Bedlam game has Big 12 championship feel
November 28, 2011
There is no longer a Big 12 championship game since there are only 10 teamsand a round-robin schedule.
There is still a championship-like finale coming this Saturday whenthird-ranked Oklahoma State (10-1, 7-1 Big 12) and 13th-ranked Oklahoma (9-2,6-2) play their annual Bedlam game for an automatic BCS berth.
No. 16 Kansas State (9-2, 6-2) plays its regular season finale Saturdayagainst Iowa State.
If the Wildcats and Oklahoma win, they and Oklahoma State would have thesame records. Oklahoma would get the BCS berth on head-to-head record.
Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops says he wouldn’t view it as a three-way tie forthe Big 12 title if that happens. He says the theme of the round-robin play wasthat there would be “one true champion since everybody’s playing each other.”
Stewart hires Steve Addington as crew chief
November 28, 2011
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP)—NASCAR champion Tony Stewart has fired Darian Grubb and hired a new crew chief.
Stewart-Haas Racing says Steve Addington has taken over the No. 14 Chevrolet effective immediately. Addington quit as Kurt Busch’s crew chief last week.
Stewart won his third NASCAR championship a week ago, and begins his celebration this week in Las Vegas. Grubb will also be honored, but it will likely be awkward.
Grubb was told midway through the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship he was out at the end of the year. That didn’t change even after Stewart won five of the 10 Chase races and beat Carl Edwards for the title.
Grubb will have no shortage of job offers, and Rick Hendrick said Monday he’s offered Grubb an engineering position.
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Rays sign C Jose Molina to $1.8M deal
November 28, 2011
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP)—Catcher Jose Molina(notes) and the Tampa Bay Rays haveagreed to a $1.8 million, one-year contract.
Molina gets a $1.5 million salary for next season under Monday’s agreement,and the Rays hold a $1.8 million option for 2013 with a $300,000 buyout.
The 36-year-old hit a career-best .281 this year with three homers and 15RBIs in 55 games. He is keeping up his tour of the AL East following stints withthe New York Yankees (2007-09) and Toronto (2010-11). He has thrown of 62 of 170runners attempting to steal in the last four seasons, at 36.5 the top percentagein the big leagues.
The brother of Bengie and Yadier Molina(notes), he also has played for the ChicagoCubs (1999) and the Angels (2001-07).
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Kentucky makes return to No. 1 in Top 25
November 28, 2011
Kentucky is back at No. 1 in The Associated Press’ college basketball pollfor the first time since the 2009-10 season. Saint Louis is back in the Top 25for the first time since 1993-94.
The Wildcats (6-0) replaced North Carolina, which had been No. 1 since thepreseason poll, on Monday, receiving 46 first-place votes from the 65-membernational media panel. The Tar Heels (5-1) dropped to fifth following their 90-80loss to UNLV in the championship game of the Las Vegas Invitational.
Ohio State (6-0) moved up from third to second and had 17 first-place votes,while Duke (7-0), which won the EA Sports Maui Invitational, jumped from sixthto third and had the other two No. 1 votes.
Syracuse, North Carolina, Louisville, Baylor, Connecticut, Wisconsin andFlorida rounded out the top 10.
UNLV (7-0) used the win over North Carolina to move in at 18th. The Runnin’Rebels were ranked for four weeks last season.
Saint Louis (6-0), which beat Boston College, Villanova and Oklahoma to winthe 76 Classic, moves in at No. 23, the Billikens’ first time in the poll inalmost two decades.
North Carolina is at Kentucky on Saturday, a matchup that would have had No.1 facing No. 2.
This is Kentucky’s 90th week at No. 1, fourth on the all-time list behindUCLA (134), Duke (122) and North Carolina (108).
Before the one-week appearance at No. 1 in 2009-10, the Wildcats’ last timeon top of the rankings was the final poll of 2002-03.
Xavier moved up one place to 11th and was followed by Alabama, Missouri,Michigan, Kansas, Marquette, Pittsburgh, UNLV, Gonzaga and Vanderbilt. The lastfive ranked teams were Mississippi State, Memphis, Saint Louis, California andTexas A&M.
Florida State (5-2) dropped out from 22nd following losses to Harvard andConnecticut in the Battle 4 Atlantis.
