man in Dwight Howard to whom Cuban attempted to throw a maximum contract less than two years ago.


Dallas may not have a great chance in this series. Nowitzki has rebounded of late, but we’re a day away from the postseason and nobody knows how Mavs guard Rajon Rondo is going to work with his teammates in a playoff setting, and Parsons himself (whom former teammate Howard called “the enemy” on Friday) is struggling with a sore right knee.


To hear Cuban tell it, his Carlisle-led crew can work as something bigger than the sum of its parts, eschewing predictability on its way toward a well-studied and well-practiced crew that can top any bit of robotic precision from Houston’s side.


Don’t listen to him. Dallas may win this series, but Cuban (who boasts one of the biggest analytics staffs in the NBA, if not the biggest, and has for years) himself knows these two teams are closer in style and substance than just about any other two teams in the NBA, much less two teams pairing up for the first round of the playoffs.


Why else would they hate each other so damn much?


More NBA coverage:



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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!






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News sport : Fan yells 'You suck' at Kris Bryant after his third strikeout

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(USA Today Sports)

One person in attendance Friday at Wrigley Field for Kris Bryant's first MLB game — we hesitate to call this dude a Chicago Cubs fan — had already grown sour of Bryant by the fifth inning.


Bryant notched his third strikeout of the game, waving at a cutter from James Shields. The Cubs had runners at second and third base, so the disappointment was two-fold. Bryan, the young slugger entering the game with all the hype, just couldn't figure out Shields and that prompted heckling from at least one fan who yelled "You suck" at Bryant.


Judgment comes swift in The "Friendly" Confines.



Hear that? Loud enough that the TV audience could make it out clearly. That, of course, was probably the goal of the heckler — get some attention for himself on Kris Bryant day. Nothing we haven't seen before from a sports fan.


Despite the less-than-thrilling start to Bryant's career, people on the North Side were still quite happy to see Bryant in a Chicago uniform finally. He got plenty of cheers. One day isn't going to define Bryant's tenure with the Cubs, just like one fan yelling "You suck" doesn't reflect what all Cubs fans think of their top prospect.


BLS H/N: Fansided


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News sport : Adviser: Patriots knew of Aaron Hernandez's troubled history

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Aaron Hernandez during his rookie season with the New England Patriots. (Getty Images) When the New England Patriots drafted Aaron Hernandez in the fourth round of the 2010 NFL draft, they knew they were taking a gamble.


Hernandez's troubled past wasn't a complete mystery. He'd failed a drug test (or tests) at the University of Florida, and there were rumors about a thug life. So when the Patriots signed him to his rookie contract, the deal was structured so that "75 percent of the money in the contract set up so that he would only make it if he stayed out of trouble, didn’t miss meetings, was always there doing the right thing," according to a MMQB interview with Floyd Reese, a senior adviser with the team at the time Hernandez was drafted.


"And for the period of the original contract, he lived up to every bit of it. So it turned out well," Reese told MMQB. "Of course, after that, after he signed [his $40 million contract extension], things kind of went awry."


After he signed the $40 million contract extension?


Hernandez is actually accused of killing two people in a drive-by shooting that occurred a month before the Patriots signed him to that $40 million contract extension.


Kind of went awry?


Aside from the double-homicide charge he has yet to face, on Wednesday he was found guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Odin Lloyd.


Reese acknowledges the Patriots were aware Hernandez "had some issues" at Florida, but doesn't go into specifics. It's likely they knew of an alleged incident in 2007 when Hernandez, then just a 17-year-old incoming freshman, punched a bar employee in the head, bursting his eardrum. A police report was filed following the altercation, meaning knowledge of the incident likely would have turned up in any cursory background check.


There was also a psychological profile done before the 2010 draft that, according to the Wall Street Journal, indicated Hernandez enjoyed "living on the edge of acceptable behavior."


It's not clear if the Patriots had seen that report prior to drafting him – they refused comment to the Wall Street Journal – but what is clear is that they deemed him worth the gamble despite knowledge of a troubled history.


"It was just from our standpoint, we were getting a first-round talent in the fourth round under a contract that was going to keep him in line or it wasn't going to cost us a penny," Reese told MMQB.


