doudoune moncler 2012

2011年12月21日星期三

Without Giroux, Flyers' offense clicks in victory over Capitals - Boston Herald

AppId is over the quota

WASHINGTON — The Philadelphia Flyers have rallied around a unified battle cry, one that basically suggests that the troops have to dig a little deeper in these injury-plagued times.

So on the day they found out that the NHL’s leading scorer, Claude Giroux, is out indefinitely with a concussion, the Flyers received key offensive contributions from some old standbys along with a newcomer to the scoring sheet.

It all added up to a 5-1 win over the Washington Capitals at the Verizon Center, extending the Flyers winning streak to six games.

"I thought it was one of our better games, just complete from start to finish," Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said.

The Flyers (19-7-3) continue to lead the Eastern Conference with 41 points.

"We have a good team," said defenseman Kimmo Timonen. "It doesn’t matter how many guys we are missing I think we showed today we can play pretty good hockey against a pretty good team out there."

Everybody from Laviolette to each of the players talked about the importance of carrying a little extra offensive weight in the absence of Giroux.

And the Flyers did plenty of heavy lifting.

Five different players scored.

It’s probably no coincidence that Scott Hartnell has scored in every game of this six-game winning streak.

Hartnell was one of the players who talked about picking up the slack for his injured linemate Giroux and he did exactly that, scoring the game’s first goal on a wrist shot — the 200th of his career — that was an indication of the difficult night Capitals goalie Tomas Vokoun would have.

It was a soft goal, but the Flyers weren’t complaining.

In fact, Vokoun was pulled after two periods with the Flyers holding a 4-0 lead.

The Flyers put things away with three second-period goals, the first scored by an unlikely source.

Defenseman Marc-Andre Bourdon scored on a wrist shot inside the blue line on a pass from Zac Rinaldo. Jody Shelley provided a screen and it initially appeared as if he tipped it in, but the puck apparently went off the stick of Washington’s Mathieu Perreault.

"I was happy but I didn’t even know it was me who scored," Bourdon said. "I shot the puck and thought maybe it tipped off one of their guys or thought maybe Shell scored."

Sources: Lakers back in discussions with Hornets about potential Chris Paul trade - ESPN

AppId is over the quota
Updated: December 14, 2011, 3:11 AM ETBy Dave McMenamin
ESPNLosAngeles.com
Archive var ESPN_GLOBALS = {"videoPlayers":{"story09":{"src":"http://assets.espn.go.com/espnvideo/mpf32/prod/r_3_2_0_15/ESPN_Player.swf","height":324,"width":576,"adminOver":"3805638","localSite":"losangeles","autostart":"true","playerType":"story09"}}};espn.video.embeded.play();

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Former Lakers coach Phil Jackson predicted that problems could arise with a potential Chris Paul trade back on Dec. 29, 2010 of last season before Los Angeles played the Hornets in New Orleans.

"Who's going to trade who to whom?" Jackson said at the time. "Who's going to pull the button on trading player or when Chris says he has to be traded? How's that going to go? I don't know. Somebody's going to have to make a very nonjudgmental decision on that part that's not going to irritate anybody else in this league ... I don't know how they're going to do that."

For more news, notes and analysis of the Lakers, check out the Land O' Lakers blog from the Kamenetzky Brothers. Blog

Not long after making the comments Jackson was privately fined an undisclosed amount of money by the league for what he said, according to a source close to the coach.

Jackson, who was sporting a white beard after eschewing his usual facial hair during his last two seasons with the Lakers, reflected on his premonition Tuesday.

"That's really funny, isn't it?" Jackson said. "It's really funny that it would work out that way. But, you know, you could see it. You could see that it was going to be a problem. It's just part of the beast. If you create a situation like that, the problem might arise and it certainly did."

The Lakers continue to loom as a potential destination, sources told ESPN.com's Marc Stein on Tuesday, despite their apparent exit from the Paul sweepstakes on Saturday. The Lakers walked away from the table after multiple attempts to complete a three-team trade with the Hornets and Houston Rockets for Paul, and then agreed to trade New Orleans-bound Lamar Odom to the Dallas Mavericks instead.

ESPN.com learned Tuesday that a Lakers deal for Paul has not yet been ruled out, contingent on the fact that they can recruit at least one other team to supply some of the young pieces that the league is demanding. But the Lakers do still have Pau Gasol as a centerpiece, who could either replace Paul as the Hornets' franchise player or give New Orleans a top-20 player to be dangled in subsequent deals.