Arizona (4-2) fell from No. 23 after a home loss to San Diego State.
Missouri had the week’s biggest jump, using easy wins over Notre Dame,California and Binghamton to move from 21st to No. 13. Memphis, which lost toMichigan and Georgetown in the Maui Invitational, had the biggest fall, droppingfrom No. 8 to 22nd.
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Ohio St. set to introduce Meyer as coach
November 28, 2011
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)—Urban Meyer is returning to coaching—and to hisroots.
The former Florida coach and Ohio native will take over at Ohio State, aprogram with a glittering past that has suffered through a difficult year ofNCAA violations, suspensions and a 6-6 record.
The university scheduled a 5:15 p.m. news conference to introduce its newcoach. But it did not mention Meyer, even though there are numerous reports thatMeyer has already agreed on a multiyear contract that could pay him almost $6million a year.
More on Meyer Forde: Coachs credibility takes hit Wetzel: OSU-Michigan about to heat up 
Urban Meyer will take over an Ohio State program that has gone 6-6 in 2011.(US Presswire)
After wild speculation for weeks about Meyer and Ohio State, ESPN reportedon Monday morning that the two sides had reached an agreement. Meyer has been agame analyst for the network for the past year.
Meyer won two national championships in six years as the coach at Florida.He left the Gators a year ago, citing health concerns and a desire to spend moretime with his family. Now, the 47-year-old will return to the place where hiscollege coaching career began in 1986.
Earle Bruce, who was the head coach at Ohio State when Meyer was a graduateassistant, has remained a close friend and confidant of Meyer through the years.He said he had no concerns about Meyer’s health issues.
“Well, if he’d had a heart attack and his heart was bad, I’d be worriedabout that,” the 70-year-old Bruce said on Monday. “I’m not worried that hewas stressed out over the game of football because he was thinking too much andnot doing some things (exercising) that would have kept him straight. I think hegot everything back under control by sitting out a year. I think he missedfootball. And he’s good at it.”
Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith and other university officials didnot respond to requests for comment. There are reports a team meeting set forSunday night was moved to Monday afternoon before the news conference.
Meyer takes over a program that has been hit by several suspensions and theforced resignation of coach Jim Tressel. The Buckeyes completed a 6-6 seasonunder interim Luke Fickell with a 40-34 loss to rival Michigan on Saturday.
In 10 seasons as a head coach—two at Bowling Green, two at Utah and six atFlorida—Meyer has a 104-23 record, winning three national coach of the yearawards. His teams are 7-1 in bowl games, including the Gators’ 41-14 victoryover unbeaten and top-ranked Ohio State in the 2007 Bowl Championship Seriestitle game. They are also 4-0 in BCS bowl games.
Meyer had persistently denied all the talk surrounding him and Ohio State.Soon after Tressel was pressured to resign, Meyer said he wasn’t interested inleaving ESPN, where he was a college football analyst.
“I am committed to ESPN and will not pursue any coaching opportunities thisfall,” he said in a statement released the day after Tressel lost his job. Justlast week he said no job had been offered to him nor was he pursuing one.
His comments came amid weeks of speculation he was Ohio State’s first choiceto take over at Ohio State.
He inherits a program still facing NCAA sanctions. But he also inherits ayoung team led by a freshman quarterback, Braxton Miller, who would seem to be aperfect fit for his spread offense.
A native of Ashtabula, Ohio, Meyer becomes the 24th head coach at OhioState. He succeeds Fickell, who took over last spring when Tressel’s 10-yearreign came crashing down. Tressel was forced out for knowing but not telling hissuperiors that Buckeyes players had most likely broken NCAA rules by taking cashand free or discounted tattoos from the subject of a federal drug-traffickinginvestigation.
Tressel was forced to resign on May 30. Missing several top players becauseof NCAA suspensions stemming from the tattoo mess, the Buckeyes were hit withmore suspensions when three players accepted $200 in cash for attending acharity event and others were forced to sit out or had their existingsuspensions extended for being overpaid for summer jobs.
Ohio State’s .500 record marked the most losses at Ohio State since JohnCooper’s 1999 team also went 6-6 overall and 3-5 in the Big Ten.
