B2 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 2 1 2009 THE HARTFORD COURANT READER SPEAK 1 'Watch Kaili McLaren when she gets the ball in the high post. Watch the cuts the other players make and the passes that Kaili makes. It's real basketball." Bill at courant.comreaderspeak SPORTS COURANT. COMCTSPORTS ATHLETIC SHORTS THE WEEK AHEAD Today Thu. Fri.
Sat. Sun. Mon. Tue. TENNIS Strong Start For Nadal Rafael Nadal rolled past Christophe Rochus 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 Tuesday night in their first-round match at the Australian Open in Melbourne.
Nadal had 10 aces and hit 47 winners in the 22 games. In the other night match, No. 9 James Blake beat Frank Dancevic 6-4, 6-3, 7-5, joining fellow Americans Andy Roddick, Mardy Fish and Amer Delic in the second round. On the women's side, Ana Ivanovic, who lost last year's final to Maria Sharapova, defeated Alberta Brianti 6-3, 6-2, and Nadia Petrova beat Sania Mirza, 6-3, 6-2. The USTA will become a minority owner in World Team Tennis, buying a 25 percent stake in an effort to expand its junior program.
UConn Villanova Notre Men 7 pm XL Dame 7 pm UConn Cincinnati Louisville Women 7 pm 7:30 pmGP Central Mount St. Quinnipiac Men Mary's 7 pm 2 pm Central Quinnipiac MountSt. Women 4 pm Mary's 7 pm Hartford Vermont Stony Men 7:30 pm Brook 2 pm Hartford Boston U. Stony Brook Vermont Women 7 pm 2 pm 7 pm Heat Magic Mavericks Celtics 7:30 pm 8 pm 1pm Knicks uns Grizzlies 76ers Rockets 7:30 pm 7:30 pm 7 pm 7:30 pm Wolf Lowell Wilkes-Barre AHL All-Star Pack 7 pm Scranton 7 pm Game 7 pm DO YOU BELIEVE? Kansas basketball coach Bill Self merely said hello to a top recruit last week, yet school officials are checking to see whether that might constitute an NCAA infraction. John Wall had just played in a high school tournament in Springfield, Mo.
Wall, 6 feet 4, is the top-rated point guard in the ESPNU 100. Self, whose team won the national championship last season, does not deny having the brief encounter with Wall, who plays for Word of God Christian Academy in Raleigh N.C. It happened during an evaluation period in which college coaches can't have contact with prospects. The Springfield News-Leader said the exchange took place outside Wall's locker room. XL-XL Center; GP-Gampel Pavilion; -at DCU Center, Worcester BLOGBLAST UCONN BASKETBALL Mike Anthony courant comuconnmen The Huskies gathered in the UConn locker room at Gampel Pavilion to watch Barack Obama be sworn in as the 44th president of the United States.
Coach Jim Calhoun flew to Washington at 5 a.m. to witness the festivities firsthand. Associate head coach George Blaney was in Storrs, watching on TV with a bunch of players who had a hand in political history by voting for the first time in November. "I couldn't keep from crying, to be honest with you," said Blaney, 69. "It was nice to seethe players together and how solemn they were, all paying attention and listening for what it means to them.
All during the speech, though, I kept thinking Obama would have been a great coach. And that's what he's trying to do, he's trying to build a team. I was blown away by the speech. He has the remarkable ability to bring people together. I have not seen that since John Kennedy." ON THE AIR COLLEGE BASKETBALL 7 p.m.: Villanova at UConn, ESPN; Radio: 1080,1400, 7 p.m.: Women: Hartford at Boston University, 7 p.m.: Virginia Tech at Wake Forest, ESPN2 9 p.m.: Clemson at North Carolina, ESPN 9 p.m.: Baylor at Kansas State, ESPN2 NBA 7:30 p.m.: Celtics at Heat, CSN; 105.5 7:30 p.m.: Suns at Knicks, MSG 8 p.m.
Nets at Hornets, YES; 660 NHL 7:30 p.m.: Bruins at Maple Leafs, NESN; 1030 GOLF 3 p.m.: PGA Tour, Bob Hope Classic, first round, Golf TENNIS 3 p.m: Australian Open (tape); 11 p.m. and 3:30 a.m.: live coverage, ESPN2 NFL Ross Controls Dolphins New Miami Dolphins majority owner Stephen Ross won't mess with success: He says Bill Parcells will remain in charge of the football operation. Ross, a New York real estate billionaire, completed his purchase of 95 percent of the franchise for $1 billion, with Wayne Huizenga retaining a 5 percent interest. The sale triggered a clause in Parcells' contract allowing him to leave and still receive the $9 million to $12 million remaining on the four-year contract he signed a year ago Former Boston College coach Jeff Jagodzinski will interview with the 49ers for the still-vacant position of offensive coordinator. Jagodzinski was fired by BC on Jan.
