Month: January 2020

NCAAB podcast with Michelle Richardson: Kobe death shocks the basketball world

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usatoday.com file photo: Gianna and Kobe Bryant pose for a photo as Gianna 13 and Kobe 41 died in an helicopter accident Sun Jan 26, 2020 in Calabasas Calif

On the NCAAB podcast with Michelle:

When I first heard of Kobe Bryant passing away today I thought someone was playing some kind of a bad joke as it was first reported by TMZ, then it was the Hollywood reporter, the LA Times, the Washington Post that followed the reports of Kobe and the helicopter crash.

I had to sit in my home alone in shock and in disbelief and sat here and cried, I don’t do a lot of that about celebrities. Someone would have to have some kind of real effect on me in my life. If you all know me and you might have got to know me over these past few years from listening to these NCAA podcasts you know I have been a lifetime Laker fan. I never wavered on my love for the Lakers ever.

It’s hard enough to hear that Kobe had passed and then to find out that his daughter was in the helicopter with him and with six other souls that passed. I was watching the Lakers in Philadelphia (Kobe’s hometown) and watched LeBron pass Kobe on the all time scorers list and Kobe tweeted out support to LeBron for passing him on the all time list. Which was Kobe’s last tweet.

We have pre-empted the NCAA basketball podcast as Michelle brings you the special podcast of the untimely death of former Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AFC defeats NFC in Pro Bowl 38-33, players honor Kobe

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photo by Shawn McCullough (Sports Radio Service): Spectrum Stadium the home of the 2020 Pro Bowl as seen before kick off

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Sunday, January 26, 2020

The AFC defeated the NFC 38-33 in the annual Pro Bowl played in Orlando, Fla. But the players’ collective minds were elsewhere.

Word reached the players shortly before kickoff about the tragic helicopter crash in California that took the life of Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter, and five others.

Green Bay’s Za’Darius Smith suggested to his NFC teammates that the best way to pay tribute to Bryant was to impersonate the late star’s fadeaway jumper after big plays.

Davonte Adams of Green Bay pointed toward the sky and flashed No. 24 on his fingers after making a third-quartrer touchdown pass. Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson led a prayer for Bryant prior to the game.

A moment of silence was held for Bryant at the two-minute warning in the first half as the late NBA star’s picture was on the scoreboards.

Aside from the tributes to Kobe, the NFL’s all-star game went along as usual, with a lot of offense and a lack of tackling. The AFC and NFC combined for 834 total yards and 10 touchdowns.

With that, there were a few defensive gems turned in. Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt ran a fumble back 82 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. Calais Campbell of Jacksonville made that play happen when he sacked Minnesota quarterback Kirk Cousins, stripped the ball, and Watt picked it up and his return gave the AFC a 38-27 lead.

Then, the NFC tried to take advantage of a new rule that allows the scoring team to retain possession by facing 4th down-and-15 from its own 25-yard line. Cousins was intercepted by Ravens safety Earl Thomas.

Other highlights: Ryan Tannehill of Tennessee threw a 60-yard scoring pass to DJ Chark of Jacksonville on a play where officials chose not to rule him down after he was touched by two defenders.

Philadelphia’s Fletcher Cox ran 61 yards for an NFC touchdown. Harrison Smith of Minnesota intercepted a pass by Houston’s Deshaun Watson at the 3, returning it to the 39 before lateraling to Cox. Denver wideout Courtland Sutton didn’t try to tackle the 310-pound Cox; he slapped at the ball for the final 20 yards of Cox’s ramble instead.

Cousins, Drew Brees of New Orleans and Wilson each threw three touchdown passes for the NFC. Ezekiel Elliott and Adams each threw a pass as well — Elliott was intercepted, while Adams threw an incompletion.

Wilson was to start for the NFC, but turned his position over to Brees, who is considering retirement.

Campbell was tabbed as the defensive player of the game, while Lamar Jackson of Baltimore was selected as the offensive MVP. Jackson threw for 185 yards, two TD’s and an interception. Watson threw a touchdown, a pick, and 148 yards.

The winner’s share was $70,000 apiece, while the losers received $35,000 each.

Kobe Bryant perishes along with daughter and seven others in LA helicopter crash

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ap file photo : In this April 16, 2016 photo with the Bryant family left to right Vanessa, Kobe, Natalia, and Gianna before the Los Angeles Lakers and Utah Jazz game at Staples Center in Los Angeles

By Jeremy Kahn

Everybody who knows me knows that I love the University of Michigan Wolverines; because, my family is from the State of Michigan and over a dozen of my family members have degrees from the Ann Arbor campus.

Well, that Is one love in sports I have, but my other love is the Los Angeles Lakers and it is because, I was born and raised in the Los Angeles area.

Today is the hardest day for Lakers fans all over the world; because, of the passing of Kobe Bryant at the age of 41.

