Category: Uncategorized

By: Joe Lami

The Stanford Cardinal got back into the win column on Friday night with a win over the USC Trojans 79-60. It’s a huge recovery from last weekend, where the Cardinal were swept by the two teams in Arizona.

Lili Thompson led the way for the Cardinal off the bench with 14 points. Friday marked the first time of the season where Thompson wasn’t in the starting line-up. Briana Roberson also was put on the bench to try and shake things up, she finished the night with 13 points. Erica Payne and Jasmine Camp were their replacements, getting their first career starts. Payne and Camp played a combined 14 minutes and finished with two points each.

Stanford shot for a combined 55% from the field, including 35% from beyond the arc. Bonnie Samuelson was the Cardinal’s only answer from three-point land, as she finished with 12 points going 4 of 9.

Alexyz Valoetama led the way for USC with 14 points. Four total Trojans were able to get into double digits. Courtney Jaco contributed 11, Briana Barrett and Kaneisha Horn each added ten. Horn brought down 11 rebounds to get the double double.

By Jeremy Harness

Jason Day channeled his inner Michael Jordan on Friday.

Day, who beat J.B Holmes in a playoff in last week’s Farmers Insurance Open, made a big charge on Friday, in spite of being in a less-than-optimal condition.

Just as Jordan once led his team to victory in the NBA Finals with the flu, Day woke up Friday morning with a flu that had him seriously thinking about not playing at all. However, he said that once he hit the course, he began to feel better but still did not eat anything until well after the round out of fear that it would not stay down.

And much like the case in Jordan’s leading the Chicago Bulls over the Utah Jazz in 1997, Day’s performance completely masked how he was feeling, as he turned in a nine-under 62 at Monterey Peninsula Country Club to vault him right back into the thick of things.

“I didn’t think I was going to play, especially 30 minutes before my round because I was feeling pretty awful,” said Day, who is currently tied for 14th and is only three shots behind after struggling to an even-par opening round on Thursday. “(But) just once I got out there, I started feeling a little bit better. (But) now my goal is to really try and rest up and get some energy and have a good one (Saturday).

“My putter was hot today. I hit a lot of good shots off the tee and into the greens, and then holed a lot of putts.”

Brandt Snedeker, who is known for his deft putting touch, made his own surge, hitting all 18 of his greens on his way to a bogey-free 67 and found himself tied for the lead as the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am heads into the weekend.

“For me, everything revolves around my short game and putting,” Snedeker said. “I’m putting well, and that bleeds into every part of my game. I worked really hard on that, because the end of last year, I was playing great and putting terrible, and not getting the results I felt like I deserved.”

However, while Snedeker and Day are obviously trending in the right way, John Daly took a considerable step back on Friday.

The long-hitter, these days known better for his colorful golf attire than his game on the course, bogeyed two of his first three holes at Monterey Peninsula. He fought back on the back nine with a pair of birdies, but a damaging bogey at the 17th hole sent him into the clubhouse with a one-over 72, one day after shooting a seven-under 65 at Pebble Beach.

Just as the score indicated, Daly’s statistics in each of the two rounds this week have been completely different. Although he hit more fairways Friday than was the case in the opening round, his distance was significantly shorter off the tee, resulting in fewer greens hit and, thus, creating fewer birdie opportunities.

Daly is still in the hunt, but he is now six shots off the lead and is currently tied with 12 other players for 37th in the tournament.

By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Friday, February 13, 2015

GLENDALE, Arizona – After the first 20 minutes, the inspired Arizona Coyotes looked like they were primed to take two valuable standings points away from San Jose. But the Sharks asserted themselves in the second and third periods to get a much-needed road victory – and those two points.

Barclay Goodrow’s goal at 6:23 of the third period capped a three-goal comeback for San Jose, as the Sharks held on the edge Arizona 4-2 Friday night before an announced crowd of 16,713 at Gila River Arena.

San Jose (29-20-8, 66 points) kept its hold on second place in the NHL Pacific Division, while the Coyotes have lost three of their last four games, slipping to 20-29-7, 47 points. The win snapped a recent 1-3-2 skid for the Sharks in their last six games.

