Warriors’ woes mount after suffering two losses in 121-110 loss to Suns

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By Jerry Feitelberg

SAN FRANCISCO — The Golden State Warriors lost their third game of the young season to the Phoenix Suns 121-110 at Chase Center on Wednesday night.

More important than the score was the injury to their superstar guard, Steph Curry. Curry suffered a broken left hand in the third period. Curry was driving to make a layup. He was sandwiched between two Phoenix defenders. He fell to the court using his left hand to break the fall. One of the Suns defenders, Aron Baynes, landed on Curry’s left hand. Curry was in agony as he got up from the court. He was unable to take the two free throws. The x-ray showed there was a break in his hand. He’ll undergo an MRI tomorrow to determine if he needs surgery. If not, the hand will be in a cast, and he probably will be out for four to six weeks.

Without Curry, it could be a long season for Warrior fans. The Warriors have told the fans to be patient as there are so many new players on the team. The fans have to be patient, but they can not be happy the way the Warriors are getting blown out. They lost by 11 on Wednesday night. The game, for all intents and purposes, was over in the first quarter. The Warriors led 10-9 when Phoenix went on a 38-4 run to lead 47-14. The Warriors went almost eight minutes in the first quarter without a bucket.

The Suns, under first-year coach Monty Williams, finished the first half with a 72-46 advantage. The Warriors did play better in the second quarter as they outscored the Suns 32-29. The Suns led 83-54 when Curry was hurt.

Head coach Steve Kerr had to figure out what to do. He inserted center Willie Cauley-Stein into the lineup. Cauley-Stein was playing for the first time as a Warrior. He wasn’t able to practice much with the team due to an ankle injury. He acquitted himself quite well as he scored 12 points and had five rebounds in 12 minutes of action.

The Warriors didn’t gain any ground in the third quarter. They did outplay the Suns in the fourth quarter as they outscored them 43-26. It made the game seem closer than it was. It was really over early in the second quarter when they trailed 43-14.

Game Notes: Rookie Eric Paschall led the team with 20 points. Glenn Robinson III had 17 points. D’Angelo Russell, now the team’s point guard, finished with 15 points, six rebounds, and six assists. Alec Burks, making his first appearance as a Warrior, finished with seven points. Ky Bowman, who will be the backup point guard, tallied 10. Jordan Poole had nine.

The Suns, who the Warriors had beaten them 18 times in the last 19 games, appear to be on their way back to respectability. Every one of their starters was in double figures. They were led by Devin Booker, who had 31 points. Booker made six threes in 10 tries. Baynes had a double-double with 24 points and 13 boards. Dario Saric finished with 16, Kelly Oubre, Jr. had 11, and Ricky Rubio added 14.

The Suns improved to 3-2 while the Warriors drop to 1-3.

Up Next: It doesn’t get any easier for Golden State as they have to play the San Antonio Spurs Friday night at the Chase Center. The game will start at 7:30 pm.

Stanford’s Toohill a Campbell Trophy Finalist

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By Ana Kieu

Stanford fifth-year outside linebacker Casey Toohill was named a finalist for the prestigious William V. Campbell Trophy on Wednesday, announced by the National Football Foundation. The Campbell Trophy annually recognizes the best football scholar-athlete in the nation for his combined academic success, football performance and exemplary leadership.

“Casey Toohill is a great example of what it means to truly be a scholar-athlete,” said David Shaw, the Bradford M. Freeman Director of Football. “His work ethic, attention to detail and the passion he plays the game with is matched only by his desire to excel as a student at Stanford University.”

Toohill, who is one of 12 members of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class, will be recognized in New York during the 62nd Annual Awards Dinner on Tuesday, December 10. He will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship, with one member of the class being declared the winner of the 30th William V. Campbell Trophy and having their scholarship amount increased to $25,000.

“This is the most prestigious honor I could have imagined receiving at Stanford,” Toohill said. “I am so honored to represent Stanford and to honor the legacy of Bill Campbell. My parents have always stressed the importance of academic pursuits and have been crucial in my development as a Stanford student-athlete. I owe it to my family and the structure they provided to help me succeed.”

