The Times' Sam Farmer talks about the now-infamous handshake between Jim Harbaugh and Jim Schwartz on Sunday.
Monday, October 17, 2011
College football: Sizing up the first BCS standings [Video]
The Times' Chris Dufresne discusses what stands out in the first BCS standings and how injuries could affect the title race.
Devils Become Digital Host for New Jersey Youth Hockey
NEWARK — If you want up-to-date statistics for the players on the New Jersey Devils, the team’s official Web site is a wise place to click. If you want to find out how the Hackensack Comets, Edison Eagles, Livingston Lancers, Don Bosco Prep Ironman and all the other New Jersey high school ice hockey teams are faring, you can also go to Devils.nhl.com.
The Devils have become the first N.H.L. club to host the statistics, game scores and standings of the majority of high school and youth leagues in its state. Team officials say that more than 6,000 children play for more than 300 teams whose on-ice action will be reported on the site.
“We’re proud to be doing this,” Devils’ chairman Jeff Vanderbeek said in an interview. “Connecting all of these New Jersey teams to our Web site is a big step for us. We’ve worked hard to truly become New Jersey’s team. When it comes to social media and the digital space, we want to be the most cutting edge team in all of sports.”
Many of the local teams’ jerseys are displayed on the Prudential Center concourse and the Devils host the state high school championships. Vanderbeek said research has shown that hockey is the fastest-growing sport among children in New Jersey. The initiatives are civic gestures and practical business moves and Vanderbeek does not pretend otherwise. “Today’s youth hockey players are tomorrow’s season ticket holders,” he said, “and we want them to be Devils fans right from the start.”
The new section of the Web site, with the information from the state’s Youth Hockey League and Interscholastic Athletic Association, has been branded as New Jersey Youth Hockey Central. The Devils have provided the youth hockey leagues with LeagueStat, an online tracking system, so representatives from the teams can enter data in real time or after the game.
In addition, the Devils’ Mission Control – a group of 25 Devils-loving volunteers that monitors all team news on Twitter, Facebook and Web sites from the team’s office in Prudential Center – will provide coverage of the local leagues.
“This is a great opportunity for our student athletes to be featured on the Web site of an N.H.L. team,” said Jack DuBois, the assistant director of the New Jersey Interscholastic Athletic Association. “Our long-term relationship with the Devils has taken high school sports to a new level.”
Wings Off to Fast, if Quiet Start
It’s time to introduce the Detroit Red Wings.
Remember them?
They’ve been Detroit’s forgotten team, lost in the giddiness of the Tigers playing in the American League Championship Series and the Lions cruising to a 5-1 start.
But the Red Wings, very quietly, have been on a torrid streak of their own, starting the N.H.L. season 4-0. One of the keys to the Wings’ fast start is the play of newcomer defenseman Ian White, who is plus-4 with a pair of goals and an assist.
White signed with the Wings for two years and $5.75 million in the offseason and was expected to fill the void left by the retirement of Brian Rafalski. White has played for the Maple Leafs, Sharks, Flames and Hurricanes since entering the N.H.L. in 2005.
White told the Detroit News he’s feeling good with the Wings so far, a team that plays his style of hockey.
“They pride themselves on hanging on to the puck and making plays,” White said. “They don’t have a whole lot of that dump and chase and have good puck possession. I feel that works good for me.”
White has been paired with team captain Nicklas Lidstrom and they seem to have found chemistry quickly.
“It’s been special, obviously he’s one of the best of all-time,” White told the Detroit News. “To get an opportunity to play with him, alongside him, and just watch the way he plays out there is amazing.”
The Wings have also gotten fast starts from Jiri Hudler, Jakub Kindl, Johan Franzen, Valterri Filppula. Hudler and Franzen are a plus-4, with two goals and two assists each. Filppula has a goal and two assists.
Kindl, a defenseman, has become a bigger part of the Wings lineup and is a plus-6.
Another strength, so far, for the Wings has been the steady goaltending of Jimmy Howard. He’s put up a 1.63 goals against average, good for fifth in the N.H.L.
Dan Wheldon crash: Two injured drivers treated and released
This post has been updated. See below for details.