The Buckeyes had already lost their string of six Big Ten titles when theschool was forced to vacate the 2010 season for the NCAA violations. The schoolhas also self-imposed two years of NCAA probation, offered to return $339,000 inbowl revenue from 2010 and to give up five scholarships over the next threeseasons.
Ohio State is awaiting final word from the NCAA’s committee on infractions.The committee tagged Ohio State with a “failure to monitor” label—secondonly to a lack of institutional control on the list of most egregious chargesagainst a university. The school could still be hit with a bowl ban, a loss ofmore scholarships, or other penalties.
At the time of his retirement—after being taken to a hospital, dehydratedand complaining of chest pains—Meyer said, “After spending more than twodecades motivating and celebrating the young men I’ve been so proud to coach, Irelish the opportunity to cheer for my three terrific kids as they compete intheir own respective sports. I know how fortunate I am to be in a position tomake this choice.”
He and his family—wife Shelley, college-age daughters Nicki and Gigi andyounger son Nate—celebrated Thanksgiving at their Florida home.
Horschel one of many chasing future at q-school (PGATOUR.com)
November 28, 2011
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla.—A year ago at q-school, Billy Horschel had to wait until the final hole of the final round to see if he would get a PGA TOUR card. Thanks to a bogey by Will Strickler—a former teammate of Horschel’s at the University of Florida—Horschel made it on the number and got his card.
Fast forward to the final month of the 2011 season and Horschel was in a similar predicament, this time needing to play his way up from the depths of the money list to secure his playing privileges for next season.
In his first 19 starts this year, Horschel had missed 13 cuts and earned just under $200,000. Over his next five starts, however, he didn’t finish outside the top 30, which included a tie for 10th at the Reno-Tahoe Open and a tie for seventh at the Frys.com Open, where he shot a final-round 65.
He followed that with a pair of 64s the first two rounds of The McGladrey Classic, where he went into the final day trailing by a shot and seemingly destined to avoid a return trip to what many consider golf’s toughest tournament.
Instead, he shot 75 to tumble into a tie for 20th.
“I was more nervous about playing well,” Horschel said. “I didn’t want to mess up at all. It wasn’t my day.”
Or his week.
A few days later Horschel missed the cut at the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Classic to finish outside the top 125 on the final money list. As a result he’s headed back to q-school, which begins Wednesday at PGA West.
“I wish I would’ve had a week or a couple more days [after McGladrey] to deflate,” Horschel said. “I practiced [at Disney] Tuesday and Wednesday and you get out there and nothing’s really happening. You’re trying not to think ‘God, I need to play well.’
“I was just worn out from the week before. I didn’t handle [McGladrey] the way I wanted coming in.”
As a result, Horschel, who had spent much of his rookie season in 2010 on his couch following season-ending wrist surgery in February, will be making his third trip to q-school in as many years.
He was successful each of the last two trips, but it’s not a place many imagined the former Gator would be.
In 2006, Horschel won individual medalist honors at the U.S. Amateur, where he posted an opening-round 60 before becoming a four-time All-American at the University of Florida. He was twice named the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year and in 2007 posted a 3-1 record in the Walker Cup.
Horschel turned pro in 2009 and later that year finished seventh at q-school, seemingly destined for a permanent spot on the TOUR.
But just four starts into the 2010 season, Horschel tore a tendon in his left wrist. He didn’t play again until August on the Nationwide Tour, where he missed four of five cuts.
“You may be healthy, but your confidence and the way you think and feel out there isn’t the same, and the trust take a little bit longer,” Horschel said. “You make compensations for having a bum wrist and when you come back healthy you try to get out of those bad habits.
“It took me longer than I thought and I probably stood in my own way.”
The only thing standing in the way of a now healthy Horschel is six days of q-school.
If there’s a positive for Horschel, it’s that by finishing 140th on the money list he will at least have conditional status on TOUR next year—meaning he would likely get something in the neighborhood of 15 or more starts.
That of course is not the case for most in the field this week at PGA West, where Horschel thinks his experience will be a benefit.
“I’m not in a dreadful place where I’m trying to figure out what I’m going to do next,” Horschel said. “If I do what I did the last couple of months I’ll be fine.”
