Sports Talk

[pegasus]

I would love to see a Detroit Tigers vs. Milwaukee Brewers World Series, but I'm very much afraid that the Brewers aren't going to make it. I'm beginning to think that whoever I root for is going to lose!! <sigh>
I will find it really difficult to watch a Texas Rangers vs St Louis Cards World Series.
A plague on both their houses, I say.

[pegasus]

MLB League Championships


Cardinals don't waste off night by Brewers.

The bumbling Brewers made four errors that led to three unearned runs, and the St Louis Cardinals survived a short start by Jaime Garcia to beat Milwaukee 7-1 with the Cards' bullpen once again shutting down their opponents. The Cards now have a 3-2 lead in the series as they go To Milwaukee for Game 6 on Sunday.


NCAA Division III Football

Unflinching underdog working on an upset.

Heidelberg heads into its annual meeting with Mount Union, which has won 10 national titles in the past 17 years, with unusual optimism. It is looking for a share of 1st place in the Ohio Athletic Conference when in hosts Mount Union, ranked #2 nationally, this afternoon.
The Student Princes, under the direction of fifth-year head coach Mike Hallett, are 4-1 overall and 3-1 in the OAC for the first time since beginning the 1993 season 5-0 and 4-0 in the conference, and received votes (two) for the first time in this week’s American Football Coaches Association top-25 poll. The Purple Raiders of 26th-year head coach Larry Kehres, ranked second for the 14th consecutive week since the start of the 2010 season and receiving three first-place votes, enter the game 5-0 overall and 4-0 in the OAC, and are riding a 52-game conference winning streak. This will be the fifth meeting between Hallett and his former coach, Kehres. Hallett was a defensive lineman at Mount Union during the early 1990’s. This is where football is still played for fun and without one eye on NFL possibilities. And seldom are there any NCAA violations either. If you happen to live near a Division III college, you should go watch one of their games just for the fun of it.

NCAA Division I-A Football

No. 23 Michigan State beat No. 11 Michigan 28-14.

Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson had so much green on his white uniform, it looked like he played for Michigan State. He got beat up, bruised and knocked out of Saturday's loss 28-14 to the Spartans. Robinson walked off the field with his head down -- giving him a view of a grass-stained white pants -- after the 11th-ranked Wolverines matched a school record with a fourth straight loss to No. 23 Michigan State. <Snicker>.

High School Football

High school football palyer dies after game in upstate New York.
A high school football player in upstate New York has died after he suffered a head injury during a game Friday night in Homer, south of Syracuse. The visiting Phoenix High School player was taken to a hospital after being hurt in th 3rd quarter and later died of his injuries. Phoenix School Superintendent Judy Belfield said he was able to sit up after the play, but complained of a severe headache, then collapsed when he tried to stand.

[pegasus]

Unflinching underdog working on an upset.


Justin Suddeth, a defensive back at Heidelberg University, does not need to look at the schedule to know when the coming opponent is Mount Union, a Division III football juggernaut with 10 national championships and only one regular-season loss in the last 17 years. “Professors after class get a sad look on their face and say: ‘Mount Union this week? Yeah, good luck,’ ” Suddeth said. “They mean: All the luck in the world won’t help.”
The story of Mount Union’s extraordinary success has been examined many times as the team trounced opponents during the past two decades. But perhaps its dominance is felt most sharply on the other campuses in the Ohio Athletic Conference — places like Heidelberg, a small liberal arts institution here in northwestern Ohio where the Mount Union game looms like Halloween, an annual rite of fall, except much scarier. Heidelberg has not defeated Mount Union since 1988 and has been outscored, 1,096-179, since then, which makes the average score in the last 22 seasons 50-8. Since 2000, Mount Union has scored more than 60 points five times and Heidelberg has scored more than 10 points only twice. Heidelberg is not the only team that Mount Union dominates; the Purple Raiders tend to rout everyone in Ohio. “People look at the 10 schools in our conference and see one Goliath and nine Davids,” Heidelberg Coach Mike Hallett said. “We’re cast as the lovable losers. But that’s not how we look at it, or approach it. You don’t measure the value of athletics at an educational institution by the result, however lopsided, of one game. You’re missing every lesson if you do that.”
Indeed, at a time when the conversation at the highest levels of college football is dominated by academic dishonor and money-fueled, conference realignment deals, at tiny Heidelberg 150 players fill the roster without a single athletic scholarship. The team’s collective grade point average is just above 3.0.
It is Mount Union week, and Heidelberg, which has won four of its first five games for the first time in 18 years, actually thinks it can win. Hallett, who played on Mount Union’s first national championship team, in 1993, remembers his first year as the Heidelberg coach, preparing to play his alma mater. “I looked at the film of them and of us and I knew we had no chance,” Hallett said. The team he inherited had a 1-39 record in its previous four seasons. “So I told the kids that we don’t have a prayer of winning,” he said. “I didn’t want to give a typical gung-ho speech because I wanted them to know I wouldn’t lie. So I said we can’t win. But we can compete and prove to ourselves that we can get better.” Heidelberg had been outscored, 187-0, in the previous three Mount Union games.
“But in 2007 we became the only team in the conference to score a point against their first-team defense,” Hallett said. “We kicked a field goal.” They lost, 62-3. The next week Heidelberg upset the conference power Baldwin-Wallace by 22 points, the first Heidelberg win over Baldwin-Wallace in 18 years.
Hallett’s first three teams had 4-6 records. Last season, Heidelberg, whose mascot is named the Student Prince, was 5-5. The scores against Mount Union have gotten marginally closer: 49-0, 44-14, 45-7. “I came here knowing all about the losing,” Tony Gordon, a senior cornerback, said this week, sitting in an athletic department meeting room feet from a trophy case celebrating the university’s football glory days, including a faded ball from Heidelberg’s 1972 Division III national championship season. “But I didn’t want to go to the place that won all the time,” Gordon said. “Sometimes you learn more being the one who gets knocked down. Sometimes you learn more having to pick yourself up.”