7 after he interviewed for the Jets' head coaching job against the school's wishes. The 49ers offered the job to Scott Linehan last week, but he declined it Sunday Defensive line coach Wayne Nunnely became the fifth Chargers assistant to be dismissed. He had been with San Diego for 12 seasons. The Chargers hired Don Johnson to replace Nunnely and Steve Wilks to replace secondary coach Bill Bradley. Ron Meeks has resigned after seven seasons as Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator.
The team announced the move Tuesday, eight days after coach Tony Dungy retired. Dungy hired Meeks, 52, in 2002 The Texans hired Bill Kollar as their defensive line coach. Kollar, 56, was the Buffalo Bills' defensive line coach the past three seasons Dolphins rookie tackle Jake Long was selected to the Pro Bowl as a replacement for Buffalo's Jason Peters, who had a late-season knee injury Long, the first player taken in the April draft, becomes the first top overall pick to make the Pro Bowl as a rookie since New Orleans running back George Rogers in 1981, and the fourth to do so since the 1970 merger. and has had two previous stints on the coaching staff. Doug Graber, a former assistant with the Jets, Buccaneers and Chiefs and a former head coach at Rutgers and Montana State, has been named assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at Ball State.
Freshman Nicola Garat scored the winning goal as Holy Cross (15-0-1) defeated Trinity 2-1 in women's hockey in Worcester. Kim Weiss scored for the Bantams (7-4-2) Wesleyan's Hannah Jackson scored 5:17 into the game but the Cardinals (2-12-1) didn't score again in a 6-1 loss to Sacred Heart (12-11-2) in Bridgeport. SOCCER United In Cup Final Manchester United reached the League Cup final, beating Derby County 4-2 behind a goal from Cristiano Ronaldo and advancing 4-3 on goals. United's opponent in the March 1 final will come out of today's Tottenham-Burnley series, which Tottenham leads 4-1 on total goals MLS and ESPN are moving games from a regular Thursday night time slot to different days of the week in hopes of boosting ratings. The average audience on ESPN2 decreased 12 percent from 288,800 in 2007 to 253,000 in '08.
MLS and ESPN are entering the third year of an eight-year contract. MISCELLANEOUS Armstrong 120th In Stage On a 103-degree day in Adelaide, Australia, Lance Armstrong returned to pro cycling a long way from his champagne days in Paris. The seven-time Tour de France champion finished 120th of 133 riders in Stage 1 of the six-day Tour Down Under, his first road stage in three years Anthony Kim withdrew from this week's Bob Hope Chrysler Classic because of a sore left shoulder, leaving the tournament without a player ranked among the top 15 Greg Norman will play in the Houston Open April 2-5 on a sponsor's exemption Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov took advantage of a fall by world champions Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy, edging the Germans to win the pairs short program at the European Championships in Helsinki, Finland. Mukhortova and Trankov scored a personal-best 69.62. Jana Khokhlova and Sergei Novitski are the leaders after the compulsory ice dance, the Finnstep.
Compiled by Bill Armstrong THREE QUESTIONS WITH GARY BARCHER Bloomfield Rolling Along Gary Barcher is in his 23rd season as Bloomfield High School boys basketball coach. Bloomfield (9-1), No. 5 in The Courant area ratings, won last year's Class championship and the 2002 Class title under Barcher. What happened in the 70-67 overtime loss to Rockville Friday night? First of all, credit Rockville. We knew it would be a tough game, and that they were good.
But we have to learn how to put teams away when we have a lead. We didn't do that. We need to make more shots and free throws, too Bloomfield was 3 of 7 from the line in the final 4:44 of regulation. I think we got rattled on the road. Hopefully, we'll learn from it and be a tougher, better team.
What do small forward Rashad Moore and power forward Denzell Jones give your team? We look to them as our leaders. Both can score underneath. Rashad gets to the line 7 to 10 times a game. Denzell has such enthusiasm, it rubs off on the rest of the players. He has such long arms and can block shots; he's a major force on defense.
Rashad, of course, can make the three. He's just a scorer, outside or inside. On game days why do you wear a tie with the school colors of your opponent? A couple of years ago I broke out a blue sport coat for home games. And we won. So after that I was thinking to wear my tie with the other team's school colors.
It was sort of an anti-mojo thing. Anyway, we were playing well and won. So I've kept on doing it. I'm a business teacher at Bloomfield High, and I always wear a coat and tie. I would say, with the help of my wife, Kimberly I've probably got now 60 to 80 ties over the years." Tom Yantz COLLEGES Michigan Hires Robinson Former Syracuse coach Greg Robinson was hired as Michigan's defensive coordinator, replacing the man who resigned after the Wolverines defense gave up the most points in school history Robinson was fired from Syracuse in November after going 10-37 in four seasons.
