Grndpndrs

Create-a-Caption: ‘Vengeance is mine,’ quoth Alvis

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 01:54:03 +0000

Create-a-Caption: ‘Vengeance is mine,’ quoth Alvis
James Harden rattles Metta World Peace. (Getty Images) So, we tried something a little bit different for Thursday’s Create-a-Caption. After Thursday morning’s post on James Harden’s inadvertent “remember me?” elbow on Metta World Peace during Wednesday night’s Western Conference semifinal contest between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Lakers drew a fair bit of interest, we decided to ask followers of the Yahoo! Sports Facebook page and @YahooSports Twitter account for their captions on the above photo of the aftermath, just to expand the C-a-C studio space a bit. And we got some good ones, too. Like, for example: Ryan S.: ‎”Anything you can do, I CAN DO BETTER!” Melissa S.: “And the Thunder rolls … through a jaw or two!” Alex B.: ‎”Damn, James, what’s that nasty smell coming outta your beard?” Thayer L.: “If you had a beard like mine, that wouldn’t have hurt.” And so on. Now, listen. I know some of you longtime C-a-C’ers, who have fought through my grading and layout changes and the capriciousness of the Y! commenting system, might find this untoward. Unfair. Unruly. Unkempt. Unclean. Unctuous. Uncy Herb. BUT! I know you guys have some ideas that you’re just itching to let fly on this one. AND I know you’re still driven by the thrill of victory and terrified by the agony of an elbow in the nose. So let’s hear it. How would you caption this photo, dear readers? Caption wins a beautiful tale on a lovely winter’s night. In our last adventure: Coach Del Negro can’t even find the knobs on this Etch-a-Sketch. Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro pauses. (Getty Images)Winner, Thanatos: “Did I really draw this play up with a flop in there?” Runner-up, Dago: “OK, if I put an X over here … no, he’ll get three in a row here. So I have to put an X over here … wait … he gets three in a way over there. Dammit, Chauncey, you got me again!” Second runner-up, RLA 21: “E = MC … wait. CP3 + BG dunks = job security for 1 more year. But CP3 – (signed extension next year) = Bobcats job in 2013. Where’s that ‘Coaching for Dummies’ gag gift the Internet sent me?”

Zambrano tosses 3-hitter as Marlins top Astros 4-0 (Yahoo! Sports)

admin — Tue, 08 May 2012 09:18:23 +0000

Zambrano tosses 3-hitter as Marlins top Astros 4-0 (Yahoo! Sports)
HOUSTON (AP) Carlos Zambrano pitched a three-hitter for his first win of the season and Giancarlo Stanton extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a two-run homer, leading the Miami Marlins to their seventh straight win with a 4-0 victory over the Houston Astros on Monday night. Stanton’s homer into the Crawford Boxes in left field put Miami up 2-0 in the fourth inning and gives him six home runs and 12 RBIs during his streak. Logan Morrison walked with one out before Stanton went deep. John Buck extended the lead to 3-0 when he sent the first pitch of the fifth inning into the right field stands. Hanley Ramirez added a solo shot, which bounced off the train tracks above the left center field wall, in the ninth inning to make it 4-0. It was the first complete game and first shutout for Zambrano since a two-hit shutout against San Francisco on Sept. 25, 2009. Zambrano (1-2), whose only no-hitter came against the Astros, struck out a season-best nine and never allowed a batter past first base. He walked one and hit two batters while improving to 10-4 in 19 appearances at Minute Maid Park. Brian Bogusevic singled to left field with no outs in the ninth inning, but Miami turned its third double play of the game on a grounder by Jordan Schafer. Zambrano then struck out Jose Altuve to end it. Houston starter Wandy Rodriguez (3-3) gave up a season-high four earned runs in eight-plus innings. He entered the game having won three straight and had allowed just three runs combined in those starts. Zambrano hit Schafer on the right leg with a pitch in the sixth inning. Schafer fell to his knees writhing in pain before getting up and walking gingerly to first base while talking with manager Brad Mills and a trainer. Altuve grounded into a double play to get Zambrano out of that inning. He sailed through the next two frames, retiring six in a row with two strikeouts, to reach the ninth. Zambrano plunked Altuve on the left elbow with one out in the first inning. But J.D. Martinez struck out and was called for batter’s interference to put Altuve out and end the inning. Houston’s first hit came when Travis Buck singled to start the third inning, but Zambrano faced the minimum in that inning thanks to a double play before a flyout by Rodriguez. NOTES: Miami manager Ozzie Guillen became annoyed in his pregame chat with reporters when a Houston reporter asked him if the uproar over his comments about Fidel Castro, for which he was suspended five games, had died down in the last month. He told the reporter to ”grow up” while including a couple of curse words. … Guillen said he’s hoping Heath Bell, who was demoted from the closer’s role last week, can return to that role in the future. ”We’re a better ball club if Bell is our closer,” he said. ”That’s no doubt and we need him to be our closer.”… RHP Aneury Rodriguez will be recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City on Tuesday to start against Miami’s Anibal Sanchez.