Larry Kehres became Mount Union’s coach in 1986 and has since compiled a record of 308-23-3. He does not address things like win streaks and instead preaches consistency — weekly practice schedules are similar whether it is the opening game of the season or the national championship game, which Mount Union has played in 13 times in the last 15 years. Mount Union, with an enrollment of about 2,200 — Heidelberg’s is roughly 1,200 — also does not award athletic scholarships, which are prohibited in Division III. Kehres is proud of how aggressively his conference brethren battle week after week. “The conference reflects Ohio in every way,” Kehres said. “Football is part of the fabric of every small manufacturing town. We don’t have all the manufacturing we once had, but we still have our football. No one ever takes it for granted.”
And what would a win over Mount Union mean? “I don’t think they would throw us a parade,” Hallett said, perhaps forgetting that when Ohio Northern University upset Mount Union in 2005 — the lone Mount Union conference defeat since 1994 — the Ohio Northern bus received a police escort back to campus, where a cheering crowd awaited. Justin Suddeth, meanwhile, has noticed subtle changes already. Even the remote prospect of an upset had caused a couple of professors this week to give him a furtive, hopeful wink.


We had a powerhouse Division III school in lacrosse here in the Finger Lakes. Hobart College. They won 13 straight Division III National Championships and were forced to become a Division I because no Divison II or III schools would play them. So they (2,000 students) compete against the likes of North Carolina, Duke, and Syracuse. Needless to say, they haven't won any national championships since but they ARE competitive against the big boys.
I'm not saying that Mount Union could do the same in football, but it would be kind of fun to see how well they would do against the mid-major teans like Toledo, Eastern Michigan, Akron, etc.

[pegasus]

UPDATE: Mount Union blows away Heidelberg.

Jasper Collins (Geneva, N.Y./Geneva) matched a Mount Union record with four touchdown receptions and the defense held Heidelberg to a season-low 195 yards of total offense as the Purple Raiders scored a 56-7 Ohio Athletic Conference win on a windy Saturday in Tiffin. Collins finished with a career-high 159 receiving yards on eight catches and his four touchdowns match the single-game marks of Brian Stafford vs. Wilmington in 1968 and Adam Marino vs. Ohio Northern in 1999.
Mount Union (6-0, 5-0 OAC) also got a sixth straight 100-yard rushing game from Jeremy Murray (Martins Ferry/Martins Ferry) who had 139 yards on 26 carries while the quarterback tandem of Neal Seaman (Louisville/Louisville) (7-for-15, 137yds., 3 TDs) and Matt Piloto (Rotonda West, Fla./Lemon Bay) (7-of-9, 108yds. 2 TDs) combined to toss five TD passes and lead an offense that generated 501 yards.
Mount Union extended its regular season win streak to 58 games and will try to extend its 102-game regular season road win streak next Saturday at 1:30 pm in an OAC matchup at Capital.

[pegasus]

QUICKIES:
1. Yankees tell Jesus Montero to skip winter ball.
....Jesus Montero won't participate in winter ball after the Yankees decided he's played enough games this year. He played 103 games at Triple-A and got into 18 more MLB games with the Yankees in September, totaling 532 plate appearances. He’s in line to be the Yankees’ regular designated hitter as a 22-year-old rookie next season after going 20-for-61 (.328) with four homers, four doubles, and seven walks in his September debut.
a. Brian Cashman's new deal with the Yankees expected to be quick and easy.