A San Diego native, Toohill is a team captain who will graduate in December with a degree in political science. He’s a three-time Pac-12 All-Academic member and earned CoSIDA Academic All-District in 2017. Toohill holds a 3.71 GPA and would like to attend business school following his playing career.

On the field, Toohill leads the Cardinal with 45 total tackles, including 7.5 tackles for loss and five sacks. He has added a forced fumble and nine quarterback hurries. He’s tied for fifth in the Pac-12 in tackles for loss while his sack total ranks third.

He’l become the 13th Cardinal in school history to earn NFF National Scholar-Athlete honors and the first since Jordan Richards in 2014. Toohill, Richards and Owen Marecic (2010) are the only three Cardinal to earn NFF Scholar-Athlete honors since 1997.

Stanford NFF Scholar-Athletes (13)
1967 John Root
1970 John Sande III
1976 Duncan McColl
1980 Milt McColl
1981 Darrin Nelson
1983 John Bergren
1992 Glyn Milburn
1994 Justin Armour
1995 David Walker
1997 Damon Dunn
2010 Owen Marecic
2014 Jordan Richards
2019 Casey Toohill

That’s Amaury News and Commentary: MLB: First Two Decades of the XXI Century — the Winners

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photo from: chron.com

By Amaury Pi-González

By the time Major League teams report to Spring Training in Arizona and Florida, the last two decades will be history. And of all the MLB teams during those past 20 years, nobody has won more hardware than the Boston Red Sox.

1. Boston Red Sox Four World Championship Titles. (2004-2007-2013-2018)

Boston, a city where baseball is more than a game or sport, is like a religion. They have been playing at the oldest park, Fenway Park, since it opened in 1912. Their passionate fans had to endure a wild roller coaster ride during the past two decades. Founded in 1901 as one the American League’s eight charter franchises. When the first pitch is thrown at Fenway Park in 2020, the Red Sox would be playing their 108th season at that same location.

2004: It took the Boston Red Sox 86 years to win their first World Series since 1918.The Red Sox swept the St. Louis Cardinals in four games. The pitching of Curt Schilling and the hitting of Manny Ramírez and David “Big Papi” Ortíz guided them, but also a great comeback in the American League Championship Series down 3-0 to the New York Yankees. They became the first team in baseball history with such a comeback.

2007: Sensational Japanese pitcher and rookie Daisuke Matsuzaka as well as great performances by also pitchers Josh Beckett and Jonathan Papelbon and great hitting, swept the Colorado Rockies in four games. Between 2007 and 2012, they made history when in 2011 they lost a nine-game lead in the Wild Card standing over the course of the final month of the regular season. That was the worst September collapse in the history of Major League Baseball.

2013: Boston Strong. On April 15, they played an early game that started at 11 AM, and beat the Tampa Bay Rays. It was Patriot Day, a traditional day when the Boston Marathon takes place, and not long after the Red Sox victory, the Boston Marathon was shocked by the bombing. The team was motivated to bring another title to that city. They rebuilt in the off-season and rebounded to win 97 games (best in the American League) under first year manager John Farrell, and found themselves back in the Fall Classic. They defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in six games for their eight championship. Next season(2014), they fell like a rock again — from the top of the game to lose 91 games to last place in the AL East.

2018: It took them five years to get to the World Series again.It was coming since 2016 when they rebuilt again and won the division title,but they lost in the division series as well as in 2017. This year was special as they won a franchise-record 108 games during the regular season and had it on”automatic pilot”through the postseason. They only lost three games in three playoff series going to the World Series again as they took care of the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games. Boston will have a new look in 2020 as free agents All-Stars J.D. Martínez and Mookie Betts might sign with other teams.