Pacers shoot past Magic to take 2-1 lead (Yahoo! Sports)

admin — Thu, 03 May 2012 13:18:17 +0000

Pacers shoot past Magic to take 2-1 lead (Yahoo! Sports)
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) In the first two games against the Orlando Magic, the Indiana Pacers struggled to make the most of their size and matchup advantages. After several days of repeated tongue lashings from coach Frank Vogel, the Pacers finally got the message and capitalized on both, running past the Magic 97-74 on Wednesday night to take a 2-1 lead in the first-round series. Danny Granger had 26 points and nine rebounds, Roy Hibbert added 18 points and 10 rebounds, and Indiana held Orlando under 80 points for the second straight game. The Pacers regained home-court advantage, riding good shooting early, building a 29-point lead in the fourth quarter and cruising to the victory. ”I think we’re adjusting,” Hibbert said. ”We see what they’re doing. … They made their run at the end of the first quarter. We adjusted, then we tried to lay it on them as much as possible.” Indiana dominated scoring underneath thanks to a 46-33 rebounding edge and has outscored the Magic 81-43 in the third quarter in the series. ”Terrific win by our club,” Vogel said. ”We understood the importance of winning on the road, and to be a great basketball team, and to go on a deep playoff run which is what we hoped to do starting this season.” Vogel said the goal was to limit Orlando’s 3-point attempts and thought that ”holding that team to 15 3-point field goal (attempts) when they average 28 is a strong defensive effort.” Glen Davis led the Magic with 22 points, and J.J. Redick added 13. The Magic never led, struggled to get any scoring in the paint, and made a series-low five 3-pointers. One of the biggest disappoints in the series continues to be the play of Ryan Anderson, who was held to seven points and one 3-pointer. He has scored 23 points total in the three games. ”I’m not going to lie, it’s frustrating as a group (and) in general to lose a game like this,” he said. ”But obviously we can bounce back and player harder next game. The great thing about this is we have another game, so keep playing.” Vogel also implored the Pacers after each of the first two games to make better shot selections. They finally did that as well. It translated into their best shooting of the series as the Pacers built a 23-point lead in the third quarter and led 76-55 entering the fourth. Indiana had its way both inside and out, shooting 47 percent for the game (37 for 79) and holding a 42-22 edge on points in the paint. Meanwhile, aside from Davis, Orlando’s offense stalled at several points and the Magic connected on only 30 of their 71 attempts from the field. Indiana led 44-38 at the half, but started the game on an offensive tear hitting nine of its first 10 shots from the field and shot 52 percent (18 for 34) for the half. The Magic had few answers for Hill, who scored 13 points in the opening two periods. Orlando survived the fast start, though, thanks largely to Davis’ 16-point second quarter. His scoring spree featured mid-range jumpers and some baskets in the post. It all came after Davis missed all three of his shots in the first quarter. The Pacers put the Magic in a 10-point first-quarter hole for the third straight game, jumping out to a 13-3 advantage. Orlando missed its first five shots before Hedo Turkoglu hit a 3-pointer to finally put the Magic on the board. Granger said he thinks the roots of the Pacers resurgence the past two games aren’t hard to find. ”That (Game 1) loss really woke us up,” he said. ”It showed us what Orlando was capable of and we knew we had to really play in this series to win. We have just been executing especially on the defensive end…In a playoff series it’s kind of like a chess match.” Game 4 is Saturday in Orlando, and Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said changes must be made during that time if they’re going to turn things around. ”They clearly dominated us tonight, and that’s three first quarters and three third quarters where it’s been the same story. So we’ll take look at that and see if we want to make some changes or something. We can’t be playing out of a hole all the time.” As good as it feels to have the Magic backpedaling now, though, Pacers guard Paul George said no one is feeling like the series is over yet. ”It gives us confidence, but at the same time we know this team is dangerous,” he said. ”We don’t want to be happy about just being up 2-1, but just take it one game at a time. Basically, this could be a long series if we don’t take care of business.” And generate another talking to from their coach. Notes: Indiana outrebounded Orlando for the third consecutive game. … Orlando G Jason Richardson started Wednesday after jamming his left thumb in the Magic’s Game 2 loss. … About a dozen Magic fans sitting near midcourt wore homemade Davis-inspired ”Baby’s Crazies” t-shirts. … Wednesday was George’s 22nd birthday.