The NBA's preference, however, remains a trade with the Clippers. League officials representing the Hornets and Clippers continued Paul trade discussions into Tuesday night, sources briefed on the talks told Stein.

He responded to the Lakers trading Odom and a 2012 second round pick to Dallas for an $8.9 million trade exception and a 2012 first round pick.

"I feel for all the fans," Jackson said. "I know that it's hard to let a player go from a championship team, like Lamar."

When he reiterated his empathy for Lakers fans, Jackson revealed how closely he still associates himself with the organization.

"I really feel for our fans," he said.

Jackson retired in May as the all-time winningest championship coach in NBA history, having captured 11 titles with the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers.

The man knows the look of a championship team when he sees one.

With the 2011-12 NBA season truncated to just 66 games after a five-month long lockout threatened to wipe the season out completely, Jackson does not have a prediction of who will win it all. But he does think the strange set up for the season could allow for a dark horse contender to emerge.

"With a shortened season you get all kinds of crazy things," Jackson said while taking a break from a commercial shoot at the Walter Pyramid on the campus of Long Beach State on Tuesday.

"With the asterisk season back in '98, San Antonio and New York certainly weren't on the listed teams that would be in the Finals. You had all these teams, Utah and Indiana, that were all prepped to be there and these shortened seasons make a big difference to players."

The Heat are the favorite to win the championship this year at 5/2 odds, according to VegasInsider.com. The top five is rounded out by the Lakers at 11/2, Chicago at 13/2, Oklahoma City at 7/1 and Boston and the defending-champion Dallas Mavericks tied at 8/1.

Jackson retired from coaching the Lakers last spring after 11 seasons in L.A. He still feels a strong connection to the team after coaching them to three of the last four Finals and through his relationship with Jeanie Buss, the Lakers executive vice president of business operations and the daughter of Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss.

Jackson, who was back in a basketball arena to film a commercial, did not tip his hand to reveal whether he'll be back coaching on an NBA sidelines anytime soon.

During a recent roundtable discussion with ESPN NBA analysts, Michael Wilbon guaranteed Jackson will return to the NBA to coach in 2012-13.

"You can mark it down: Phil Jackson is going to be coaching in the NBA next season," Wilbon said.

The Hall of Fame coach, who turned 66 in September, declined comment.

"I don't have anything to say about that," Jackson said.

Dave McMenamin covers the Lakers for ESPNLosAngeles.com. Information from ESPN.com's Marc Stein was used in this report.

Follow Dave McMenamin on Twitter: @mcten

jQuery.getScriptCache("http://platform.twitter.com/anywhere.js?id=HqH9j16pPQUPNsz4pvudWg&v=1.1", function() { twttr.anywhere.config({'callbackURL': 'http://'+location.host+'/nhl/twitter/anywhere'}); twttr.anywhere(function (T) { T('a.twitter-anywhere').hovercards({infer: true}); }); });

View the original article here

Suh Accident Report Amended - ESPN

AppId is over the quota

In a 911 call soon after his car hit a tree in Portland, Ore., on Saturday, Ndamukong Suh said "everybody's fine," but two passengers now claim they were injured in the accident.

Portland police had originally said there were no, but they said Monday that two passengers later came forward to say they were hurt and left the scene before officers arrived.

Suh

Sgt. Pete Simpson says one woman reported bruises and soreness, and the other reported a cut to her forehead and a black eye. Their names were not released.

Police say Suh was not impaired and was not cited, and that they are not re-opening the investigation.

"At no point did anyone there tell an officer that (Suh) was driving out of control," Simpson told KGW-TV. "The crash doesn't meet our threshold for investigation, which is vulnerable road user, DUI, or serious trauma injury."

The amended police report, according to KGW-TV, now says that one person was seriously injured in the crash and that there were four people in the car, not three as had been noted in the original report.

One of the women in the vehicle is quoted in the police report as saying she told Suh she needed medical attention. She said Suh refused her request and told her she was fine. She then walked down the street and had her husband pick her up and take her to a hospital.

The Detroit Lions defensive tackle was calm and polite during the phone call to emergency services. When asked by the 911 operator if he needed an ambulance, Suh said: "No, I don't think so. I think everybody's fine."