2. San Francisco Giants. Three World Championships Titles (2010, 2012, 2014)

2010: It took the Giants 52 years to win their first championship in San Francisco since they moved from New York in 1958. Giants won the Western Division in a close race ending with a 92-70 record, just two games on top of the San Diego Padres. A lot of good stuff happened this year like signings of Free Agents Aubrey Hoff and Mark DeRosa, promoting Buster Posey in May from AAA Fresno (who was the Rookie of the Year), signing free agent Pat Burrell and claiming Cody Ross from the Marlins via waivers. It all culminated with a giver (5) games World Series defeating the Texas Rangers.

2012: They won it all by sweeping the Detroit Tigers in the World Series. After winning the West with 94-68 record defeated Atlanta in the Wild Card game the Cincinnati Reds in the Divisional Series and the St. Louis Cardinals in the Championship Series. An excellent pitching staff with Matt Cain,Tim Lincecum, Madison Bumgarner, Ryan Vogelson and a strong bullpen led the way.

2014: Giants won their third World Series in six years when they beat the Kansas City Royals in seven games. Giants fans talked about winning a World Series every two seasons, but the fantasy was just that. Unfortunately, they have been in decline with the attendance altogether since then. The last three seasons they have finished consistently under .500. The 2019 season, the Giants were under three million in attendance for the first time since 2010. The front office has a lot of work to do this off season in a division dominated by the Dodgers with the young and talented up and coming Padres.

3. Each of these teams won two World Championship titles: St. Louis Cardinals 2006 and 2011 and New York Yankees 2000 and 2009.

These teams won one World Series from 2000 to 2019: Arizona Diamondbacks, LA Angels, Florida Marlins, Chicago White Sox, Philadelphia Phillies, Kansas City Royals, Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros and Washington Nationals.

By the way, the Red Sox have company with another team that plays in their area. The New England Patriots, who play their games in Foxborough, Massachusetts, 30 miles south of Boston, have made 11 Super Bowl appearances the most of any NFL team, and during the current decade, have won six Super Bowls. Those six Super Bowl wins are the most in the NFL tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Barracuda shoot down Condors in 5-0 shutout win

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photo from: sjbarracuda.com

By Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE, Calif. — It doesn’t matter what time of the day the San Jose Barracuda take the ice to play a game. For the second straight game, they dominated and shutout their opponent in a 5-0 victory over the defending Pacific Division champion Bakersfield Condors on Wednesday morning at SAP Center.

The early start time of 11:00 am was due to the annual Cuda Classroom Day where students from the area’s elementary and middle schools were among the 3,648 spectators inside the arena.

The game featured the first game back for Radim Simek, the San Jose Sharks defenseman who suffered an ACL injury to his knee back on March 12. The Sharks sent him down to the Cuda for an rehab assignment to get him into game shape before he joins the parent club.

“I felt great on the ice,” said the Czech native Simek. “The first period was harder for me. It was eight months without (playing) hockey for me. The second and third period was better and we got a big win.”

San Jose (4-3-0-0) jumped out to a 1-0 lead late in the first period with the man advantage. Jayden Halbgewachs sent a pass along the left boards over to Joel Kellman. Kellman found a wide open Joachim Blichfeld in between the circles and he sent a quick wrist shot past Condors goalie Dylan Wells into the lower right corner of the net for his first goal of the season at the 18:49 mark.

“Great play by Blichy (Blichfeld) to start it off on the power play,” said Cuda head coach Roy Sommer. “Which is starting to click a little bit. It’s starting to finally find some traction.”

Alex True found himself in the right place at the right time as he doubled the ‘Cuda lead just halfway past the second period. Kellman cleared the puck out of the zone just as the penalty to True had expired. It found its way right to True’s stick as he skated in on a breakaway using a backhand shot to beat Wells for his third goal of the season at the 11:56 mark.

Less than three minutes later, Blichfeld scored his second goal of the game when received a pass from Lean Bergmann and wristed in his second goal of the season at the 14:17 mark. Keaton Middleton received the secondary assist on the goal.