Bryant, who was born in Philadelphia, but grew up in Italy, as his father Joe Jellybean Bryant continued his career in that country.

After the elder Bryant retired, the family returned to the Philadelphia area and the legend of Kobe began, when he was in high school at Lower Merion High School.

Bryant skipped college, and was drafted 13th in the 1996 NBA Draft by the Charlotte Hornets and was immediately traded to the Lakers in exchange for Vlade Divac.

That same summer, the Lakers signed Shaquille ONeal to a long-term contract and the Lakers had their next dynamic duo.

In the summer of 1997, Michelle Richardson and I had the opportunity to meet Bryant on a couple of occasions and somewhere I have his autograph along with Tracy McGrady.

In their fourth year that the duo of Bryant and ONeal were together, they won the first of three straight NBA Championships after defeating the Indiana Pacers in six games.

The next season, the Lakers went an amazing 15-1 on their way to their second NBA title over the Philadelphia 76ers and as fate would have it, the Lakers clinched the championship in Bryants hometown of Philadelphia, much to the dismay of Philadelphians.

Bryant and ONeal would another title in 2002, but after the 2004 loss to the Detroit Pistons, the duo would split up, as ONeal was traded to the Miami Heat.

It would be another four years before the Lakers would return to the NBA Finals and after losing to their long-time rivals, the Boston Celtics, they would come back to win back-to-back NBA titles to give Bryant five NBA Championships, along with an NBA MVP and back-to-back NBA Finals MVPs in 2009 and 2010.

Father time began to show on the body of Bryant, as near the end of the 2012-2013 NBA season, Bryant would tear his left Achilles Tendon against the Golden State Warriors.
Bryant would return to the court after the 2013-2014 season began, but he broke the lateral tibial plateau in his left knee. He would play in just six games that season.

The following season, Bryant suffered an injury to his shoulder, as he tore the rotator cuff in his right shoulder.

On November 29, 2015, Bryant announced his retirement and the 2015-2016 season would be his last.

There was last Black Mamba moment to come, as Bryant scored 60 points in his last game of his NBA career against the Utah Jazz. The 60 points are the most by a player in their final game in NBA history.

Bryant would win an Academy Award for his Short Film Dear Basketball, at the 2018 Academy Awards.

Today is a tragic day for members of Lakers Nation all over the world, as Bryant, his 13-year daughter Gianna along with seven others perished in a helicopter crash near Calabasas, California, not too far from my hometown of Canoga Park.

My thoughts and prayers go out to his wife Vanessa, his three surviving daughters, his parents and his sister.

NHL podcast with Daniel Dullum: Will Hertl’s All Star success inspire downtrodden Sharks in second half; Why Ovechkin and Crosby stayed away from All Star game; plus more

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mercurynews.com photo: Tomas Hertl (48) of the Pacific Division representing the San Jose Sharks waves to the fans at the Enterprise Center in St Louis

On the NHL podcast with Daniel:

#1 When someone like Pacific Division’s Tomas Hertl comes from out of nowhere and hits four goals in the NHL All Star could that inspire an already down San Jose Sharks team coming into the second half of the season?

#2 Taking a look at the three on three format of the All Star game is that still an exciting attraction or does it take away from the tradition of hockey and should the NHL go back to the five on five in the All Star game.

#3 Sydney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals, Mark Fluery of the Vegas Knights all were missing from the All Star game, Crosby just came off an long injury and Ovechkin opted to take the All Star break off.

#4 Daniel talk about some of the top teams in the NHL who are vying for the playoffs like the Boston Bruins, Tampa Bay Lighting, Washington Capitals, and Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference and in the Western Conference St Louis Blues, Colorado Avalanche, Vancouver Canucks, and Edmonton Oilers.

#5 Daniel address some of the top three goal scorers in the NHL this season, from the Boston Bruins David Pastrnik 37, from the Capitals Alex Ovechikin 34, and Austin Matthews from the Toronto Maple Leafs with 34.

Daniel does the NHL podcasts each Sunday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Reign take down Barracuda with late goal in the third period in 3-1 victory

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sjbarracuda.com photo

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE, Calif- The third period has been a period of woe for the San Jose Barracuda this season. It proved to be that once again as the Onatrio Reign scored three unanswered goals in the final 20 minutes for a 3-1 victory over their Pacific Division rival on Saturday evening at SAP Center.

The two teams are going in opposite directions heading into the All-Star break. Ontario is riding a three-game winning streak. While San Jose has dropped their past three games.

San Jose (14-22-1-2) drew first blood in the first ten minutes of the first period. Sasha Chmelevski scored an unassisted goal at the 7:47 mark for his eighth goal of the season.

The Reign outshot the Barracuda 12-10 in the opening frame as they had the only power play opportunity but weren’t able to cash in.