Report: Meyer hired as Ohio State coach
November 28, 2011
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)—Urban Meyer is coming back to coaching and joiningbeleaguered Ohio State, ESPN reported Monday.
The sports network did not cite a source for its report, but Meyer workedfor ESPN the past year. There are unconfirmed reports he has agreed to amultiyear contract that will pay him almost $6 million a year.
Meyer won two national championships in six years as the coach at Florida.He left the Gators a year ago, citing health concerns and a desire to spend moretime with his family. Now, the 47-year-old Ohioan will be returning to his rootsby becoming coach of a Buckeyes team facing NCAA problems.
Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith did not immediately respond to arequest for comment. No announcement has been set by Ohio State, although therewere reports a team meeting set for Sunday night has been moved to Mondayafternoon.
Meyer takes over a program that has been hit by several suspensions and theforced resignation of coach Jim Tressel. The Buckeyes completed a 6-6 seasonunder interim Luke Fickell with a 40-34 loss to rival Michigan on Saturday.
In 10 seasons as a head coach—two at Bowling Green, two at Utah and six atFlorida—Meyer has a 104-23 record, winning three national coach of the yearawards. His teams are 7-1 in bowl games, including the Gators’ 41-14 victoryover unbeaten and top-ranked Ohio State in the 2007 Bowl Championship Seriestitle game. They are also 4-0 in BCS bowl games.
Meyer had persistently denied all the talk surrounding him and Ohio State.Soon after Tressel was pressured to resign, Meyer said he wasn’t interested inleaving ESPN, where he was a college football analyst.
“I am committed to ESPN and will not pursue any coaching opportunities thisfall,” he said in a statement released the day after Tressel lost his job. Justlast week he said no job had been offered to him nor was he pursuing one.
His comments came amid weeks of speculation he was Ohio State’s first choiceto take over a program that has a glittering past but has faltered over atroublesome last 12 months.
He inherits a program still facing NCAA sanctions. But he also inherits ayoung team led by a freshman quarterback, Braxton Miller, who would seem to be aperfect fit for his spread offense.
A native of Ashtabula, Ohio, Meyer becomes the 24th head coach at OhioState. He succeeds Fickell, who took over last spring when Tressel’s 10-yearreign came crashing down. Tressel was forced out for knowing but not telling hissuperiors that Buckeyes players had most likely broken NCAA rules by taking cashand free or discounted tattoos from the subject of a federal drug-traffickinginvestigation.
Tressel was forced to resign on May 30. Missing several top players becauseof NCAA suspensions stemming from the tattoo mess, the Buckeyes were hit withmore suspensions when three players accepted $200 in cash for attending acharity event and others were forced to sit out or had their existingsuspensions extended for being overpaid for summer jobs.
Ohio State’s .500 record marked the most losses at Ohio State since JohnCooper’s 1999 team also went 6-6 overall and 3-5 in the Big Ten.
The Buckeyes had already lost their string of six Big Ten titles when theschool was forced to vacate the 2010 season for the NCAA violations. The schoolhas also self-imposed two years of NCAA probation, offered to return $339,000 inbowl revenue from 2010 and to give up five scholarships over the next threeseasons.
Ohio State is awaiting final word from the NCAA’s committee on infractions.The committee tagged Ohio State with a “failure to monitor” label—secondonly to a lack of institutional control on the list of most egregious chargesagainst a university. The school could still be hit with a bowl ban, a loss ofmore scholarships, or other penalties.
At the time of his retirement—after being taken to a hospital, dehydratedand complaining of chest pains—Meyer said, “After spending more than twodecades motivating and celebrating the young men I’ve been so proud to coach, Irelish the opportunity to cheer for my three terrific kids as they compete intheir own respective sports. I know how fortunate I am to be in a position tomake this choice.”
He and his family—wife Shelley, college-age daughters Nicki and Gigi andyounger son Nate—celebrated Thanksgiving at their Florida home.
Pic to drive for F1 team Marussia next year
November 28, 2011
PARIS (AP)—Charles Pic will drive for Marussia in Formula One next year,replacing Belgian driver Jerome d’Ambrosio.