Goodell says Saints bounties case in final stages (Yahoo! Sports)

admin — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 20:54:15 +0000

Goodell says Saints bounties case in final stages (Yahoo! Sports)
NEW YORK (AP) NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says the league is still doing interviews regarding player punishments that likely will be handed down for the Saints’ pay-for-hits bounty system. Speaking to reporters at an NFL draft event on Wednesday, Goodell said he doesn’t expect to issue a decision this week, but the league is ”in the final stages of working on discipline involving the players. We hope to do that very soon and get that behind us.” A league investigation found that from 2009-11 New Orleans coaches and players put together a bounty system that paid out improper cash bonuses for hits aimed at knocking opposing players out of games. The NFL says as many as 27 Saints participated. Saints coach Sean Payton is serving a season-long suspension for failing to stop the bounty program, while assistant Joe Vitt is banned for six games and general manager Mickey Loomis is out for eight. Loomis and the Saints are the subject of a separate FBI and Louisiana state police investigation following an anonymously sourced ESPN report that Loomis had the Superdome wired so that, from 2002-04, he could listen to opposing coaches’ communications. The network could not verify the alleged system was ever used. The Saints and Loomis have vigorously denied the charges, which Vitt calls ”ludicrous.” ”The federal authorities are looking into it,” Goodell said. ”We’ll wait and see if any credible information comes from that. At that point in time, we could take appropriate action.”

Military Bowl set for Dec. 27, to host Army, ACC (Yahoo! Sports)

admin — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 21:18:14 +0000

Military Bowl set for Dec. 27, to host Army, ACC (Yahoo! Sports)
WASHINGTON (AP) This year’s Military Bowl will be held Dec. 27 and is set to feature Army against a team from the Atlantic Coast Conference. The bowl committee announced the plans Wednesday for the game held annually at RFK Stadium in the nation’s capital. Army would be the third service academy to play in the game, following Navy in 2008 and Air Force in 2011. The bowl will seek out other teams if Army isn’t bowl eligible and if the ACC doesn’t have enough eligible teams to send a representative to Washington. Toledo defeated Air Force 42-41 in last year’s game.

