Friday, November 27, 2009

Tiger Woods injured

Tiger Woods was seriously injured early Friday when he hit a fire hydrant and a tree near his Florida home, authorities said.

The Florida Highway Patrol said the PGA star hit the fire hydrant and tree as he pulled out of his driveway in his 2009 Cadillac sport utility vehicle.

Woods was taken to Health Central Hospital. Officials there did not have record of him as a patient, though the news release said Woods' injuries were serious.

***

[12/12/09] Tiger Woods is shifting his focus from winning majors to saving his marriage.

Two weeks after Woods crashed his SUV into a tree outside his Florida home, setting in motion a swift fall that featured reports of rampant extramarital affairs, golf's biggest star delivered a stunning development of his own. He temporarily is walking away from the game that made him the first $1 billion athlete.

"After much soul searching, I have decided to take an indefinite break from professional golf," Woods said Friday evening on his Web site. "I need to focus my attention on being a better husband, father, and person."

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Pujols unamimous MVP

As he explained why he would intentionally walk Albert Pujols even when baseball tradition and accepted strategy screamed not to, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Joe Torre offered a seven-word defense of his action: "Albert is in a class by himself." If Pujols wasn't then, he took a step closer to it Tuesday.

The St. Louis Cardinals first baseman won his second consecutive and his third career National League MVP award, sweeping the first-place votes of 32 writers around the NL cities. The Baseball Writers' Association of America made the announced Tuesday afternoon on its Web site.

The vote, as expected, wasn't close, with Pujols out-distancing runner-up Hanley Ramirez of Florida and Philadelphia's Ryan Howard, who finished third. Ramirez got 15 second-place votes; Howard got six.

Pujols becomes the 10th player in the eight decades of the award to win three. Only Barry Bonds, who has seven MVPs in his career, has more than the nine players now tied with three.

Pujols is the first unanimous selection since Bonds in 2002. He is the seventh player to win the NL award unanimously, joining fellow Cardinal Orlando Cepeda (1967), Bonds and four others: Carl Hubbell (1936), Mike Schmidt (1980), Jeff Bagwell (1994) and Ken Caminiti (1996).

Monday, November 23, 2009

Mauer MVP

Joe Mauer became only the second catcher in 33 years to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award, finishing first in a near-unanimous vote Monday.

The Minnesota Twins star received 27 of 28 first-place votes and 387 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Yankees teammates Mark Teixeira (225 points) and Derek Jeter (193) followed. Detroit's Miguel Cabrera drew the other first-place vote and was fourth with 171 points, one point ahead of the Angels' Kendry Morales.

Mauer became the second Twins player to win in four years, following Justin Morneau in 2006. Morneau gave Mauer a bottle of champagne Monday at the Metrodome.

Lawler and Smith suspended

for mispronouncing Iran?

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Lieberman to coach guys

The first woman to play pro basketball with guys is also the first hired to coach them.

Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman was introduced Thursday as the head coach of the Dallas Mavericks' affiliate in the NBA Development League, which will tip off next November.

The D-League team is partially owned by Donnie Nelson, the Mavericks' president of basketball operations. Hiring Lieberman was his idea, and he's confident young men won't have a problem taking orders from a woman — at least, not this woman.

"She's got the skins, the experience — she knows what she's doing — so I certainly hope that we're well beyond those issues," Nelson said. "Besides, if you can't respect authority, no matter what form or color it comes in, I don't want you on my team."

Lieberman has been a basketball pioneer since she was 17 and made the U.S. Olympic team for the first women's tournament, at the 1976 Montreal Games. She starred at Old Dominion and in various women's pro leagues, then in 1986 played for the Springfield Fame of the United States Basketball League. When the WNBA started, she returned as a player, and later was a coach and general manager. She returned briefly as a player in July 2008, at age 50.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Jerry Glanville resigns

Jerry Glanville has resigned as head coach of the Portland State Vikings after three losing seasons.

This past season, Portland State went 2-9 overall and 1-7 in the Big Sky Conference. Over Glanville's tenure the Vikings went 9-24.

Glanville, who coached in the NFL and was known for his 3-4 defense as well as a penchant for wearing black, was not available for comment Tuesday.

Portland State athletic director Torre Chisholm said he and Glanville mutually agreed on his resignation late Monday night.

He praised Glanville, 68, for his commitment.

"He brought an energy level and a sense of character to our program," Chisholm said. "It was infectious."

In the end, however, Glanville's gregarious energy did not translate into wins on the field.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Dick Tomey to retire

As soon as word leaked out, the phone calls, text messages and well wishes poured in, culminating with Dick Tomey's announcement Monday that he would step away from a coaching career that spanned five decades, including the past five seasons at San Jose State.

Tomey, 71, will end 29 years as a head coach Dec. 5 in the Spartans' season finale at Louisiana Tech.

Until then, he told an overflow crowd of players, coaches, officials and friends at the Simpkins Center, he wanted to focus on winning the final three games, starting Saturday against Hawaii.

Typically, Dick Tomey tried to sidestep the spotlight. But this would be one challenge he could not meet after mentoring hundreds in a career whose longevity rivals the likes of Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden.

"It would be hard for anybody to do better than what he's done," said Arizona assistant Jeff Hammerschmidt, who played and coached with Tomey at Arizona and was SJSU's linebackers coach in 2007. "What a great leader, coach and father figure to everybody."

Tomey brought stability to SJSU's floundering program after arriving in 2005. He will leave with the most victories of any Spartan coach in two decades.

The coach also left an indelible mark on West Coast football, leading Hawaii, Arizona and San Jose State to bowl games. He is 182-143-7.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

MIchelle Wie wins first LPGA title

Honolulu's Michelle Wie won the first LPGA event of her career on Sunday, fulfilling the promise of a decade with a 3-under par 69 to win the Lorena Ochoa Invitational by two strokes over Paula Creamer.

Wie finished off the victory in style, hitting a greenside bunker shot to 6 inches on the 18th hole and then tapping in for a birdie.

The 20-year-old Wie raised both arms in the air — her putter in her right hand — and then put her hand over her mouth. After pulling the ball out of the hole, she turned to the gallery, looked to the sky and let out a large sigh of relief.

Wie hopped several times and kept pumping her right fist over and over. After all the expectations, her long wait was over.

Solheim Cup teammates Morgan Pressel and Creamer showered Wie on the 18th green after the winning putt.

"Just seeing them come out and pour beer all over me, it was a great feeling," Wie said. "I've always seen it on TV and I've always wanted people to pour beer on me. It was as great as I thought it was."

Friday, November 06, 2009

college athletics in the red

Most of the nation's college athletic departments are still trying to get out of the red zone.

The NCAA's latest report on revenues and expenses, released Tuesday, showed fewer than 25 percent of all Football Bowl Subdivision schools made money in 2007-08, while the remaining 302 schools competing in Division I struggled to break even.

Twenty-five of 119 FBS schools reported overall profits, an increase from 19 in 2006.

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Yankees win World Series

Paint the town in pinstripes! Nearly a decade after their dynasty ended on a blooper in the desert, the New York Yankees are baseball's best again.

Hideki Matsui tied a World Series record with six RBIs, Andy Pettitte won on short rest and New York beat the Philadelphia Phillies 7-3 in Game 6 on Wednesday night, finally seizing that elusive 27th title. It was the team's first since winning three straight from 1998-2000.

Matsui powered a quick rout of old foe Pedro Martinez — and when Mariano Rivera got the final out it was ecstasy in the Bronx for George Steinbrenner's go-for-broke bunch.