Later in the call, which lasted 1 minute, 15 seconds, Suh was asked again if he was sure he didn't need an ambulance. "Yes, everybody's fine," he replied.

Suh told police he was trying to avoid a stopped taxi cab when he lost control of the 1970 Chevrolet Coupe. The car hit a curb, light pole, drinking fountain and tree.

"When the light turned green, he floored it," one of the passengers told KGW-TV. "I just remember going so fast and it was violent, and just getting thrown around like rag dolls."

Suh declined to comment to KGW.

Suh currently is serving a two-game suspension for stomping an opponent during a loss to the Green Bay Packers on Thanksgiving. He missed the Lions' loss Sunday night to the New Orleans Saints and also will miss Detroit's Week 14 game against the Minnesota Vikings.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Bidding for Japanese Players Is a Denigrated Risk - New York Times

AppId is over the quota

Matsuzaka was considered a much better pitcher than Igawa, and he had the statistics to support it. Another bit of evidence came in the staggering $51,111,111.11 winning posting bid submitted by the Red Sox, who spent $50 million more to sign him. The Yankees then won the rights to negotiate with Igawa with a more modest posting bid of $26,000,194, the last three digits representing Igawa’s strikeout total in his final season in Japan.

Even though Matsuzaka was thought to be the jewel in the Japanese pitching crown, once the Yankees won their bid, Red Sox officials began to second-guess themselves and asked a Major League Baseball official with working knowledge of Japanese baseball if they should have bid on Igawa instead, according to the official.

As it turned out, both teams may have come away with a degree of buyer’s remorse. Matsuzaka helped Boston win the World Series in his first season, 2007, and had an 18-3 record in his second, but he went 16-15 in the past three years. Igawa pitched only 16 games for the Yankees since 2007.

Now, major league teams must make another risky calculation on a Japanese superstar pitcher thought to be as talented as Matsuzaka, once again bringing the posting process into question.

On Wednesday, at 5 p.m. Eastern, the bidding will close on Yu Darvish, the right-handed ace of the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, and the results may be announced a few hours later. Several teams are thought to have serious interest, led by the Texas Rangers, the Washington Nationals and the Toronto Blue Jays, but the bidding is secret and teams are cagey about divulging their intentions.

With Matsuzaka generating more than $51 million for the Seibu Lions, but with mixed results for the Red Sox, it remains a mystery how the bidding will go for the 25-year-old Darvish, whose statistics in Japan were better than Matsuzaka’s.

“I haven’t seen him in a couple of years,” said Mets Manager Terry Collins, who managed against Darvish with the Orix Buffaloes in 2007 and 2008. “But he’s as good as any pitcher I’ve ever seen. Ever. I asked a scouting guy over there, ‘If Dice-K got $50 million, how much would Darvish get?’ At the time, the guess was $70 million.”

After the uneven results of Matsuzaka, Igawa and others, the bidding for Darvish is expected to be more restrained, perhaps $30 million to $50 million, and recently some people in baseball have projected that figure below $30 million.

Last week the Fighters notified Major League Baseball, under a 13-year-old agreement between the two leagues, that they were posting Darvish. On Friday, M.L.B. relayed the information to its 30 teams, which all have the chance to submit sealed bids during a window that ends Wednesday afternoon.

According to the system, whichever team submits the highest bid wins the right to negotiate with Darvish over the next 30 days, and Darvish can negotiate only with that team. If a contract agreement is reached, the Fighters will receive the posting fee. If there is no deal, Darvish must return to Japan to play for the Fighters, and no money changes hands.

Several recent posting bids have increased frustration with the process, including the Yankees’ surprisingly low $2.5 million winning bid on shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima, and last year’s $19.1 million bid by the Oakland Athletics for pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma. The A’s were unable to reach an agreement with Iwakuma, and his agent, Don Nomura, said they were insincere in their pursuit of him.

A team could bid $100 million to negotiate with Darvish, then offer him a $1 million contract, which he would certainly turn down and return to Japan.

“The system has already failed,” said Scott Boras, Matsuzaka’s agent, “and that type of thing is only going to increase. I lived through it with Matsuzaka. As it stands, this system doesn’t benefit anyone.”