Despite out shooting San Jose 19-14 through 40 minutes, Bakersfield (3-5-1-0) found it self trailing 3-0 and not being able to find any answers on their five power play opportunities, including a five-on-three they failed to cash in on.

“I though the goalie (Korenar) kept us in the game early,” said Sommer. “It was similar to the Colorado game where we kind of got opportune goals.”

San Jose put the game away with 6:17 remaining in the third period. Halbgewachs led a two-on-one odd man break with Evan Weinger. Halbgewachs made a spin-o-rama move around Dmitri Samorukov before centering the puck out in front of the crease over to Weinger who one-timed it into the back of the net for his second goal of the season.

The ‘Cuda put the icing on the cake less than three minutes later on the power play. Thomas Gregoire fed a cross-ice pass over to Simek who fired a shot toward the middle of the ice where Bergmann camped out and used his stick to tip the puck past Wells for his third goal of the season at the 16:43 mark. With the goal and assist, Bergmann has scored in all four games he’s played with San Jose totalling six points (3G, 3A).

“The penalty kill has been good for us the last few games,” said Sommer. “Last two teams have been 0 for 12 or 0 for 13. That makes a big difference and we’re scoring (goals) five-on-five.”

Korenar (3-2-0) finished the game stopping all 28 shots he faced for his second shutout in a row. Wells finished with 22 saves on 27 shots in the losing cause.

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 2/6 on the power play. Bakersfield was 0/6.

Kellman recorded two assists to extend his point streak (1G 7A=8) to six games.

The Barracuda had five players earn multiple points in the victory.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda travel up north to Stockton to take on the Heat on Friday, November 1 at 7:00 pm at Stockton Arena.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Len Shapiro: Sharks come off a 1-4 road trip, host Jets Friday night at the Tank

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On the Sharks podcast with Len:

#1 Len in short the Boston Bruins (9-1-2) made short work of the San Jose Sharks (4-8-1) with two goals in the first and three goals in the second period are teams learning about the Sharks weakness crash the net early apply the mercy rule in the third period.

#2 How much does it really show now that the Sharks just might have made a mistake in their off season dealing of Gustav Nyquist, Justin Braun, Joe Pavelski, Joonas Donskoi, just to make room for one player Erik Karlsson is this the kind of criticism that the team is hearing now 13 games into the season and four game below .500.

#3 Talk about the road trip the Sharks lost four of their last five games if you include their loss before the trip that was to Buffalo it would five out of six loses was team unprepared for this trip or they simply lack the talent to win against teams like Buffalo, Toronto, Ottawa and Boston?

#4 We talked about Nyquist, Braun, Pavelski, and Donskoi the former players on this team but what about the man they made some cap room for Karlsson how much of the weight of the team is his?

#5 The Winnipeg Jets (6-7-0) come into San Jose suffering a defeat on Tuesday night in Anaheim 7-4. The Jets have won three of their last six games the Sharks have lost three straight going into Friday night but with home ice Jets and Sharks who has the upper hand in this contest?

Len does the Sharks podcasts each Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Headline Sports podcast with London Marq: Kings remain winless; Warriors host Suns tonight; Astros-Nats all knotted up; plus more

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On Headline Sports podcast with London:

#1 The Sacramento Kings suffered another loss this time at home to the Denver Nuggets 101-84. The Kings had four players in double figures, but it wasn’t enough as the Nuggets kept the pressure up in the second half.

#2 The Golden State Warriors (1-3) finally picked up their first win for 2019-20 against the last place New Orleans Pelicans (0-4) 134-123. The Warriors tip off against the Phoenix Suns tonight at Chase Center. They’ll be looking for their first home win of the season. Is it possible?

#3 The World Series is all knotted up at three games a piece after the Washington Nationals had lost three straight games, came back and won it by five runs 7-2 at Minute Maid Field on Tuesday night. Washington manager Dave Martinez was ejected from the game arguing about a hit ball hit to Astros pitcher Brad Peacock, who threw it to first baseman Yuri Gurriel, whose glove came off the ball hit baserunner Turner and was ruled out after a review play.

