Pacific hires Buckley as coach for 2010
July 31, 2009
FOREST GROVE, Ore. (AP)—Former UC Davis assistant Keith Buckley has been hiredas football coach at Pacific as the Boxers prepare for a return to action in2010.
Pacific last fielded a football team in 1991. School officials decided thisspring to revive the program as a way to increase enrollment.
Buckley has spent that last four seasons as an assistant at UC Davis, hisalma mater, and helped guide the team in transition from Division II to DivisionI under head coach Bob Biggs.
Buckley has also had coaching stints at Humboldt State and Idaho.
Warrick agrees to 1-year deal with Bucks
July 31, 2009
MILWAUKEE (AP)—Forward Hakim Warrick(notes) has agreed to a one-year contract withthe Milwaukee Bucks.
His agent, Bill Duffy, announced the deal on Friday.
The former Syracuse star played the last four seasons with the MemphisGrizzlies, averaging 11.6 points and 5.0 rebounds in 82 games last season.
Duffy said the Grizzlies’ decision to rescind a tender offer they made toWarrick as a restricted free agent is a sign of tough economic times for NBAteams.
Terms were not released because the deal has not been completed, but itsvalue is expected to exceed $3 million. The agreement was reported by theMilwaukee Journal Sentinel and yahoo.com earlier Friday.
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Defendant in Pitino case gets lawyer
July 31, 2009
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP)—A former federal prosecutor was appointed Friday torepresent a woman charged with trying to extort Louisville coach Rick Pitino,three weeks after her prior attorney quit the case citing “irreconcilabledifferences” with her.
U.S. Magistrate Judge James Moyer tapped James A. Earhart, who used to workin the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney’s office in Louisville, to handlethe case of Karen Cunagin Sypher. She has pleaded not guilty to federal chargesof trying to extort money from Pitino and lying to the FBI.
Cunagin Sypher is accused of demanding college tuition for her children, herhouse to be paid off and, eventually, $10 million.
Cunagin Sypher’s previous attorney, Thomas Clay, resigned from the case onJuly 9, but did not disclose the cause of the rift.
Cunagin Sypher would not comment after Friday’s hearing.
During the hearing, Cunagin Sypher answered questions about her financesfrom Judge Moyer, disclosing that she has $1,600 monthly income from anex-husband and Tim Sypher.
Moyer told Cunagin Sypher he didn’t want to know the details about whatcaused the problems with Clay. Moyer then appointed Earhart, calling him “wellfamiliar” with the federal criminal justice system. Moyer told Cunagin Sypherthat cooperation is key to a case progressing smoothly.
“It’s a two-way street,” Moyer said. “The lawyer and client have to worktogether.”
Brady likely to play in exhibition games
July 31, 2009
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP)—New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady(notes) expects tobe on the field in exhibition games next month—his first action since injuringhis knee in the 2008 regular season opener.
“Yeah, I think I’ll play,” he told reporters after practice on Friday. “Imean, last year it wasn’t like I wasn’t supposed to play. I would have loved tohave played. Just some circumstances came up where I couldn’t.”
After missing the entire preseason last year with an unspecified footinjury, the two-time Super Bowl Most Valuable Player—and 2007 NFL MVP—wasplaying the first quarter of the first game last season when his knee collapsedon a hit from Kansas City Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard(notes). He missed the rest ofthe season.
Back on the field for training camp this week, Brady admitted to some armsoreness as he works to get back into football shape.
“It feels pretty good, and then you come out and do four or five practicesin a row and it doesn’t feel as hot, so it’s part of what training camp isabout,” he said. “The soreness becomes a part of the practices and you justhave to do a good job of taking care of yourself. My arm was in really goodshape coming in. It still feels like it’s in good shape, so hopefully it staysthat way.”
Brady said he doesn’t spend much time thinking about the repaired knee. Heis wearing a brace during practices.
“I’ve kind of made a concerted effort to move on,” he said. “That waslast season and this is this season. I don’t think about it. I think it’s been agreat learning experience for me and I’m using it, really, as a positive.Hopefully I can go out this year and be a great quarterback for this team.”