Reese went on to say that Hernandez being drafted by a team located within a short drive of where he grew up (in a rough-and-tumble neighborhood of Bristol, Conn., outside of Hartford) may have contributed to his downfall.


"There were a lot of times where he would leave Foxboro [Mass., home of the Patriots] and drive back to Hartford so he could be with his guys," Reese explained.


"… The truth is, the vast majority of guys that have maybe had a tough upbringing, when you throw them into a great locker room, great organization, great place to play, they come out of it. They see the other side of it. 'Why would I ever want to go back to that other place?' The problem is you run into an Aaron Hernandez, who can't get there. He's comfortable back in Hartford … with all that trouble."


As of now, Hernandez is back in the Foxboro area, housed at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution – Cedar Junction, just a mile or so from Gillette Stadium.






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News sport : Matt Kenseth's son to run Xfinity race at Chicago for JGR

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A second Kenseth will be in a car for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2015.


Ross Kenseth, the son of 2003 Sprint Cup Series champion Matt Kenseth, will drive the team's No. 20 car in the Xfinity Series race at Chicago on Saturday, June 20.


"Ross has been working really hard to try to get a good opportunity," Matt Kenseth said Friday. "Certainly, I don't think the opportunity could be any better than this. I feel like the 20 is one of the best [Xfinity] cars out there this year with [crew chief Mike Wheeler] running that thing. It will be a great shot for him and really appreciate Joe (Gibbs) and everybody at JGR giving him that chance and everybody at Dollar General to jump on there and sponsor his first ever NASCAR start.


"It's exciting for me and it's an off-weekend so I'll be able to be there and be part of that. Looking forward to seeing how he does. It's a great shot and he's worked really hard for it. He's won a lot of big short track races and he's never going to be more ready for the opportunity than he is now."


Ross, 22 in May, has been driving late models and has made two career ARCA starts, one each in 2013 and 2014. He finished third in his start last season.


The opportunity, Matt said, came when Darrell Wallace Jr. left for Roush Fenway Racing. While Wallace's schedule for 2015 with JGR had never been defined, the team had said he would drive some Xfinity Series races.


JGR has also used multiple drivers in the No. 54 Xfinity car while Kyle Busch has been out with the broken leg and foot he suffered at Daytona. Erik Jones and Denny Hamlin have filled in so far and Boris Said will be in the car for seven races.


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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 : Experience a workout with South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier (Video)

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

South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier is in great shape for a man who turns 70 years old on Monday. Josh Kendall, the Gamecocks beat writer from The State, got an up close look at the Ol’ Ball Coach’s workout routine in the football team’s weight room.



The first thing you have to notice is that Spurrier wears a sweater vest (!!!) and a headband while he works out. The man means serious business. He also goes through an impressive variety of exercises.


Kendall gave us an idea of what the average Spurrier session looks like:



He does two sets of shoulder presses with barbells. Fifty with 15-pounders and 40 with 10-pounders. He does 200 shoulder shrugs with 30-pound barbells, two long sets of curls, 50 tricep extensions with a 25-pound barbell (I think it was 25 pounds; oxygen depletion may have affected my memory.) There are 100 toe raises with the 30-pound barbells; 22 minutes on the treadmill; 11 minutes on the stationary bike at a not-insignificant incline.



Spurrier says he thinks he’s in better shape now than he was when he won the Heisman Trophy as a quarterback at Florida in 1966.


“I work out more for sure,” Spurrier said.


Spurrier told Kendall that he works out six days a week during the season, but his routine isn’t as defined during the offseason due to travel.


Kendall said the “most impressive” aspect of Spurrier’s workout was his core work that includes 400 crunches on a medicine ball and a one-minute plank (which you see at the 1:12 mark in the video).


I’m tired just thinking about it.


Spurrier said his attention to working out his core has spared him from back surgery. Though some doctors still suggest it, Spurrier’s personal doctor told him, “Just keep doing what you’re doing.”


And then to cap the workout off, Spurrier asked Kendall to pose alongside him with his shirt off. Kendall was hesitant at first, but then came around.


“It’s never something I would normally do but I thought to myself, ‘How many times in your life do you get a chance to pose shirtless with Steve Spurrier?’ So what the heck,” Kendall said.



You made the right choice, Josh.


For more South Carolina news, visit GamecockCentral.com.