“All wins are important, and this one was a little bittersweet,” Sharks Coach Todd McLellan said after getting his 300th career NHL coaching victory. “We started out very poor, but were able to come back and bank some very important points. The key is getting back to playing with winning habits and we didn’t do that in the first period.”

Goodrow scooped up a bouncing puck and drove it from the right circle, beating Arizona goaltender Mike Smith just over his glove on the short side for his fourth goal of the season.

San Jose’s Joe Pavelski tacked on an empty net goal with 1:26 to play to seal the game, giving him a three-goal game and his 29th, 30th and 31st goals on the season. Joe Thornton assisted on each of Pavelski’s goals.

“Both Joe’s did a terrific job of demonstrating leadership,” McLellan said “When things are not going well, that’s when our leaders stepped up and straightened some things out. And when it comes from internal motivation where I don’t have to say much, we have a way better chance of succeeding like we did tonight.”

After a shaky first period, Sharks goaltender Antti Niemi settled down to stop all 22 shots he faced over the last two periods, as the Coyotes outshot San Jose 34-25.

Showing improved puck control, the Coyotes took a 2-0 lead in the first period. The first Arizona goal came just 1:42 in, when Mark Arcobello, claimed off waivers two days ago from Pittsburgh, found an opening in the upper left corner, over the right shoulder of Niemi. It was Arcobello’s ninth goal of the season and first as a Coyote.

The second Coyotes goal came on a power play at 15:07, when Martin Erat popped in a one-timer from the slot off Sam Gagner’s feed from the left corner for his eighth goal of the season. Keith Yandle started the play from the point to get the second assist.

But while the first period belonged to Arizona, the second and third periods were all Sharks.

“It seemed like everybody was trying to do too much, and we’d overcommit in some areas,” Pavelski said. “Getting that first goal to start the second period really set the momentum for us.”

San Jose wasted little time cutting their deficit in half, when Pavelski took a feed from behind the net and beat Smith near the crease with a friendly ricochet off a skate blade 27 seconds into the second period. Thornton and Scott Hannan had the assists.

With Oliver Ekman-Larsson serving a roughing penalty (and, essentially, extending the Sharks’ power play to nearly four minutes), Pavelski notched his second goal of the night, converting a one-timer from just inside the right circle past Smith off a feed from Logan Couture at 13:09 of the second period. Thornton received the second assist on the equalizer.

Smith stopped 22 of 25 shots before leaving in favor of a sixth attacker with 1:23 remaining.

“That power play goal was unfortunate and it really hurt us,” Tippett said. “I didn’t like the call on Ekman-Larsson, and those goals in the second period put them (San Jose) back in the game and they had new life after that.

“But for the most part it was an even game,” he added. “(San Jose’s) first goal was a little flukey, but our guys battled hard and just couldn’t get that extra goal.”

SHARK BITES: Arcobello, who played with Edmonton and Nashville earlier this season, also became the first NHL player to pick up at least one point for four different teams in one season since Dennis O’Brien did it in 1977-78. Arcobello is the third player in NHL history to play for four teams in a season. … San Jose D Marc-Edouard Vlasic was scratched for the fourth consecutive game due to an upper-body injury. … The Sharks return home for a Sunday night date with Tampa Bay before hitting the road again for games at Nashville (Feb. 17) and Dallas (Feb. 19).

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Thursday, February 11, 2015

Utah continued its march toward its first-ever Pac-12 men’s basketball championship Thursday by routing Stanford 75-59 at a sold-out Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City.

It was the Utes’ 16th consecutive home victory, paced by Delon Wright’s 15 points, five rebounds and four steals. Dallin Bachynski had 13 points and six rebounds, followed by 12 points each from Brekkott Chapman and Jordan Loveridge for Utah (19-4 overall, 9-2 Pac-12).

Anthony Brown led the Cardinal (16-8, 7-5) with 15 points, followed by Marcus Allen’s career-high 13 points – 10 of them in the first half.

Chasson Randle, Stanford’s leading scorer, was held to 10 points and didn’t hit his first basket until the 6:23 mark of the second half and was 0-for-4 behind the 3-point arc. Randle entered the game averaging 20.3 points per game.

