Now I won’t get a discount on Directv this fall. From AP-
DirecTV and Versus have reached a deal after more than six months to return the sports network to the satellite television service.
DirecTV dropped Versus after their contract concluded at the end of August and the two sides were not able to reach an agreement. They said Monday that Versus will be available as part of the same packages as before.
So the long, dumb dispute is over. I’ll be surprised if any details about the settlement are ever disclosed. All parties involved, including the NHL, have much to be embarrassed about. Fans got screwed and we’re not happy.
Both the New York Giants and New York Jets wanted to open next season in the new Meadowlands Stadium. Both will.
The NFL said Monday the Giants will play on Sunday afternoon, Sept. 12, and the Jets will host a Monday night game the next day.
Opponents have not been announced; the full league schedule usually is released in early April.
“After extensive discussions with both teams, we have come up with what we believe is a unique approach for celebrating the opening of the new Meadowlands Stadium,” commissioner Roger Goodell said.
The issue became somewhat contentious when the Jets announced on their Web site that a coin toss conducted by the league would determine which team opens the $1.7 billion stadium. The teams split the cost on the replacement for Giants Stadium, which they both called home since 1984.
But the league never confirmed such a decision until Monday, when it said Goodell did flip a coin for which team would play Sunday.
The Giants won.
I expect there to be sore feelings between the franchises but what the heck for? So you didn’t get to play the first game. I’d be more concerned about making the Super Bowl in 2010 if I were the Jets. Something the team hasn’t done in 41 years.
The NHL has suspended two-time MVP Alex Ovechkin two games for his boarding hit on Blackhawks defenseman Brian Campbell.
It is the second suspension of the season for the two-time defending Hart Trophy winner.
Ovechkin, who was suspended for two games on Nov. 30, 2009, now is considered a repeat offender under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Accordingly, he forfeits $232,645.40 in salary, based on the number of games in the season (82). The money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.
Ovechkin will miss Washington’s next two games — March 16 at Florida and March 18 at Carolina. He will be eligible to return March 20 at Tampa Bay.
Ovechkin met with NHL head disciplinarian Colin Campbell on Monday to discuss the incident in Sunday’s game, according to ESPN.com’s Pierre LeBrun.
Ovechkin was ejected from the nationally televised game for pushing Campbell from behind into the boards in the first period and received a major penalty and a game misconduct. Campbell, according to league sources, suffered a broken clavicle and at least one broken rib, and it’s questionable whether he’ll return this season.
“There’s nothing I can do right now. He just fell and this happens,” Ovechkin said after the game.
No Alexander Ovechkin, you shoved Campbell unnecessarily into the boards. Here’s the proof.
Case closed, Ovechkin deserves to be suspended. Now someone tell me how Colin Campbell doesn’t look even more like a jackass for not suspending Matt Cooke?
The Knights last made the NCAA tournament in 2005. From AP-
Kirk Speraw is out after 17 years as Central Florida’s coach.
UCF announced Monday that Speraw would not be retained after a disappointing 15-17 season, ending one of the longest active tenures in the nation. Associate head coach Mike Jaskulski will serve as interim coach.
UCF athletics director Keith Tribble said in a statement that it “was not an easy decision, but one we felt will serve in the best interest of our program’s direction.”
Speraw finished as the school’s winningest coach with a 279-233 record.
UCF has always been a lesser college basketball in Florida. If the goal of the school is to upgrade the basketball program, the firing of Speraw makes sense. I just don’t think the Knights will be more than the 4th best school in the states for at least a few more years.
Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson usually make this tournament their first of the year.AP-
Farmers Insurance has signed a four-year agreement to be the title sponsor at Torrey Pines for the next four years.
The company stepped in at the last minute this year — 10 days before the opening round — to give one of the more popular PGA Tour events on the West Coast a sponsor.
The tour announced the new deal Monday with the Farmers Insurance Open. The purse will be $5.8 million next year, which is $500,000 more than when Buick was last the title sponsor.
San Diego has turned into one of the top tour stops, though that could be fleeting. Player tastes change, as can be seen with tournaments like Pebble Beach and the Bob Hope that once upon a time drew top fields but not now. Ten years from now San Diego could be like the Sony Open. In the meantime, Farmers made a good pickup.
Brady Quinn will get a chance to start over in Denver. Whether he’ll get to start is up in the air.
The Broncos acquired the former first-round draft pick from the Cleveland Browns for fullback Peyton Hillis, a 2011 sixth-round draft pick and a conditional pick in 2012.
The teams announced the trade Sunday and said the deal is pending physicals.
Ostensibly, Quinn will compete with Kyle Orton for the Broncos’ starting job, although coach Josh McDaniels was unavailable Sunday to comment on the trade, according to a team spokesman.
Quinn’s departure comes one day after the Browns agreed to terms with free agent Jake Delhomme on a two-year contract. Quinn went 3-9 in 12 starts for Cleveland, which drafted him with the 22nd pick in the first round in 2007 out of Notre Dame.
Quinn was supposed to be one of the next great quarterbacks but has instead been one big disappointment. All right, Cleveland stinks but Quinn has shown little to say he may be better than the team he played for. He doesn’t appear to have the arm to be a deep passing threat and IMHO he won’t improve much if at all in Denver.
The NHL’s leading scorer could be facing a suspension. From ESPN-
Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin was ejected from Sunday’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks after receiving a game misconduct penalty for boarding.
With 7:44 remaining in the first period and the Capitals trailing 1-0, Ovechkin checked Blackhawks defenseman Brian Campbell into the boards behind Chicago’s goal, moments after Campbell had released the puck.
Campbell went face-first into the boards and lay on the ice for several minutes before being helped to the dressing room.
Ovechkin was given a five-minute major for boarding in addition to the game misconduct. A game misconduct penalty automatically incurs a fine and further review by the commissioner’s office for possible suspension.
Ovechkin was suspended for two games earlier this season for a knee to knee hit. I suspect the NHL will hand down a similar penalty here but who knows. NHL foolofficial Colin Campbell, might give Ovechkin a penalty shot instead.
Note- I watched the end of the Chi-Wash game which saw the Capitals come back from a 3-0 deficit in the third period to win in overtime. The hit on Campbell was dirty and unneeded.
He also won the 2005 and 2006 editions of the race. From AFP-
Two-times former champion Fernando Alonso marked his debut with Ferrari by leading home team-mate Brazilian Felipe Massa in a resounding one-two triumph at Sunday’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
In a keenly-anticipated race including four champions, three new teams, five rookie drivers and new rules that banned mid-race refuelling, returning 41-year-old ‘red baron’ Michael Schumacher was left among the chasing pack and finished sixth.
It was the German legend’s first Formula One race after three years in retirement, having won a record seven drivers world titles, and he was beaten by his Mercedes team-mate and fellow-German Nico Rosberg, who came home fifth.
Defending Formula One Champion Jenson Button finished 7th. Button who didn’t have that spectacular a career(Only one ever Formula One win) before before 2009, could be just another ordinary driver again.