Brady said the brace isn’t restricting his movement, although he joked hemay have gone from “slow” to “slower.” The biggest challenge for the Patriotstar will be getting back to his form in 2007, when he threw an NFL-record 50touchdown passes in leading the Patriots to a 16-0 regular season before losingto the New York Giants in the Super Bowl.
“I hope it finishes different if we are in that position,” Brady said.
But he said there were some good things that came from his injury and forcedtime off.
“I think I’ve learned a lot of things that I wouldn’t have learned had Ibeen playing, things that help you grow as a person and as a player, as aleader, as a teammate,” he said. “I’m going to take those lessons andhopefully be a better player for them. When you’re sitting watching, it’s notfun and you’re not a part of it and you don’t feel a part of it, even thoughyou’re a part of the team. I feel a part of it now.”
One of the changes has been with his family. Brady got married over thewinter to supermodel Gisele Bundchen, and the two are reportedly expecting achild (though Brady would neither confirm it nor deny it).
But a bigger surprise has been in coach Bill Belichick, who Brady said is“going soft on us.”
“He doesn’t yell at us like he used to. We’re looking for him to get afterus a little bit,” Brady said. “I don’t know what happened. I think as he’sgetting older, he’s getting a little softer.”
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C-USA to play in Hawaii Bowl through ’13
July 31, 2009
HONOLULU (AP)—Conference USA has agreed to participate in the Hawaii Bowlthrough 2013.
ESPN Regional Television, the owner and operator of the college bowl game,made the announcement Friday.
This year’s game at Aloha Stadium is slated for Dec. 24 and will feature aConference USA team against a team from the Western Athletic Conference. Hawaiiwill represent the WAC, if the Warriors are bowl eligible.
Conference USA’s most recent appearance in the Hawaii Bowl was in 2007, whenEast Carolina defeated the WAC’s Boise State.
C-USA teams have played in five of the seven bowl games played since itsinception in 2002.
Notre Dame beat Hawaii 49-21 in last year’s game.
Nuggets acquire Malik Allen from Bucks
July 31, 2009
DENVER (AP)—The Denver Nuggets have acquired Malik Allen(notes) from the MilwaukeeBucks in exchange for Walter Sharpe(notes) and Sonny Weems(notes).
The Nuggets announced the deal Friday.
Allen played in 49 games for Milwaukee last season, averaging 3.2 points and2.1 rebounds.
In 409 games over an eight-year career, he has averaged 5.4 points and 3rebounds. He also played for Miami, Charlotte, Chicago, New Jersey and Dallas.
Sharpe came to the Nuggets in a July 13 trade after spending his rookieseason in Detroit, where he appeared in eight games and averaged 1 point.
Weems appeared in 12 games for the Nuggets last season, averaging 1.6points.
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Tony Stewart takes pole at Pocono
July 31, 2009
LONG POND, Pa. (AP)—Rain has washed out Sprint Cup qualifying, putting Tony Stewart on the pole at Pocono Raceway.
NASCAR set the field on points Friday, allowing last week’s winner Jimmie Johnson to start second. Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards round out the top five.
Only 43 teams are at the track, so every car qualifies for Sunday’s race.
Stewart, who holds a 192-point lead in the standings over Johnson, won the June race at Pocono.
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Jackson ties US Senior Open 36-hole scoring record
July 31, 2009
CARMEL, Ind. (AP)—Tim Jackson has tied the U.S. Senior Open 36-hole scoringrecord, shooting a 5-under 67 in the second round for a 11-under 133 and atwo-shot lead over Fred Funk.
Jackson, an amateur, birdied No. 15 to reach 11 under for the first time onFriday, but bogeyed the next hole, his first in two rounds. He closed out hisround with an 8-foot birdie at No. 18 to get back to 11 under and tie DaveStockton and Simon Hobday.
Funk also shot 67.