Two other IndyCar drivers involved in the 15-car wreck that killed British driver Dan Wheldon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday were treated for minor injuries, their teams said.
Will Power of Penske Racing, who finished second in the title standings behind champion Dario Franchitti, complained of pain in his upper back after his car went airborne in the crash.
But "there was no evidence of significant injuries so he has been released" from University Medical Center in Las Vegas, Penske Racing said.
Another driver, Pippa Mann of the Rahal Letterman Lanigan team, had surgery Sunday night at the same hospital to treat a severely burned pinkie finger on her right hand. She was being released Monday morning, her team said.
[Updated, 12:20 p.m. Oct. 17: A third driver, J.R. Hildebrand, suffered a “severely bruised sternum” in the accident and was held overnight at University Medical Center but was released Monday, his team, Panther Racing, said.]
The Izod IndyCar Series, meanwhile, announced that it canceled its championship banquet scheduled for Monday night at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas.
The series also said information on a public memorial for Wheldon will be released at a later date.
RELATED:
Graphic: Comparing tracks at Las Vegas and Indianapolis Motor Speedways
-- Jim Peltz
Photo: Drew Boyd places a checkered flag at a gate of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as part of a memorial for two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon. Credit: Scott Olson / Getty Images
Greatest sports figures in L.A. history, No. 16: Jerry Buss
Continuing our countdown of the 20 greatest figures in L.A. sports history with No. 16, Jerry Buss.
No. 16 Jerry Buss (no first-place votes, 723 points).
Amid the pageantry of the Lakers' ring ceremony for their 2010 championship, Kobe Bryant wanted to make sure one man received the proper credit.
"None of this would have been possible," the superstar guard told the Staples Center crowd, "without the greatest owner in the history of team sports … Mr. Jerry Buss."
Certainly, no owner in team sports has been more successful.
Since Buss bought the Lakers in 1979, they have won 10 championships and been to the NBA Finals 16 times. Only twice in that span have they missed the playoffs.
While building the Lakers into one of the premier franchises in sports, he's done so with a certain flair.
"Right after I bought the team, I used to go into this little lounge in Santa Monica," Buss said in an interview with Times columnist Bill Plaschke in 2008. "The owner was also the musical director for MGM and they used to perform musicals there late at night, it was fantastic. Just before they would start, everyone would start shouting, 'Showtime! Showtime!' I remember thinking, this is how I wanted people to feel about their team."
L.A. Times October MMA Rankings
Heavyweight
2. Junior Dos Santos
3. Alistair Overeem
4. Brock Lesnar
5. Fabricio Werdum
6. Daniel Cormier
7. Josh Barnett
8. Frank Mir
9. Antonio Silva
10. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
It was a busy month for MMA in every decision except heavyweight. With Cain Velasquez vs. Junior Dos Santos, Alistair Overeem vs. Brock Lesnar and Daniel Cormier vs. Josh Barnett on the horizon, the biggest heavyweight bouts of the past month featured Travis Browne scoring an underwhelming win over Rob Broughton and Stefan Struve submitting Pat Barry.
Light Heavyweight
1. Jon Jones
2. Rashad Evans
3. Lyoto Machida
4. Quinton Jackson
5. Dan Henderson
6. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua
7. Gegard Mousasi
8. Thiago Silva
9. Forrest Griffin
10. Rich Franklin
Jon Jones scored the most impressive win of his career in his first UFC Light Heavyweight Title defense at UFC 135. Quinton Jackson showed up in great shape and kept pushing Jones, but he was no match for Jones' much more varied and dynamic offense. That would have seemed to set up Rashad Evans finally getting his shot at Jones, but due to a hand injury he was passed in line again. Lyoto Machida will receive the next title shot at Jones December in Toronto. Evans took the news in stride and will fight the winner.
Middleweight
Miami at Jets: Matchup to Watch
Dolphins (0-4) at Jets (2-3), 8:30 p.m. Eastern, ESPN
Matchup to Watch: Jets’ defense vs. Dolphins’ run game
According to the defensive coordinator Mike Pettine, the Jets wasted the best game of the noted run-stopper Mike DeVito’s career in a loss Oct. 9 in New England. Another wasted game would be demoralizing. The Jets fully expect the Dolphins, with Matt Moore making his first start at quarterback for Miami, to run and run and run, with Reggie Bush, Lex Hilliard and, if healthy, Daniel Thomas. The Jets yield 134.8 rushing yards per game. For a unit aiming to regain respectability, nothing more than domination Monday will suffice.