Liberty’s McCarville to sit out WNBA season again (The Associated Press)

admin — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 01:54:04 +0000

Liberty’s McCarville to sit out WNBA season again (The Associated Press)
NEW YORK (AP) The New York Liberty will be without Janel McCarville again this season, as the veteran center has announced she will sit out for the second straight year. McCarville was placed on the suspended list last season after she failed to report to training camp. New York retained her rights, and Liberty coach and general manager John Whisenant visited her this winter in Italy, where she is playing for Familia Schio. However, she decided to rest this summer as well. ”While I love the Liberty and the WNBA, I’ve decided to sit out the 2012 season to spend more time with my family,” McCarville said in a statement released by the team Monday. ”I sincerely appreciated and enjoyed the time that Coach Whiz spent with me in Italy earlier this year, and it has been great to hear from so many Liberty fans encouraging my return. I wish the team nothing but the best in its quest for a WNBA championship.” McCarville averaged 8.8 points and a career-high 5.9 rebounds in 2010. She has career averages of 8.7 points and 4.7 boards in 187 games for Charlotte and New York. The Liberty continue to retain her WNBA rights.

Ladbrokes February 2012 Bonus

admin — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 12:18:08 +0000

Ladbrokes February 2012 Bonus
Written by Betting-RSS admin on 20 February 2012. Ladbrokes plc is a British based betting & gaming company listed on the FTSE 100 Index. Ladbrokes is the UK’s largest off-track bookmaker with 2000+ retail outlets in the UK, Ireland and Belgium. Ladbrokes holds betting and gaming licences in the UK and Gibraltar and offers sports bets, online poker and casino.Ladbrokes is offering 50 pounds freebet to every new player!

JaVale McGee got a Sports Illustrated profile, and you should read it

admin — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 05:36:11 +0000

JaVale McGee got a Sports Illustrated profile, and you should read it
JaVale McGee thinks about how he’s totally like a musical savant (Rocky Widner/ Getty). Like all basketball blogs, Ball Don’t Lie has covered its fair share of JaVale McGee stories this season, from the infamous sprint back on defense while his team had the ball to the world’s most obvious goaltending violation to his game-winning putback in his first game as a Denver Nugget. Through that coverage, though, it’s sometimes been easy to focus on the goofy antics and lose sight of the player as a whole, not to mention the young man himself. Lee Jenkins of Sports Illustrated didn’t miss that angle, however, and he’s written a profile in the magazine to prove it. It’s full of interesting tidbits, stories and opinions, so here’s a brief rundown of the highlights: 1. JaVale’s mother Pamela, one of the best women’s basketball players of all time, had scheduled an abortion while pregnant with JaVale but changed her mind in the days before. She claims to have received signals from God and made her final decision not to have the procedure while in church. 2. While Pam suffered from breast cancer and a mastectomy operation in 1999, a pre-teen JaVale fixed her meals and stayed at her bedside. 3. As JaVale’s coach and basketball mentor, Pamela used to hit him in the chest after mistakes and trained with him at 6 AM, boxing and jumping rope. 4. When scouting McGee at an AAU tournament, Nevada coach Mark Fox saw him score just two points and decided they had to sign him regardless. 5. At Nevada, an assistant coach “rejoiced” when he found out that JaVale knew his name. 6. JaVale’s alter ego Pierre has a last name: McDunk. (Please note that Pierre is virtually indistinguishable from the man himself. The biggest difference is that, when in character, JaVale raises his mustache-tattooed finger over his mouth.) 7. McGee is asthmatic, which makes playing at Denver’s high altitude particularly difficult. 8. Nuggets assistant Melvin Hunt: ”He can do things nobody in this league can do. But there are some fundamental things that still seem so new. It’s like a piano prodigy who never learned to play Chopsticks. He just went straight to Beethoven.” While the profile is fascinating, there are times when it seems like a joke, or at least that Jenkins is overrating McGee’s abilities on the basketball court. Over his four NBA seasons, we’ve seen enough of his game to know that he likely won’t ever make the most of his considerable natural abilities — the best we can hope for is that he reins in some of his worst tendencies and becomes a steady force at the defensive end and a decent player on offense. Whatever he does on the court, though, Jenkins’ piece proves that McGee himself is more than just a guy who does really weird stuff. His personality has grown over the course of many life experiences, from traveling around Europe with his mother as a child to working hard to become something more than a blog mainstay. He’s an interesting guy with a background not usually seen in the NBA. Maybe it’s time we look beyond the goofiness.