The other players tied with Jackson for the lead after Thursday—GregNorman, Dan Forsman and Joey Sindelar—had afternoon tee times.
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Massa’s injury reverberates among racing peers (PA SportsTicker)
July 31, 2009
By RUSTY MILLER AP Sports Writer
Dario Franchitti was thousands of miles away when a freak accident nearly killed Felipe Massa.
That didn’t lessen the impact on Franchitti and every other race driver.
Massa, a 28-year-old Brazilian driving a Ferrari, was qualifying last week for the Hungarian Grand Prix when a spring came off another car and ricocheted into the left side of his helmet. The blow caused him to loose control and hit a tire barrier at 120 mph.
The photo of a stunned Massa – sitting in his car, the side of his helmet destroyed, blood running around his closed left eye and his right eye wide open in disbelief – haunts Franchitti.
“It was a pretty horrible accident,” the IndyCar Series driver said softly.
Broken bodies and broken lives are a constant specter in racing, yet jarring images of twisted metal, flames and frenzied emergency workers always bring the danger back to the forefront.
Massa underwent emergency surgery for multiple skull fractures and was planning to return home to Brazil on Monday.
His was the second accident in six days in which track debris struck a driver in the helmet and caused an accident. F2 driver Henry Surtees, the son of former F1 champion John Surtees, was killed at Brands Hatch on July 19 after he was struck by a tire from another car, lost consciousness and drove into a barrier.
“We are aware of the danger, but if you’re going to race you have to be willing to accept the potential consequences,” said legendary driver Mario Andretti. “All you can do is hope that it’s not going to happen to you, or at least feel that you can control it.”
Franchitti, preparing for this weekend’s Meijer Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway, said Massa’s injuries reminded him that not only is his sport dangerous, but that such tragedies cannot be predicted.
“It just shows you that these things are possible,” Franchitti said. “If you look at Massa’s accident, what are the chances of that spring bouncing exactly like that and following that exact line? It’s so random sometimes, these things. They just remind you of the dangers of the sport.”
Massa’s accident sparked a call for racing officials to re-examine safety issues. Drivers said such efforts cannot account for chance.
“Every sanctioning body in the world, they’re constantly trying to make their cars and track safer,” said Franchitti, second in the IRL driver point standings behind Target Chip Ganassi teammate Scott Dixon. “(There is) so much safety equipment. The drivers are safer, but there are certain things you just cannot prepare for.”
Formula One’s Mark Webber, who finished third in the Hungarian GP, called Massa’s accident “incredibly freakish.”
“This is the job we do, but also we’re very relieved, of course, that he’s OK,” Webber said.
Andretti, the 1969 Indy 500 winner and 1978 Formula One driving champ, said when getting behind the wheel a driver must accept that there are things that cannot be controlled.
“We look at it as a calculated risk,” he said. “We know that many factors of a race can change things dramatically, such as being caught up in other people’s mistakes, or equipment failure. Look at the situation with Felipe Massa; certainly it was not his fault. Someone else’s mechanical failure – and he almost paid for it with his life.”
Drivers tend to minimize the risks. Then along comes tragedy to remind them.
“Sometimes you can become complacent because these things haven’t happened in a while,” said Franchitti, a 36-year-old veteran driver. “Then you get something like what happened with Henry Surtees, unfortunately being killed the week before, and then Massa’s accident. …”
There is no room for doubt and fear in racing. Drivers will again strap themselves in and go as fast as possible, though Massa’s accident did give them pause. Still, they have faith that those who set up the cars and tracks are doing their best to make the sport safe.
“The sport has come a long way in really addressing the safety aspects of it and making the tracks and cars so much safer than ever,” said Andretti, a 69-year-old survivor of decades on tracks of all kinds. “But no matter how hard you try, no matter how much of a safety net you have around you, there’s still the possibility of a fluke situation that can do you in.”
As in life, there are no guarantees.
“You can be walking across the street and you can get hit by a car when someone looks down to pick up a phone that dropped,” Franchitti said. “There’s so much … things happen.”