Number to Watch: 45.6
That is how many yards Joe McKnight has averaged on his nine kickoff returns, best in the N.F.L. McKnight has produced two long returns — a 107-yarder for a touchdown against Baltimore and an 88-yarder against New England that led to a third-quarter touchdown — and his explosiveness could pose problems for Miami. The Dolphins have allowed 27.4 yards per kickoff return, putting them in the bottom third of the league. The Jets, though, will surely welcome fewer returns by McKnight if that means that their defense is playing well.
Quotation of the Week
“They’re still the team to beat in our division.”
Dolphins Coach TONY SPARANO, whose team lost by 14 points to first-place New England (5-1) in the season opener, on the 2-3 Jets.
On Schwartz, Harbaugh and Postgame Protocol
From a transcript on the Lions’ Web site: “After the game, went to shake an opponent coach’s hand. Obviously you win a game like that, you’re excited and things like that, but I think there’s a protocol that goes with this league.”
Jim Schwartz
From SFgate.com: “I was just really revved up, and it’s totally on me. I shook his hand too hard. I mean, I really went in and it was a strong kind of a slap, grab handshake.” Jim Harbaugh
Here is a look at what others are saying about the confrontation between 49ers Coach Jim Harbaugh and Lions Coach Jim Schwartz, including the possibility that it might have been stoked by an incident in the first quarter.
Chris Chase, Yahoo’s Shutdown Corner blog:
Though neither of the coaches said so in their post-game press conference, the brewing discontent may actually have started much earlier, during a strange first quarter incident in which Harbaugh tried to challenge a touchdown he wasn’t allowed to challenge.
Mark Purdy, The San Jose Mercury News:
Schwartz has gained a reputation as a borderline over-the-top coach who screams at officials and taunts other team’s players, so it was amusing to hear him talk about proper “protocol” for handshakes as if he were Mr. Manners.
It’s one thing to be emotional and impassioned; it’s another to be a bad winner, and Harbaugh’s behavior will get him that reputation if he doesn’t ramp things down. I mean, look what it did for Josh McDaniels in Denver, when he chest-bumped players en route to a 6-0 start in 2009. People don’t forget, and it can be harder going down than it is going up.
Week 6 Quick Hits: Harbaugh Overshadows His Team
A quick and analytical tour of Sunday’s games:
49ers 25, Lions 19
Jim Harbaugh has a habit of overshadowing his big wins with postgame run-ins. His tiff with Pete Carroll will soon take a backseat on YouTube to his scuffle with Jim Schwartz.
Too bad, too. It’s Harbaugh’s team that deserves to be talked about. The Niners are 5-1 after becoming the first Pacific Time Zone club since the ’96 Niners to win three-straight in the Eastern time zone. The 49ers play great defense, run between the tackles and put a ceiling on their quarterback’s opportunities for mistakes by relying on a heavy dose of underneath passes. It’s a formula that many great high school teams use, which is fitting given that San Francisco plays in the N.F.C. West.
The stories of this game (game, not postgame) were defensive end Justin Smith’s 2011 breakout performance (he’s a fantastic player who had been, by his standards, somewhat quiet this season), Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman’s brilliant coverage on tight end Brandon Pettigrew, Michael Crabtree’s sticky hands (77 yards on nine receptions, seemingly all of them being either third-down conversions or tight-rope jobs near the sideline) and Frank Gore’s 47- and 55-yard runs on wham plays off right guard, with tight end Delanie Walker blocking down off motion against Ndamukong Suh. The Niners these days are riding their stars and game-planning shrewdly. Perhaps there will be many more Harbaugh celebrations during the postgame handshake.
Falcons 31, Panthers 17
We’ve been tracking the Atlanta Falcons’ search for an identity all season. With Julio Jones (hamstring) out of the lineup, they found their old one, feeding Michael Turner the ball 27 times and getting 139 yards in return. Turner, like Chicago’s Matt Forte two weeks ago, feasted on off-tackle runs against Carolina’s Jon Beason-less front seven. According to ESPN, Turner ran outside 13 times for 105. He broke tackles with regularity and got stronger by the quarter.