Utah asserted itself with a 6-0 run to close out the first half, building a 33-27 lead at the break. The Utes opened the second half with a 15-2 run that included seven points from Loveridge and left Stanford in the dust.

Stanford travels to Boulder on Sunday to face Colorado.

By Jeremy Harness

Apparently, the sting of losing in a playoff days earlier didn’t last very long at all for J.B Holmes.

The Kentucky native, who fell to Australia’s Jason Day on the second playoff hole of last weekend’s Farmers Insurance Open, is off to a blistering start at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. He is tied with Justin Hicks for the lead after shooting an eight-under 64 at Pebble Beach on Thursday.

The good vibes started immediately for Holmes, who is only more than three years removed from brain surgery. He began his day at the 10th, holing out from the fairway for an eagle, and he was off and running from there.

Of course, the conditions are more than optimal for scoring, as the local temperature was around 75 degrees with little wind issues, and it is expected to be in the high 70s throughout the weekend, which is highly unusual for this time of year and had most – if not all – players almost in a state of shock.

“The weather was awesome, so it was a lot of fun to be able to play this golf course with not a lot of wind and nice temperature,” Holmes said. “It was just a good day all around.

“Any time you get great weather and be able to play a beautiful place like that all day, you’re thinking, ‘This is perfect,’ and even if you don’t hit a good shot, the weather and this view is pretty amazing.”

Another notable is John Daly, an immensely-popular player who had struggled with his game in recent years but has pulled it back together lately, is right behind Holmes and Hicks with a seven-under 65.

“I love plying this golf course,” Daly said. “It’s just great to be able to come out here and not have to survive the (usually bad) weather and survive the golf course.

“But we’ll just see what happens (from here).”

Meanwhile, Dustin Johnson, who made his season debut last week at the Farmers after a six-month hiatus from the PGA Tour, is two under par after the first day and has a real shot at making the cut, a week after missing the cut by one stroke in La Jolla.

by Daniel Dullum

Bill Murray who shows up at almost every AT&T Tour this year being no different as he lead the cavalcade of stars at Pebble Beach on Wednesday. Here’s a look at the top celebrity golfers appearing at this year’s event: Kenny G, Kelly Slater, Peyton Manning, Chris O’Donnell, and Wayne Gretzky. Is Murray a great golfer? We’ll if you were that good you’d be on the tour and Murray has a lot of fun with it. He’ll put on a show by himself for the folks who show up.

He brings an act to every tournament that he shows up at he has a way with connecting with the crowd they want to see a little bit of a show and he knows he’s not a great golfer so he disguises that with having fun with the crowd. With some of the celebrities that show up fans might be mildly surprised how these folks are at golf.

There’s former 49er quarterback John Brodie he actually played on the seniors tour for a little while and that was back in his playing day with the 49ers. He was very close to being a scratched golfer, he was good quite good back then does that surprise anyone that some celebrities can play the game? Not really, they have athletes like former 49ers quarterback and current Chief quarterback Alex Smith out there and he’s working on his game between seasons. Golf for these guys are a way for these guys to unwind in between season going to mini camp and working out.

A lot of these guys are a lot of fun to watch in scenario like this because I’ve got to cover a few celebrity golf tournaments through the years an just to watch these guys in the T box just swing away it’s just amazing how far they can hit. What usually does their game in is the short game or the approach shots when it comes to driving a lot of these guys former ball players have the strength to do it. It’s really fun watching them swing away and see how far they could hit it.

There is a lot of former pro hockey players that play quite well on the links, it does not surprise me if Gretzky has a little bit better game than the average celebrity. With the celebrities having their game on Wednesday before the pros get in there on Thursday it says a lot about the early days of the tournament it’s always been a highlight to bring in the celebrities whether it’s from sports or the entertainment field.

It’s a chance for those guys to rub elbows with the touring pros. The course at Pebble Beach is challenging and it’s one of the few like it in the world so and everybody enjoys getting out on a course like Pebble Beach to see how good they are. It’s probably the best American equivalent to the type of courses that are played on when the guys play in the British Open.

Daniel Dullum does commentary on the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro Am listen to his podcast on the AT&T below on http://www.sportsradioservice.com