After the Hungarian GP, Webber offered a glimpse into the mind of a world-class driver.
“We missed (Massa) on the grid today,” he said, “but the show goes on.”
It’s a show Massa intends to rejoin as soon as he recovers.
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Lowe's won't return as title sponsor of Charlotte track (NASCAR.com)
July 31, 2009
Lowe's has decided not to renew its naming-rights deal at Lowe's Motor Speedway after this year, ending an 11-year relationship that began as the first race track naming-rights sponsorship.
After more than a year of renewal talks, the home improvement retailer informed Speedway Motorsports Inc., the track's parent company, of its decision within the last two weeks, industry sources said.
The initial 10-year, $35 million deal ran through 2008 and last year the two sides agreed on a one-year extension through 2009 when they could not finalize a long-term deal. Talks continued this year, but the two sides have not been able to reach an agreement.
Sources said it's not inconceivable for Lowe's to change its mind, given that five months remain on the current deal and the unpredictable nature of the economy, but such a change of heart is considered unlikely.
Marcus Smith, president and general manager of Lowe's Motor Speedway, said, "Both companies have benefited as strategic partners for 11 years and we are finishing a one-year extension. Currently, we're still working on and discussing the components of another extension to continue our relationship. Those components have not been finalized, but the process is moving along and we are confident to have this completed in the near future."
Barring a late agreement with Lowe's or the signing of a new corporate partner, the track is expected to go back to its former name, Charlotte Motor Speedway, in 2010.
The Lowe's sponsorship, signed in February 1999, never started the trend of track title sponsorships that many predicted a decade ago. SMI sold one other title deal to Infineon Technologies at its Sonoma, Calif., track in 2002 for $34.6 million over 10 years, and rival International Speedway Corp. sold a 10-year, $40 million title sponsorship to the Automobile Club of Southern California for its Fontana, Calif., track last year, but the slew of title-sponsored tracks that many expected never materialized.
When the deal was initially struck in 1999, it marked a first for a speedway. Charlotte Motor Speedway under the guidance of former president Humpy Wheeler had become known as a trendsetter in the business, hosting the first night race in 1992 and building the first on-site condominiums that stayed open year-round.
It remains one of the nation's busiest facilities with a pair of NASCAR Sprint Cup dates, as well as the Sprint All-Star Race. But sources say that the entitlement became too pricey for Lowe's, which wasn't willing to significantly increase its current investment of $3.5 million a year.
Industry sources say that SMI initially came to the table asking for close to $9 million annually, and while that number dropped over the course of their discussions, the two sides could not come together.
There were other factors. Lowe's must also consider its future with driver Jimmie Johnson, who has won three consecutive Cup championships and stands as the sport's most dominant figure.
The Lowe's deal with Johnson and Hendrick Motorsports expires at the end of 2010 and those renewal talks are expected to begin later this year. Industry sources say that Lowe's will be expected to pay a hefty increase to maintain its position as the only primary sponsor on Johnson's No. 48 car, which is uncommon in this time of co-primary and "tri-mary" sponsorships on a car. The most expensive sponsorships go for the mid-$20 million range annually.
Lowe's also is navigating the recession, which has struck the home improvement and building sector especially hard. Lowe's earnings fell 22 percent in 2008 and 60 percent in the final quarter of the year.
Lowe's first-quarter earnings for 2009 were down 21.6 percent year over year and overall sales were down 1.5 percent, but the company offered improved guidance for the rest of the year, suggesting the category might have reached bottom.
Still, Lowe's stock price has dropped in the last year, falling from a 52-week high of $28.49 to $13 in March before a spring recovery lifted it over $21 a share.
How much those business difficulties played into the decision is uncertain, but it didn't help SMI's efforts to renew the deal.
Smith, the son of SMI chairman Bruton Smith, led the talks on the SMI side, while Bob Gfeller, senior vice president of marketing, led the team on the Lowe's side, although sources say the ultimate decision came from the top, CEO Robert Niblock.
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