Jones is a fantastic talent, but as we’ve been saying all season, the Falcons need to take a hard look at how much they’re incorporating their prized rookie into the offense. This remains a run-oriented team.
Bengals 27, Colts 17
Last season the Bengals looked as if they would head into their bye with a 3-2 record. But with 25 seconds left in their Week 5 contest against the Bucs, Carson Palmer threw an atrocious pick-six to Sabby Piscitelli, costing the Bengals the game and their positive outlook on the rest of the season.
In Palmer’s place is the rookie Andy Dalton, who completed 25 of 32 passes for 264 yards and a touchdown against the hapless (i.e. Manningless) Colts. Dalton’s Bengals are 4-2 heading into their bye. They’re still yet to be truly challenged, aside from a stellar Week 4 win against the Bills, but as they say, You can only beat who’s on your schedule.
Most encouraging for the Bengals is the steady success of their rookie quarterback. Dalton continues to be poised and accurate when his pocket is clean, and he’s benefiting from the friendly play-calls – such as play-action, rollouts and underneath throws on early downs – of the first-year offensive coordinator Jay Gruden. He’s also developing good chemistry with No. 4 overall pick A.J. Green (who seems to be the real deal).
Packers 24, Rams 3
The Packers have won 12 straight dating to last season and are 6-0 for the first time since 1965. (Full disclosure: this opening line was actually written before Sunday’s game against the Rams.)
Things have gotten bad in St. Louis, if for no other reason than things have gotten good in San Francisco, making it no longer easy to climb out of the basement of football’s worst division. Steve Spagnuolo deactivated the team’s prized offensive and defensive free-agent pickups, wideout Mike Sims-Walker and linebacker Ben Leber. Sims-Walker was struggling to get open; Leber had been playing too laterally against the run. Spagnuolo denied that these moves were made to shake things up. Then he shook things up by saying, “We just put out the guys out there that we thought would help us win the game.”
Giants 27, Bills 24
With Brandon Jacobs out for a second straight week, Ahmad Bradshaw had an opportunity to punch in three one-yard touchdown runs against the Bills. Bradshaw finished with 104 yards on 26 carries.
Perhaps more interesting is the running back situation for the Bills. Fred Jackson racked up 121 yards on 16 carries (80 of those yards coming on one play), but backup and 2010 first-round pick C.J. Spiller got no carries. Spiller did catch five balls for 39 yards. This seemingly verifies the reports from after Roscoe Parrish’s injury a few weeks ago that the Bills are inclined to make Spiller a regular at wide receiver.
Steelers 17, Jaguars 13
The box score says this was a low-scoring, defensive slugfest highlighted by Rashard Mendenhall’s 146 yards rushing. It was. But don’t think this means we’ll see the return of black-and-blue Steeler football. A major component of Pittsburgh’s gameplan was attacking the Jacksonville safeties deep with Mike Wallace. Wallace, maybe the most dangerous big-play receiver in the game, finished with two catches: a 28-yard score early in the second quarter and a 48-yarder two possessions later. Wallace is now the first player since Terrell Owens in ’04 to have a 40-yard reception in five straight games. Make no mistake: these Steelers are still a pass-first club.
Eagles 20, Redskins 13
Rex Grossman completed nine passes to the Redskins and four passes to the Eagles. He reacted to phantom pocket pressure all afternoon, ultimately taking his jitteriness and poor accuracy to the bench in the fourth quarter. Cue Cyndi Lauper’s True Colors.
Three of Grossman’s interceptions wound up in the hands of Kurt Coleman, Philadelphia’s backup safety, who started in place of injured Jarrad Page. Don’t be surprised if Coleman keeps the starting job. He’s not a consistently dynamic player, but Page has been a major liability against the run this season. Run defense was not an issue for the Eagles this week. They held the Redskins to 42 yards on the ground (150 less than Philly’s offense generated).