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Dutch footballer banned for biting

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An amateur player in the Netherlands has been banned for 10 games for biting after pictures of the mark he left were posted on his alleged victim's Facebook site.


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Amsterdam - An amateur player in the Netherlands has been banned for 10 games for biting after pictures of the mark he left were posted on his alleged victim's Facebook site.


Jerry van Staa of amateur club DETO was suspended by the Dutch FA (KNVB) after Thomas Smedema published a photo of the teeth marks left on his back.


“During the derby against DETO a player bit me in the back,” Smedema posted on his page. “A lowly and cowardly deed.


“His coach and the referee were not brave enough to take him off the field. Such a person has no place on the football field.”


Van Staa denied the accusation in a newspaper interview, saying he lost balance after being shoved and fell with his mouth in Smedema's back.


“He then turned around and punched me,” he told De Twentsche Courant Tubantia.


The KNVB, alerted to the post and following up on last month's incident, suspended Smedema for two matches for the punch.


Van Staa is to appeal against his 10-match ban.


Reuters






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News sport : Dakota State coaches show us the hilarious 'Dizzy Punt' (Video)

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After a day of practice, NAIA program Dakota State (SD) decided to have some fun by playing a game called “Dizzy Punt” with defensive coordinator Cory Miller and head coach Josh Anderson.


The idea is for each coach to hold a golf club to their head (a la “Dizzy Bat”) and spin around 12 times before attempting to punt the football.



As you can see, the punts did not get very far. Miller (left) needed help to even get to the football, which was about five yards in front of him.


One thing is certain: the players had a lot more fun than the coaches did.


(H/T Football Scoop )


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United feared losing Rooney to City

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Manchester United's owners were convinced the club would lose Wayne Rooney to Manchester City in 2010.


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Manchester United's owners were convinced the club would lose Wayne Rooney to Manchester City at the height of the uncertainty which led them to give him a £200,000-a-week contract.


The fears of the club's hierarchy are revealed in the first detailed behind-the-scenes insight into the Glazer family's 10-year reign at Old Trafford, written by their former spokesman Tehsin Nayani. He describes “a growing resignation among the club's hierarchy” that Rooney would be “on his way out to join Abu Dhabi-owned Manchester City”, in October 2010.


Though Rooney subsequently said on the club's in-house TV station that he would never have signed for City, it has never been made clear what kind of situation the Glazers faced at the height of the controversy. In his own autobiography, the former manager Sir Alex Ferguson made no allusion to any direct threat posed by the neighbours, describing simply how Rooney appeared in his office with a “hugely sheepish” look on his face. “I felt he'd been programmed in what he was trying to say,” Ferguson said. “The basis of his complaint was that we were not sufficiently ambitious.”


Rooney publicly questioned United's ambitions two hours before a Champions League match against Bursaspor. Two days later, after what Nayani describes as “a most unedifying public relations battle between Rooney and United,” the club confirmed it had entered into intensive talks with the player's representatives as “a rapprochement was possible”.


The book lays bare Nayani's contempt for Rooney, whom he accuses of making a “crudely disguised dig” at the Glazers by making his claim that United were no longer able to “attract the top players in the world”. He describes his desire to make his feelings about Rooney's conduct clear, rather than the agreed strategy, which was: “Say absolutely nothing.” Ferguson described how Rooney was “made one of the highest paid players in the country” after a conference call with the Glazers, at which “the future ambitions of the club were discussed”.


Nayani's book - The Glazer Gatekeeper - provides a revealing insight into the Glazers' equanimity in the face of huge opposition to their ownership by United supporters, which culminated in the green and gold campaign. He describes how co-chairman Joel Glazer refused to believe that elements of the club's fanbase “hated” them - even rejecting the notion on the feverish night when David Beckham appeared to support the green and gold campaign.


After Beckham took a scarf offered him after he left the field on his return with Milan, who lost 4-0 at Old Trafford in March 2010, Nayan called Glazer, who had watched the potentially symbolic gesture live on television in the United States. “From where I'm sitting there are many millions of fans who are just happy the team are through to the next round [of the Champions League],” Glazer said. “They're supporters of United too. I get that some fans don't like us, but to hate us, it's such a strong word. To hate us when the club has been so successful, it's extraordinary.”