The second period was scoreless as San Jose controlled play in the middle frame as they outshot Ontario 13-9 while killing two penalties in the period.

Ontario (20-18-4-1) started their comeback early in the third period. Paul LaDue scored his fifth goal of the season at the 3:22 mark. Sheldon Rempal recorded his 12th assist on the season.

San Jose had a chance to regain the lead when Brett Sutter went into the sinbin at the 12:38 mark for slashing. However the Reign penalty kill, led by Reign goalie Matthew Villalta, was successful killing off Sutter’s penalty.

Ontario scored the game winning goal with 1:08 left in the game when Sutter set up Tobias Bjornfot who snapped a wrist shot past ‘Cuda goalie Zachary Sawchenko for his third goal of the season.

Matt Luff iced the game for Ontario with an empty net goal with 20 seconds left to seal the deal for the Reign. Mikey Anderson was credited with an assist on Luff’s fifth goal of the season.

Villata (4-3-1) made 30 saves on 31 shots to earn his fourth win of the season. Sawchenko (3-2-1) finished with 28 saves on 30 shots in suffering the defeat.

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 0-for-3 on the power play. Ontario was also 0-for-3.

The three stars of the game were 1) Bjornfot  2) Chmelevski  3) LaDue

The announced attendance was 5,718.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda return after the All-Star break on Friday 1/31 as they travel down to San Diego to take on the Gulls at 7:00pm at Pachenga Arena.

Sharks’ Hertl bags five goals as Pacific wins NHL All-Star 3-on-3 crown; scores five goals total in two games

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photo from nbcsports.com Tomas Hertl (48) of the Pacific Division and San Jose Shark wasn’t on the NHL All Star radar he was a replacement for the Sharks Logan Couture who got inured. Hertl scored five goals on Saturday night

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Saturday, January 25, 2020

San Jose’s Tomas Hertl wasn’t selected as the most valuable player of the 2020 NHL All-Star 3-on-3 competition at Entrprise Center in St. Louis, but he deserved to be in the conversation.

Hertl scored five goals on the night — four in the Pacific Division’s 10-5 semifinal win over the Central Division — and one more in the Pacific’s 5-4 winner-take-all victory over the Atlantic Division.

The Pacific team gets to divvy up the $1 million winner’s prize.

Hertl was a replacement player for the All-Star competition, replacing injured Sharks teammate Logan Couture. His fourth goal was the final round game-winner, assisted by Edmonton Oilers Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid.

Hertl scored three of his goals in the second half against the Central Division, all against goalie Connor Hellebuyck of Winnipeg.

MVP honors went to David Pastrnak of Boston, who collected six points on four goals and two assists. Pastrnak received a car for his efforts. He and Ottawa’s Anthony Duclair each had a hat trick in the Atlantic Division’s 9-5 win over the Metropolitan Division in the East semifinal.

Calgary’s Matthew Tkachuk, who grew up in St. Louis, scored two goals and added two assists.

Prior to the 3-on-3 games, 11-year-old Blues fan Laila Anderson had the honor of introducing the St. Louis players — Jordan Binnington, Ryan O’Reilly, David Perron and Alex Pietrangelo.

Former Blues players and Hockey Hall of Fame members Wayne Gretzky and Brett Hull served as honorary coaches.

As part of the festivities, Green Day performed, with F-bomb laced vocals from Billie Joe Armstrong. Seven-second delay took care of the editing for the NBC television audience.

That’s Amaury News and Commentary: Athletics Pitcher Frankie Montas, Exclusive Interview

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2020 Topps baseball card of Oakland A’s pitcher Frankie Montas

Athletics Pitcher Frankie Montas, Exclusive Interview

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

Amaury Pi-González

OAKLAND– In a overcast day/afternoon, but without rain,as thousands of fans visited and mingled with A’s players during the 2020 A’s Fanfest at Jack London Square young Danay García, Special Events Assistant for the A’s brought to our kiosk at The Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum and Hall of Fame, A’s starting pitcher Frankie Montas.

Frankie ended his 2019 season with a 9-2 record with a 2.63 earned run average in 16 games he started. Smiling and followed by a bunch of fans with ball and pen in hand they were lining-up to get this autograph, he sat next to me as he signed for roughly 20 to 30 minutes, once in a while standing up to pose with fans in selfies as well as group/family shots.

Montas dropped by with his wife Nicolette and son Michael. The young Dominican hurler seems very happy posing with fans signing one autograph after another. I conducted the interview in Spanish and here it is translated. Montas pitched this winter for the Leones del Escogido or Escogido Lions) in the Dominican Republic professional baseball league.

He said he pitched a little bit more this season. That makes sense because he only started basically half of the 2019 for the Athletics. I didn’t wanted to dwell on why he was suspended that was not the main goal, specially at this time in history when baseball is under heavy scrutiny because of the sign-stealing scandal. This is not the place anyway, this was a Fanfest, where positivism was in the air. The last thing I wanted to ask him was about his suspension and I did not.