Raiders 24, Browns 17
The Raiders honored Al Davis’s memory in their first home game since his death. Team greats were on the field at halftime and John Madden lighted a caldron in the Coliseum that will allow fans to remember Davis. Then the Silver and Black went out and finished the deal against the Browns.
The victory moved Oakland to 4-2. It may have been a Pyrrhic victory, though, as quarterback Jason Campbell left with a broken collarbone. He’s reportedly expected to miss the season. Kyle Boller, in relief, was not as impressive as his solid 8-for-14, 101-yard stat line suggests. In fact, those who witnessed Kevin Boss’s fake field goal touchdown reception might even argue for punter/holder Shane Lechler to get snaps under center.
Ravens 29, Texans 14
The Texans are now 0-2 without Andre Johnson. His absence is reflected in the team’s stagnating rushing numbers: 70 yards on 25 carries against the Raiders, 93 yards on 25 carries against the Ravens. Running lanes tend to narrow when defenses don’t fear your receivers over the top.
As for the Ravens, expect most Tuesday power polls to have them as the top team in the A.F.C. Their defense remains nasty, and their offense is somehow producing with a quarterback barely completing 50 percent of his passes.
Patriots 20, Cowboys 16
A surprisingly low-scoring game was headlined by the stellar performance of both defenses. The Patriots may have set a template for attacking Rob Ryan’s defense. The key is tempo. The Patriots moved the ball with relative ease when they went hurry-up in the second half. Ryan’s men did not have time to communicate or mill about and disguise looks before the snap. They played reaction football, and were damaged by a few solid ground gains early in the fourth quarter and a patented Tom Brady dink-and-dunk game-winning drive late in the fourth.
Part of the reason the Patriots can make defenses hesitant is their two tight ends. Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski are potent run-blockers (Gronkowski especially) who are also capable of beating cornerbacks (Hernandez especially). There’s no defensive personnel package that can adequately match up to them.
Bucs 26, Saints 20
Just in case you thought head coaching wasn’t important…
The Saints lost play-caller and decision-maker Sean Payton to a broken leg in the second half (Payton actually called most of the first-half action with his leg in a temporary brace and elevated on the bench). In the fourth quarter, trailing, 26-20, with over 3:00 to play and two timeouts remaining, the Saints faced a fourth-and-two at the Bucs’ 4-yard line. Assistant head coach Joe Vitt chose to go for it. Drew Brees wound up scrambling to his right under pressure, failed to see a wide-open Robert Meachem to his left and threw an interception in the end zone. A failed running play would have at least kept the Bucs backed up near the goal line.
Bears 39, Vikings 10
Here’s a question to ponder and debate with friends: what are the five most exciting plays in your football lifetime? Not single plays, but types of plays. Example: my football lifetime began in 1994 (I was 8; that’s when I started really following the N.F.L. closely). The five most exciting types of plays for me (in no particular order): Devin Hester returning a punt/kick; Randy Moss going long; Michael Vick scrambling/buying time; Deion Sanders returning a pick; and Barry Sanders running.
This discussion changes based on when one’s football lifetime began, but Hester has to be involved in plenty of them, no?
Andy Benoit is an N.F.L. analyst for CBSSports.com and founder of NFLTouchdown.com. He can be reached at andy.benoit@NFLTouchdown.com or @Andy_Benoit.
NFL to review skirmish between Jim Harbaugh and Jim Schwartz
A hard handshake, a dismissive shove and a shoulder bump is all it took Sunday to reduce a couple of spectacular coaches to a spectacle.
The dust-up Sunday between San Francisco's Jim Harbaugh and Detroit's Jim Schwartz was an embarrassment.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello confirmed Monday that the league is looking into the incident, which happened in the aftermath of San Francisco's 25-19 victory at Detroit. If there's any discipline, it likely would fall under the personal-conduct policy.
Poll: Who was a poorer sport, Jim Harbaugh or Jim Schwartz?
Is this a huge deal? Not really. But if the league cares about underscoring the importance of sportsmanship, it should take some sort of disciplinary action. After all, the NFL sets the example for every level of football beneath it.
Harbaugh had every right to celebrate, of course, after his 5-1 team posted an impressive road victory over the previously undefeated Lions. His hard handshake and backslap/shove of Schwartz was clearly over the top. That enraged Schwartz, who lost his cool, chased down the 49ers coach and angrily gave him a shoulder bump, escalating the situation.