When Nayani pointed out that Beckham was “a good catch” for the protesters, Glazer replied: “I get that, but we don't know Beckham's motives for putting on the scarf. Also, I'm not sure the publicity is necessarily bad.”


“But Beckham's gesture is likely to be construed as a negative,” Nayani said. “Sure, but let's strip this back. What I mean to say is that football is a passionate business. Won't it blow over? It's always blown over in the past.” – The Independent






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News sport : MSU hoops coach Ben Howland: Football is 'most important' college sport

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Jan. 26, 2013; Tempe, AZ, USA: UCLA Bruins head coach Ben Howland against the Arizona State Sun Devils at the Wells Fargo Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports After two seasons away from the game, Ben Howland became the new men’s basketball coach at Mississippi State last month. He hopes to resurrect a program that has struggled in recent years, but will first get a chance to serve as a guest coach during the Bulldogs’ spring football game on Saturday.


On the football field, the Bulldogs ascended to No. 1 in the rankings late in the year, but lost three of their last four games. Howland said part of the allure of accepting the MSU job was the football program’s success. He even said that football is “the most important sport on a major college campus.”


"When you look at football and basketball, all the best programs in the country, with the exception of a few maybe, have both," Howland said, per Al.com. "I knew that having good football only helps basketball.


"Let's be clear here. The most important sport on a major college campus is football because it costs the most and it has the most revenue potential to bring money into the university. Football is very, very important. I love college football."


Some coaches want their respective sport to be the center of attention and wouldn’t be attracted to a job where basketball plays second fiddle. Howland isn’t one of them and said that the SEC’s football prowess was a major selling point.


“There’s no question, it’s not even debatable, who has the best football conference in America. Period. It’s the SEC,” Howland said. “It’s raised everybody’s level. Mississippi State was No. 1 in the country for five weeks last year in football, and that’s absolutely awesome.”


As for his short stint as guest football coach on Saturday, Howland has a plan.


“I have a formula. Get the ball to Dak Prescott,” he said of MSU’s senior quarterback. “We’re going to run the ball. We’re going to run the option.”


For more Mississippi State news, visit BulldogBlitz.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 to serve 6.5-lb burritos, 6-lb burgers at All-Star Race

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The track that gave us the Funnel Bacakonator is back with some more crazy concessions.


Charlotte Motor Speedway announced Friday that it will serve a 6.5-pound burrito and a six-pound burger during the All-Star Race weekend on May 15-16.


Yes, those measurements are in pounds and not ounces. If you're looking for something less hefty, you can always go with the candied bacon on a stick the track introduced with the burrito and the burger.


First, the details on the burrito.




The "Crank Shaft Burrito," which will cost $25, has four tortillas, 1.5 pounds of beans, 1.5 pounds of cole slaw and 3 pounds of pulled pork. It also has a half-pound of cheese sauce plus a quarter-pound of jalapenos and "more" baked beans, slaw and pork. If you're scoring at home, you'll notice that the ingredients add up to more than 6.5 pounds, so depending on the amount of "more," you could score a seven-pound burrito.


Oh, it's also 1,685 calories, which doesn't seem as outlandish as it could be.




The burger is the "Speedway Picnic Burger" and has eight quarter-pound burgers and eight hot dogs. It also contains 1.5 pounds of pulled pork and a pound of bacon, though it only has eight slices of cheese. We were hoping for 10.


It also includes lettuce and tomato, but really, you're not buying that burger for the vegetables, are you? It's on a 14-inch bun and is 2,156 calories.


At $35, the burger nets you 61.6 calories per dollar while the burrito is approximately 67.4 calories per dollar. Yes, when you're a former fat kid you sometimes do these type of calculations to see what gets you more caloric bang for your buck.


The burger is also wrapped in a tablecloth for the full picnic experience, though we're just thinking it's because the lines between napkin and tablecloth become blurred when you're wrapping food of that size.


The track promotes both items as shareable, however we've got a feeling that there will be many people attempting solo conquests. However, in this age of American gluttony we won't truly be amazed unless someone eats them both in a two-hour timeframe. We guarantee someone is going to try it, and if you're that somebody, let us know. We'd love to know if the task was accomplishable, and if so, how you felt in the hours afterwards.


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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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