The posting system was introduced after the experiences of Hideo Nomo and Alfonso Soriano, who escaped their Japanese teams via loopholes. Then in 1997, the Chiba Lotte Marines, who had a working agreement with the San Diego Padres, agreed to let them sign Hideki Irabu, who refused to play for San Diego and forced a trade to the Yankees.

“It wasn’t fun,” recalled Arizona Diamondbacks General Manager Kevin Towers, who was the Padres’ general manager at the time. “I think that episode annoyed a lot of people, and that’s why we have the system we have now, as flawed as it might be.”

But it might change within a couple of years. Under the new collective bargaining agreement, a committee will be established to discuss a worldwide draft, including changes to the current system along with Nippon Professional Baseball.

Boras suggested a sliding scale whereby Japanese players can negotiate with any team and their Japanese teams would receive a percentage of the contract. For instance, if a player leaves after one year, the Japanese team would get 80 percent of the contract, 50 percent after five years and 20 percent with just one year remaining before free agency.

“A lot of Japanese players aren’t successful here because they aren’t comfortable in their situation,” Boras said. “If they could choose where they want to play, their success rate would definitely increase.”

Column: Harrison's response to suspension, 'LOL!' - Atlanta Journal Constitution

AppId is over the quota
By JIM LITKE

The Associated Press

Even after he became a star with the Pittsburgh Steelers, James Harrison lugged around the equipment bag from his NFL Europe days with the Rhein Fire until it fell apart. The way the story gets told is that Harrison did it to remind himself how difficult the trip had been. In light of recent developments, it also suggests he has a hard time letting some things go.

FILE - In this Dec. 8, 2011, file photo, Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison, right, sits on the bench during the third quarter of an NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns in Pittsburgh. Harrison has been suspended for one game without pay for his hit last week on Browns quarterback Colt McCoy. NFL executive vice president Ray Anderson said Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2011, the suspension is the result of Harrison's fifth illegal hit against a quarterback in the past three seasons. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

In this photo from Thursday, Dec. 8, 2011, trainers tend to Cleveland Browns quarterback Colt McCoy after he was hit by Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker James Harrison in the fourth quarter of the NFL football game in Pittsburgh. McCoy injured his hand and was wobbled by a hit from Harrison during the Steelers' 14-3 win. Two other Browns sustained concussions in the Browns' 21st loss in 23 games against their AFC North rival. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Take Harrison's most recent run-in with Commissioner Roger Goodell. It was the result of his fifth illegal hit on a quarterback over the last three seasons — a span in which he also had two other fines for unnecessary roughness — but the first to get him suspended. Harrison's loss of a game check will cost him $73,000 or so and that's on top of the $125,000 he's already forked over. If you think he was chastened, think again.

Harrison's immediate reaction after the suspension was to tweet "Lol!" Soon after, he told a reporter about the helmet-to-facemask smash he put on Browns quarterback Colt McCoy last Thursday, "If I would have really hit him, I would have close to knocked him out." Later, Harrison posted another tweet, "Thank you to all my fans and supporters, I'm just going to move on from here and get ready for my next game."

Barring a successful appeal that won't be Monday night, when Pittsburgh plays San Francisco with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger trying to make do on a gimpy ankle and the Steelers competing with the Ravens for the top spot in the AFC North.

"We're disappointed. We're disappointed for James because we know how hard he's worked to play within the rules," coach Mike Tomlin said. "We accept the judgment rendered by the league office and we'll move forward."

Not so fast. The Steelers have already been fined at least 13 times for illegal hits this season. They were also the only team in the league to vote against the new collective bargaining agreement in August, unhappy with the appeals process in place regarding fines and suspensions. It was a pet peeve of Harrison's long before that. After previous run-ins with the league's disciplinarians, he has threatened to retire rather than change the way he plays and called Goodell "stupid," ''a puppet" and "a dictator" in the course of an interview with Men's Journal during the lockout. At the last Super Bowl, he used the stage to taunt the commissioner for trying to legislate against the vicious hits Harrison specializes in.

"We'll lay a pillow down where I'm going to tackle them, so they don't hit the ground too hard, Mr. Goodell," he said.

By Harrison's twisted logic, he was "all for player safety," including his own. But in the next breath, Harrison confided he'd suffered several concussions, hadn't reported any of them to team officials in the past and had no plans to start.

"You shouldn't be able to come back in the game," he said. "But if they don't know, they don't have that decision to make."