At Michigan he replaces Scott Shafer, who resigned in mid-December after his first season. He ran a defense that gave up 347 points. The team finished 3-9 in Rich Rodriguez's first year as head coach Oklahoma State hired Bill Young as defensive coordinator, luring him back to his alma mater from Miami to replace Tim Beckman, who left after two seasons to become coach at Toledo. Young, 62, played at Oklahoma State in 1965-67 BASEBALL Setting A Mini-Ballpark Papelbon Deal: 1 Year, $6.25 Million plate" so that a variety of backdrops are available. A dozen screens in one area make up the stat center, which is surrounded by a device similar to the "Magic Map" used by CNN during its election coverage.
MLB Network has had live coverage of press conferences, such as Mark Teixeira's in New York and Derek Lowe's in Atlanta. In March, the World Baseball Classic will be available on the network. It will carry regular season games on Thursday nights, when the schedule is not usually full, so there is less conflict with local telecasts. MLB Tonight, featuring highlights and analysis, will begin at 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and run until the last out on the West Coast.
"This is going to be like March Madness every day," Petitti said. "We've already shown on MLB Tonight that we're not afraid to speculate. Our philosophy is, if baseball fans care about it, we should cover it." On Sunday, there will be an early evening highlights show, then an updated one after the ESPN game is over. Other times, the network will use MLB Productions' extensive library of footage for shows such as the one in which Berra and Larsen watched the telecast of Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series. CONTINUED FROM Bl back to CBS, creating the Bowl Championship Series and orchestrating the madness of the Super Bowls.
Last June, he came to Secaucus to start MLB's network from scratch. With 150 employees, the launch came off without a glitch, beginning with the countdown from 30 just before 6 p.m. on New Year's Day For trivia buffs, Nolan Ryan, representing No. 30, was the first image shown. After the countdown ended with Ozzie Smith (No.
1), commissioner Bud Selig welcomed viewers. It helped that MLB had its distribution ducks in a row long before Jan. 1. There have been no controversies over who gets to watch. In Connecticut, Comcast, Cox, Charter and MetroCast all have the network, which is also available via satellite (DirecTV).
On its website, mlbnetwork.com, you can type in your zip code to see where to find it. Down the hall from Studio 42, past the control room, graphics room and makeup room, where Larkin was getting ready, is the smaller but far more elaborate Studio 3, named for Babe Ruth, where the signature show, MLB Tonight, will originate. The desk is built on a rotating "home Lopez pitched a career-high 59M innings in 70 games last season (2-0, 2.43 ERA), while limiting left-handed hitters to a .182 batting average. One-year deals for Nady, Cabrera: The Yankees avoided arbitration and agreed to one-year contracts with outfielders Xavier Nady, 30, and Melky Cabrera, 24. Nady's deal is for $6.65 million, Cabrera's for $1.4 million.
Nady, acquired from the Pirates near the July 31 deadline, batted .268 with 12 homers and 40 RBI in 59 games for the Yankees (.305, 25 homers, 97 RBI overall). He's a year away from free agency and has been talked about as trade bait, as has newly acquired outfielder Nick Swisher. Cabrera is coming off an disappointing season. (.249, eight homers, 37 RBI and a trip to the minors). Howard asks for $18 million: Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard, the 2006 NL MVP, asked for $18 million in arbitration, the third-highest figure ever submitted.
The Phillies offered him $14 million. That's $4 million more than his record arbitration award last year, when he led the majors with 48 homers and 146 RBI, and was runner-up to Albert Pujols for NL MVP. He hit .251 and struck out 199 times. Howard can't become a free agent until after the 2011 season. The Phils avoided arbitration and agreed to one-year deals with center fielder Shane Victorino, righthander Joe Blanton and reliever Ryan Madson.
Combined Wire Services The Red Sox and closer Jonathan Papelbon avoided arbitration and agreed to a one-year, $6.25 million contract on Tuesday Also avoiding arbitration was left-handed reliever Javier Lopez, 31, whose one-year deal is worth $1.35 million. Theo Epstein has never gone to arbitration with a player in his six years as Red Sox general manager. Said assistant GM Jed Hoyer: "In arbitration you have to go in there and speak ill of your own player. We're happy so far we've been able to avoid it." Papelbon, 28, had a career-high 41 saves (third in the American League) in 46 chances last season, with a 2.34 ERA. His 67 appearances and 693 innings were also career highs.
His 1.84 career ERA is the second-lowest since 1900 among pitchers with at least 200 innings, behind only Ed Walsh (1.82). He is 2-0 with seven saves in 16 career playoff games and has pitched a postseason-record 25 innings without allowing a run. With 113 career saves, he is second in Red Sox history behind Bob Stanley (132). Papelbon isn't eligible for free agency until after the 2011 season. Also on Tuesday, the Red Sox traded right-handed reliever David Aardsma, 27, to the Seattle Mariners for lefty Fabian Williamson, 20..