Both of these coaches are passionate and combustible, and that's part of what makes them good at what they do. This isn't the first time Harbaugh has rubbed an opposing coach the wrong way (before playing Pete Carroll's Seahawks this season, he said: "I've got to say that really, the only friend I have in the NFL is my brother [John Harbaugh] who's on an opposing team.") By the same token, Schwartz isn't exactly subdued when he celebrates a win.
So the league should do something swiftly, preferably on Monday, that isn't over the top, but reminds these coach-of-the-year candidates of something they already know: Getting their teams to play hard for 60 minutes is only part of the job.
ALSO:
Jets look to right the ship against Dolphins
— Sam Farmer
Photo: San Francisco 49ers Coach Jim Harbaugh, left, and Detroit Lions Coach Jim Schwartz are separated after their teams’ game Sunday. Credit: Andrew Weber- US Presswire
Who was a poorer sport, Jim Harbaugh or Jim Schwartz? [Poll]
San Francisco 49ers Coach Jim Harbaugh had every right to be excited Sunday after his team knocked off previously unbeaten Detroit. Likewise, Lions Coach Jim Schwartz had every right to be upset after his team's first loss of the season.
But maybe Harbaugh was a bit unprofessional when he didn't stop celebrating during the coaches' postgame handshake, basically slapping Schwartz's hand and back as if he was congratulating one of his own players (Schwartz later claimed there also was an obscenity involved, although he did not offer any further details).
And perhaps Schwartz overreacted when he pursued Harbaugh across the field and had to be physically prevented from trying to do who knows what to the opposing coach.
Some might say Schwartz was a big baby. Others might think Harbaugh had it coming. What do you think? Which coach displayed worse sportsmanship on the field after Sunday's game? Please vote in the poll and leave a comment explaining why you voted the way you did.
ALSO:
Jets look to right the ship against Dolphins
NFL to review skirmish between Jim Harbaugh and Jim Schwartz
— Chuck Schilken
Photo: Jim Harbaugh, left, and Jim Schwartz exchange postgame unpleasantries. Credit: Leon Halip / Getty Images
So long, Andrew Hilditch, and thanks for all the turkeys
Big umbrella policies: Andrew Hilditch is a big loss to England cricket
Today is a sad day for England cricket (and not just because of the team’s performance in Delhi). A legend of the English game has made his last meaningful contribution to the success of the Three Lions: Andrew Hilditch is to step down as the selectorial supremo of Cricket Australia.
Hilditch has named what will surely be his squad as Australia prepare to face South Africa in a two-Test series and it features a signature Hilditch gamble, this time on a teenage quick. Although the name may suggest a pornographic actress from the 1970s, Pat Cummins is in fact an 18-year-old right-armer from New South Wales. Despite having just three first-class games, and a back injury that caused him to miss the trip to Sri Lanka under his belt, Hilditch insists the selection “is not a gamble.”
Classic Hilditch. In his five-year reign of terror as part-time chairman of selectors, no punt has been too risky, no hunch too esoteric for the man who grabbed wildly at post-Warne spinners as if he were on a timed trolley dash of Australia’s slow bowling supermarket (well, slow bowling corner shop, anyway). The names of Xavier Doherty, Bryce McGain and Steve Smith will hold cherished memories for fans of other nations. The abandonment of Simon Katich, who had outscored everyone in Test cricket bar Alastair Cook since his 2008 reinstatement in the team, was another gem. His contribution to England’s 2010-2011 Ashes win was topped only by Cook and, arguably, Mitchell Johnson.
But Hilditch was more than just a pick-‘em-with-a-pin merchant. He displayed an admirable range for the types of media disaster into which he could blunder by missing the third Test in 2009 to walk his dog on the beach as the team fought the tide of a rampant South Africa. As if to pre-empt bar room gripes across the nation, Hilditch actually did pick the groundsman: step forward (and turn off that lawnmower) Nathan Lyon.
With the Argus report calling for a full-time selector, Hilditch steps down to return to his legal practice in Adelaide. Insurance law’s gain is English cricket’s loss. Andrew, you will be missed.
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