#4 The San Francisco 49ers are setting all sorts of numbers with a huge offensive Sunday at Levi’s Stadium in a 51-13 win over the Carolina Panthers. It was the first time since 2003 that the 49ers scored 50 points.

#5 The Oakland Raiders didn’t fare anywhere close as they lost the Houston Texans Sunday after playing five games in six weeks out of town. The Raiders are in second in the AFC West and play their next game at the Oakland Coliseum on Nov. 3rd against the Detroit Lions.

London Marq does Headline Sports each Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Jose Barracuda podcast with Marko Ukalovic: Cuda host Bakersfield in Wednesday matinee at SAP Center

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Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

On the Barracuda podcast with Marko:

#1 The Barracuda (3-3-0) are coming off a split in Colorado last Friday and Saturday nights taking the second game. How important is it for the Cuda to get that split going into Wednesday’s game against the Bakersfield Condors (3-4-0)?

#2 The Barracuda not only got the win last Saturday in Colorado (4-3-0) in game 2, but they threw a shutout 4-0 after getting beat on Friday night.

#3 Cuda goalie Josef Korenar (2-2-0) made 31 saves to collect his first shutout of the season and his fifth of his AHL career.

#4 The game last Saturday against the Eagles was the Barracuda’s 150th victory in franchise history.

#5 The Condors are a team that could give the Barracuda fits and their looking to pick up their fifth win. Meanwhile, the Barracuda have won two of their last five games and have home ice for today’s matinee.

Marko does the Barracuda podcasts each Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Stanford MBB exhibition game against Sonoma State cancelled

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By Ana Kieu

Stanford men’s basketball had an exhibition game against Sonoma State scheduled for Wednesday, October 28, but it was cancelled due to the extensive power outages and regional disruptions from the Kincade Fire. Stanford Athletics made the announcement on Tuesday night.

As a result, Sonoma State University will be closed until November 4th. All campus activities, along with athletic events, have been cancelled and teams are unable to travel off campus at this time.

All single game buyers will be refunded the price of the ticket, plus any applicable fees. Since the exhibition game was included in Season Ticket Memberships at no charge, there will be no refunds issued.

NOTES: Check out Stanford’s latest compilation video of their top-notch players using the link below.

UP NEXT: Stanford hosts Montana in its season opener on Wednesday, November 6th, at 7 p.m.

SJSU’s Gaither is back and as fast as ever

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By Ana Kieu

Bailey Gaither is fast.

Gaither runs fast. Gaither talks fast. One cut, one wiggle and Gaither’s a blur down the field.

The slow slog of injury rehab, however, made the senior wide receiver appreciate that speed even more.

Last year as a junior, Gaither was off to a quick start, with six catches for 137 yards and two touchdowns against UC Davis. He had two more catches against Washington State and grabbed six balls for 90 yards at Oregon. In the Mountain West opener against Hawaii, Gaither had already made a 42-yard catch in the first quarter. Then, in the second quarter, the Paso Robles, Calif., native took a Josh Love pass 55 yards to the house for a touchdown. It was his last play of the season.

“I was running and a guy clipped the back of my foot and I landed funny,” Gaither said. “I had to hop in to the endzone. That was that.”

Gaither tore his Achilles tendon on the play. Just as he was starting to take off as the Spartans’ go-to deep threat, Gaither faced surgery and a long rehabilitation process.

Almost every day for seven months, Gaither got up in the morning and headed to the training room in the Simpkins Stadium Center. He’d do exercises to strengthen his repaired Achilles. Exercises to get the range of motion and flexibility back. It was a lot of heat and ice and work.

With all that, Gaither still thinks the mental part of rehab was the most difficult.

“Trusting myself, telling myself that I’m going to be okay, that I’ll get through it,” Gaither said. “Dealing with myself mentally.”

The mental side of rehab for Gaither included dealing with the false alarms. A string of good days would be spoiled by a painful morning. But that’s all part of the process.