Montas is about 6 feet 2 inches tall,at 240 pounds with a strong powerful right arm.

Q: Welcome to Oakland. Ready for Spring Training?

A: “Yes, I am happy to be here, and ready to go to Arizona”

Q:You live in Arizona, so basically you are going back home.

A: Absolutely,should be fun…and I am really looking forward this season.

Q. Do you consider yourself a fastball pitcher (you throw around 97 mph).?

A: Yes, I do, that is my best pitch, but I can also come at a hitter with other pitches, but yes, I think you can consider me a “power pitcher”.

ThIs will be his sixth season in the major leagues and fourth with the A’s,the Dominican pitcher will be 27 years of age next month. During his abbreviated 2019 season,he recorded 103 strike-outs in 96 innings of labor and was on a pace to win 18 to 20 and throw over 200 strike outs.

Q: Many people (including me) like to know, which player is the toughest for you to get out.

A: Joe Mauer of Minnesota, I cannot get him out. Mauer has played 15 years with the Twins and is the only catcher in MLB history to win three batting titles. The veteran has been a tough out for many pitchers, last week in a ceremony at Target Field,the Twins retired his famous number 7..

Q: Now that you have been in the majors for a few years, what is the one thing that has impressed you the most?

A: The discipline here, everything is done professionally,we have a schedule for everything, the speed of the game is another thing..

Q: Oakland Coliseum is the most spacious MLB park, with all kinds of foul territory,that benefits pitchers. Aside from here in Oakland,which parks are the favorites for you to pitch, favorites for you, not necessarily because you can get more outs,but because you like those places.

A: Kansas City…Anaheim and Houston, I would say those three.

Q:Luis Rojas was just named the new manager of the New York Mets, a fellow Dominican one of the sons of Felipe Alou, your opinion?

A; Great, I know him, he is a great guy, happy for that.

Photos and selfies all over the place with the very affable Frankie Montas,as his wife and son patiently waited on the sidelines, he was just getting to the end of his signing duties at our kiosk. We also took some pictures, he signed a few Topps baseball Cards for The Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum, which someday (hopeful sooner than later) we’ll have a place inside the proposed new A’s Ballpark at Howard Terminal.

My last question.

Q:When you were a little boy like this kid that was taking a picture with you here. Who was your idol?

A; :”Pedro Martínez” Not surprisingly from a young pitcher to name the great Dominican Hall of Famer Martínez

The Oakland Athletics pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report to their Spring Training home February 12.

We shook hands,as I told him,next time we talk will be at Mesa, during Spring Training. which he said Okay!

Good Luck Frankie!

NHL All Star Game podcast with Matt Harrington: All Star 3 on 3 hockey creates more offense; creates more room for players

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nypost.com photo: The New York Islanders Mathew Barzal wins the fastest skater during the NHL All Star Game skill competition during this weekend’s events in St Louis who is hosting the game

On the NHL All Star Game podcast with Matt:

#1 The All Star Game format is in effect three games makes for a long afternoon how has the format been working since it’s inception now in it’s fifth season

#2 Is the three on three format really a scorers delight as stated by nhl.com?

#3 The NHL says that there’s more three on three hockey being played right now is that something that the NHL would like to adopt?

#4 With three on three it does create more offense and the puck isn’t tied up as much, will it result in more scoring?

#5 Will the NHL ever go back to the old East vs. West format five on five or is three on three hockey with three 20 minute games here to stay?

Matt does the NHL podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL All Star Game podcast with Mary Lisa Walsh: Rating the NHL All Star players

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theathletic.com file photo: The Pittsburgh Penguins Sidney Crosby (88) celebrates a goal against the Winnipeg Jets at PPG Arena on Tuesday Jan 14th in a 7-2 win. The Penguins defeated the Red Wings on Saturday Jan 18th 2-1.

On the NHL All Star Game podcast with Mary Lisa:

#1 After Sydney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins came back from his injury he scored three goals in three games for the Pens showing he didn’t miss a step.

#2 The Washington Capitals Alex Ovechkin is sitting out this All Star game in St Louis, Ovechkin has sat out past All Star games resulting in a one game suspension and a fine. Which alright with Ovechkin whose really after some All Star break rest and relaxation

#3 The Edmonton Oilers Conner McDavid is making his fourth All Star appearance McDavid has played in 27 goals, 49 assists, in 76 games.

#4 The Washington Capitals also will be represented by right winger TJ Oshie so far this season having a marvelous campaign with 18 goals, 16 assists, for 34 points.

#5 The San Jose Sharks will be represented by Tomas Hertl with 15 goals, 20 assists, and 35 points scored. Hertl is replacing the injured Logan Couture.

Mary Lisa does the San Jose Sharks podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com