Whether McCoy was as forthcoming with the Browns after the collision with Harrison remains something of a mystery. Cleveland coach Pat Shurmur has been coy about whether the team complied with the league protocol and tested McCoy, who returned to the game but remembered little about it afterward.

The league is running low on able bodies as it is, and levying stiffer fines and suspensions for any player who knocks another one out won't help keep more of them on the field. When Harrison hammered Cleveland's Mohamed Massaquoi in October 2010, the receiver's agent stated the obvious: that fines, no matter how stiff, aren't enough to make players change.

"Harrison has made $20 million over the past three years, and they only fined him $75,000?" agent Brian Ayrault said. "To me, that's not going to be a deterrent. The Browns are probably going to be without a starter this week. I don't think that fine is a deterrent or fair to competitive balance."

The suspension makes Harrison the first player to miss game time under new league rules aimed at curtailing "devastating" hits. It's a good first step, but still on the light side, considering Harrison is the NFL's biggest repeat offender, Tomlin and the Steelers coaching staff either can't or won't convince him to lower his aim on hits, and if a one-game suspension doesn't do the trick, the next one is going to have to be long enough to get the message across.

The last thing the NFL can afford at the moment is more players trying to tear each other's heads off.

___

Jim Litke is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jlitke(at)ap.org. Follow him at Twitter.com/JimLitke.

___

December 14, 2011 04:51 AM EST

Nene re-signs with Nuggets for 5 years - Denver Post

AppId is over the quota

Print??

Font Resize nbaBy Benjamin Hochman
The Denver Post Posted:?12/14/2011 01:00:00 AM MST
Nuggets C Nene 2011

Get ready for "unos triples."

Three-point shooting extraordinaire Rudy Fernandez is now with the Nuggets, as is former Florida star Corey Brewer, both acquired in a trade Tuesday with Dallas. The Nuggets only had to send a future second-round draft pick to Dallas, utilizing a trade exception they received in last February's blockbuster trade wit h the New York Knicks.

The Nuggets haven't given up on trying to re-sign shooting guard Arron Afflalo, a restricted free agent, but haven't been able to reach an agreement. The Nuggets are also waiting as Nene, the free agent big man, mulls signing with another team such as Houston or New Jersey. Denver can offer Nene a five-year contract, one more year than any other team.

Afflalo is not signed, the Nuggets might open the season with the 6-foot-6 Fernandez at shooting guard, alongside point guard Ty Lawson. The 26-year-old Spaniard averaged 8.6 points per game for the Trail Blazers last season, his third in the NBA. Portland traded him to Dallas last summer.

Fernandez is making around $2.1 million this season and has a qualifying offer around $3.1 million for next season. Fernandez can go on J.R. Smith-like shooting splurges, as seen two games against Denver in the past two seasons.

Brewer, 25, was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2007 NCAA tournament and was drafted No. 7 overall by Minnesota afterward. The 6-9 forward has yet to break out as an NBA player, most recently riding the bench for the world champion Mavericks.

Fernandez is entering his fourth season after three with Portland, where he averaged 10.4 points per game as a rookie, then 8.1 and 8.6 the past two years. He's had some rocky moments with the Trail Blazers - even getting fined for public comments - and now is reunited with former Blazers guard Andre Miller. Fernandez had been playing overseas for Real Madrid and had visa issues which kept him out of Mavericks camp.

Prior to the trade Tuesday, he

Corey Brewer (22) and Rudy Fernandez, left, join Denver after the team gave up a second-round draft pick. (NBAE/Getty Images file)tweeted, "I finally have my visa, tomorrow I'll will be on my way to Dallas," implying he's headed for the states. Karl still holds out hope the Nuggets can sign Afflalo.

Karl said recently: "If you look at last year, it was really weird. I couldn't take Arron off the court. Even when we had Carmelo (Anthony) and Chauncey (Billups), Arron was this foundation of consistency at the basics of the game. As the season went on, I was amazed. I felt naked not having him on the court.

" Then when we changed the team, there was probably never a growth of unity because it happened so fast and we had a lot of wins. Arron was kind of that glue that made everything work and fit. I think (team executive) Masai (Ujiri) understands how important both Nene and Arron are to this team, but it is a business. We've just got to see where it goes."

Benjamin Hochman: 303-954-1294 or bhochman@denverpost.com

Print??

Font Resize

Return to Top??