“It’s such a tedious injury,” Gaither said. “It’s hard to tell people that you feel better one day and then worse the next. I didn’t like having to tell people that I was hurting, I wanted to be better. But I needed to be honest with myself. You push it one day and the next day it hurts. Sometimes if you went too easy it would hurt the next day. Rehab is a jagged line, it’s not smooth.”

Eventually, the ins and outs of rehab started to level out. Seven months after surgery, Gaither was able to do the thing he does so well. Run.

Gaither wasn’t able to cut yet, but the straight-line speed that has made him a weapon for the Spartans was still there. He could still get up and go.

“That was definitely the worst injury I’ve had in my life,” Gaither said. “I had my family supporting me through it and all my close friends. The rehab was tough, but it made me stronger.”

Gaither’s family includes his mom, dad and younger brother. Growing up, Gaither used his speed to become a multi-sport star at Paso Robles High School. The 6’1″ wide receiver racked up 3,277 yards receiving and 41 touchdowns over three varsity seasons. He was also the San Luis Obispo Country Player of the Year as a shortstop, hitting .500 his junior year with 32 stolen bases. With colleges calling with offers for both sports, Gaither decided to follow his friend and high school football teammate, Josh Oliver, to San Jose State.

After a redshirt season and limited playing time as a freshman and sophomore, Gaither was enjoying his breakout junior year until going down against Hawaii. The adversity has made his standout senior season even sweeter.

Heading into Saturday’s showdown against No. 21 Boise State, Gaither has been on the receiving end of 27 passes from fellow fifth-year senior quarterback Josh Love for 491 yards and four touchdowns. Love has experienced his own sets of ups and downs during his career, something the pair has bonded over.

“Me and Josh have been friends through this whole process,” Gaither said. “Both a little overlooked when we first got here. Not really in the picture. Kudos to him, he worked really hard for this. He deserves this. A bunch of different coaches and staffs, we’ve been through it all together. New beginnings have been good to us.”

Throughout Gaither’s rehab process, one goal he had was to get back to where he left off. Not only figuratively — starting a season strong and becoming a go-to target — but literally as well. He wanted to get back into the endzone, the place where we was helped off the field a year earlier.

It took a little while, until the Spartans’ fifth game of the season. Against New Mexico on October 4, Gaither showed off his trademark speed with an 80-yard touchdown bomb from Love. Crossing the goal line, Gaither couldn’t help but soak in the moment.

“It just felt so good,” Gaither said. “It felt so good, like this is where I’m supposed to be.”

Back to blazing down the field. Back in the end zone. It took a long time to get back to that place, but Gaither has made quick work of reclaiming his role as the Spartans’ deep threat.

Headline Sports podcast with Barbara Mason: Raiders finally return home Sunday; 49ers in Arizona on Thursday Night Football; plus more

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photo sfgate.com: Oakland Raiders wide receiver Tyrell Williams (16) is hit by Houston Texans defensive back Keion Crossen (35) after a catch during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 27, 2019, in Houston.

On the Headline Sports podcast with Barbara:

#1 The Oakland Raiders completed their five-game, six-week out of town road trip on Sunday to the tune of a 27-24 loss. The Raiders went 2-3 on the trip and are 3-4 in the AFC West.

#2 The San Francisco 49ers continue to pull it off with another shocker win, 51-13, over the Carolina Panthers. The 49ers remain perfect at 7-0.

#3 The Golden State Warriors are no longer three time World Champions and are the talk of the town but in a bad way are 1-3 and since they lost a core of who they were from last season including Kevin Durant the team is trying to find their way after a win past 0-4 New Orleans.

#4 The Cal Bears continue to be challenged dropping their fourth straight game. Now, Cal is a .500 team and play host to Washington State on Nov. 9th. The Cougars are struggling too. They’ve lost four of their last five.

#5 The San Jose Sharks faced off against Boston and dropped another one 5-1 on Tuesday night and lost their fifth of their last six games winning only one game on this concluded road trip.

Barbara does Headline Sports each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com