Virgin Racing, which will re-brand as Marussia Virgin Racing next season,announced on its website that the 21-year-old Frenchman will drive alongsideTimo Glock of Germany in their new-look team.
D’Ambrosio drove with Glock at last weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix in thefinal race of the season. Neither managed to score a point during the entire F1season.
Pic impressed during the young drivers’ test held during the Abu Dhabi GP,and spent the past two seasons competing in the GP2 Series.
Moscow-based sports car manufacturer Marussia Motoring became VirginRacing’s controlling stake-holder last February.
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Golf-World Cup winner Woodland dreaming of Ryder debut (Reuters)
November 28, 2011
By Bernie McGuire
HAIKOU, China, Nov 28 (Reuters) – Gary Woodland istargeting a United States Ryder Cup debut in Illinois nextSeptember after combining with Matt Kuchar to win the World Cupteam competition.
“The Ryder Cup has always been a huge goal of mine and thatgoal is now much more important after Matt and I won the WorldCup,” Woodland told Reuters in an interview.
“Ever since I turned professional I have dreamt about beingin a U.S. Ryder Cup team and it now seems a big step closer.
“I had the goal at the start of the year to make thePresidents Cup. That didn’t pan out but then Matt chose me topartner him in the World Cup and I could not have been happier.”
Sunday’s victory in China means the U.S. now hold thePresidents Cup and World Cup trophies and the only professionalteam title no longer in their possession is the Ryder Cup.
Woodland, who landed his first U.S. PGA Tour victory at theTransitions Championship in Florida in March, said hisexperiences at the Mission Hills resort last week would help himin his quest to qualify for the team that will be captained byDavis Love III next year.
HOME TURF
“Europe has kind of had the States’s number in most of therecent Ryder Cups but it would be nice to be in the team thatwin back the trophy on home turf,” said the 27-year-old.
“It’s been a long while since the States had the Ryder Cup,World Cup and Presidents Cup in the same trophy cabinet but forme winning the World Cup is going to be a big inspiration tomake the Ryder Cup team.
“Any time you can prove you can play foursomes and fourballsin a team format it definitely helps. It helps my confidence andit further boosts Matt’s confidence given that he was also onthe winning Presidents Cup side the week before,” addedWoodland.
“Hopefully both he and I can play well enough in 2012 tomake Davis’s side. I grew up watching the Ryder Cup and it wouldbe an honour for me to play.”
He said the fatherly approach that the likes of PhilMickelson and Jim Furyk adopted at the Presidents Cup inAustralia could only bolster the chances of the American team.
“There are now a lot of younger players who could qualifyfor the next Ryder Cup side,” Woodland explained.
“The strong aspect of the U.S. team is there are guys likePhil Mickelson and Jim Furyk, who I heard were excellent in thePresidents Cup and were acting very much like coaches down therein Australia.
“They were very helpful to the younger members of the teamand that’s something Matt undertook with me this week. He wasalways very positive, very encouraging and always very helpfulin putting me at ease.
“Now the likelihood the next Ryder Cup team is going to bemuch younger than we’ve seen in a long time, it’s great thatplayers like Phil, Jim and Matt are taking on this father-likerole.”
Woodland, who is ranked 48th in the world, said he benefitedhugely from combining with number 11 Kuchar at the World Cup.
“I’ve learned so much from playing alongside Matt and that’sgoing to be a great springboard for me to take into 2012,” hesaid.
“I also hope Davis has taken some notes because I hope I’veproved I can handle myself capably in a team format.” (Editing by Tony Jimenez. To comment on this story:sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)
OneAsia plans more tournaments, prizemoney
November 28, 2011
HONG KONG (AP)—The OneAsia golf tour says it expects an expansion in itsschedule for next year and increased prizemoney despite an organizationalrestructuring and the resignation of chief executive Ben Sellenger.
OneAsia said Monday that its Singapore office will close as part of acentralization of operations in Hong Kong.
Chairman Sang Y. Chun said the move “will facilitate our plans fordevelopment and further expansion.”
He said the 2012 schedule will be released soon, with an expansion on the2011 calendar of 10 tournaments, of which all but three were co-sanctioned withother tours.
Sellenger, who had been chief executive since the formation of OneAsia in2008, had left to “pursue other challenges.”