Florida’s QB competition continues into fall (Yahoo! Sports)

admin — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 02:00:12 +0000

Florida’s QB competition continues into fall (Yahoo! Sports)
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP)—Florida’s quarterback competition will continue in the fall—and without a front-runner—after Jacoby Brissett and Jeff Driskel failed to separate themselves during four weeks of practice and Saturday’s spring game. Brissett was 9 of 16 for 233 yards and two touchdowns. Driskel was 12 of 14 for 147 yards, and ran for a score. Brissett took the first snap with the first-team offense, a likely indicator that he’s ahead, and completed deep passes to Latroy Pittman and Michael McNeely. Driskel, who lost the backup job to Brissett in the middle of last season, found Andre Debose for a 44-yard gain. Both sophomore quarterbacks showed considerably more pocket presence than they did in 2011, but neither did enough to make coach Will Muschamp pick a starter. “I think you saw both those guys take command of our football team,” Muschamp said. “Both guys made vertical plays down the field, good decisions where they took the ball. You saw what I’ve been seeing from 14 practices previous to today. We can win with both guys.” Both struggled in relief of John Brantley in 2011, raising questions about how quickly Muschamp can turn things around in Gainesville. The Gators beat Ohio State in the Gator Bowl to avoid their first losing season since 1979. And the offense, which ranked 105th in the nation, was the program’s worst in more than two decades. Offensive coordinator Charlie Weis left after one season to take the head-coaching job at Kansas. Muschamp replaced him with Boise State’s Brent Pease, who chose to adapt to Florida’s offense instead of installing a whole new playbook and new terminology for the players. That could benefit Brissett and Driskel the most. They looked fairly comfortable Saturday, although they didn’t face any blitzes and didn’t have to play against some of Florida’s best defenders, including safety Matt Elam (groin), linebacker Jon Bostic (back), cornerback Marcus Roberson (neck) and defensive tackle Dominique Easley (knee). Much of their yardage came late, too, and against third-teamers. The teams combined for 279 yards over the final six drives, and scored 27 of the 41 points in the final 4:09. Driskel capped a 70-yard drive with a 1-yard run that put the Blue team ahead 21-14 with 53 seconds remaining. Brissett rallied the Orange team with a 34-yard touchdown pass to Trey Burton with 23 seconds remaining. But Brissett’s two-point conversion pass sailed high and through the end zone. The QBs couldn’t be much different. Driskel is a scrambler who was recruited by former Florida coach Urban Meyer to run the spread option. He admits he locked onto one receiver too often as a freshman. “Just knowing the playbook gives you confidence,” Driskel said. “Last year, I was kind of a little clueless out there just kind of locking onto one guy. I feel like I’m going through my progressions more and just playing instead of thinking.” Brissett is a pocket passer with a big arm and unafraid to take chances down the field. “I love throwing the ball deep,” Brissett said. “I love getting the drive over in one play, two plays, so we don’t have to stay on the field that long.” Driskel would seem to be the better choice to play behind an experienced offensive line that was shaky much of last season. But Muschamp made it clear Saturday that the O-line has made the most progress of any position group and could emerge as a strength in August. That could mean Brissett is the better fit for the pro-style system Muschamp wants. “Last year, unfortunately, we played both of them,” Muschamp said. “Right now, I’m really happy that both of them played. It was tough to go for them because at any level—I don’t care if it’s high school, college or pro—the quarterback position is so critical and to put so much on those young guys on a football team coming in here as true freshmen is tough. We certainly benefitted from it, though.” Brissett and Driskel still have to make progress for the Gators to contend in the always-tough Southeastern Conference in five months. Muschamp has charged them with getting receivers together over the summer for workouts, key to developing the kind of on- and off-field chemistry Florida has lacked the last two seasons. “Right now is a huge, huge indicator to see who takes a leg up and see who’s going to get our football out there and do team drills,” Muschamp said. “They’ve got to take control of our football team. … I feel comfortable our offense will, but those guys need to take the next step as far as that’s concerned.”

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admin — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 05:36:18 +0000

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