....So much drama in Boston and so much rancor. But the Yankees remain a bastion of simple, straightforward baseball business. Hal Steinbrenner and Cashman are scheduled to meet next week, and all expect a new GM contract to be done easily.

2. Frank and Jamie McCourt reach settlement over Dodgers ownership.

Frank McCourt’s multi-front war to maintain control over the Los Angeles Dodgers just got a bit simpler: according to Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times, reaching a settlement regarding ownership of the Dodgers with Jamie McCourt. The deal has Frank paying Jamie $130 million in exchange for her giving up a claim to ownership of the team. One hundred and thirty million birds in the hand are worth more than more in the bush, as they say. For everyone else this puts to an end the sordidness and drama that has driven the entire McCourt/Dodgers/litigation fiasco for the past two years. Yes, the bankruptcy and Major League Baseball’s efforts to wrest control of the Dodgers from McCourt pose a more serious threat than anything else now, but it was the divorce and the attendant publicity that set all of this off. And now it’s all over. At least, that is, if this settlement gets put to bed neatly. Which, given that the McCourts are involved, is no sure bet.



WORLD SERIES

1. New feel for World Series.

It’s a World Series straight out of Central casting. David Freese, the local boy who became a big hit for the St. Louis Cardinals. Big Tex himself, Nolan Ryan rooting on the Rangers. A pair of teams cut from a center slice of the country, set to meet in the middle.
Freese was eager to get going. A prep star in suburban St. Louis, he emerged as the MVP of the National League Championship Series, helped by his three-run homer in Sunday’s clinching Game 6 at Milwaukee, a 12-6 Cardinals win.
They begin at Busch Stadium tomorrow night, with C.J. Wilson starting for Texas against Chris Carpenter. And no need to change any clocks. Every game is scheduled to start at 7:05 p.m. local time (8:05 p.m. Eastern). Kind of nice to avoid those late-afternoon shadows in California and skip those post-midnight final outs in the Northeast. Provided there’s no rain or extra innings, that is.
With MVPs Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton, and several other All-Stars involved, it’s certainly an interesting matchup. Adding to the intrigue: The teams are hardly acquainted, having played only three games against each other - and that lone series was back in 2004 - and equals the fewest games between two opponents in the majors, tying the Mets-White Sox.

2. Rangres change rotation, will start Colby Lewis in Game 2.

Derek Holand's struggles in the ALCS have convinced the Rangers to start Colby Lewis in Game 2 (C.J. Wilson starts Game 1). Holland lasted just 2.2 innings in Game 2 vs. Detroit and was yanked from Game 6 after 4.2 innings, allowing 7 runs in 7 innings. Lewis wasn't much better - in his lone ACLS start he allowed four runs in 5.2 innings BUT tossed six innings of one-run ball vs. the Rays in the ALDS.

3. MLB announces Jerry Layne-led umpiring crew.

....The umpiring assignment for the World Series will be led by 23-year veteran Jerry Layne. He will be joined by Greg Gibson, Alfonso Marquez, Ron Kulpa, Ted Barrett, and Gary Cederstrom, each of whom have significant postseason experience. It's nice to see none of the familiar headline-grabbing names like Joe West or Bob Davidson on the crew. So maybe things will be quiet with a less contentious crew officiating. I certainly hope so!!

4. Chris Carpenter had "inflammation and swelling" in elbow.

....Chris Carpenter will start Game 1 of the World Series for the Cardinals and publicly at least various members of the team downplayed talk of his elbow being an issue, but Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post Dispatch reports that “Carpenter suffered inflammation and swelling of the elbow” following his start against the Brewers last Wednesday. According to Strauss he “required lengthy daily treatments” leading up to a potential Game 7 start in the NLCS and any notion of Carpenter starting on short rest for a second time this postseason has been ruled out. Jis Game 1 start will come on six days’ rest following an abbreviated 89-pitch outing, so if ever Carpenter was going to be at full strength this would be the time.

5. Michael Young expected to play first base under National League (no DH) rules in St Louis.

....As there is no designated hitter in Games 1 & 2 in St. Louis, Michael Young will almost certainly get the nod at first base. The only other realistic option is 26-year-old Mitch Moreland, but he is hitting just .105 (2-for-19) during the postseason ans has struck out in five out of his last six at-bats. Young is batting .209 (9-for-43) with eight strikeouts during the postseason, but finally busted out in the Game 6 clincher against the Tigers, going 3-for-6 with a home run, two doubles and five RBI. The 34-year-old started 36 games at first base during the regular season and four during the ALDS and ALCS.

6. Michelle Obama, Jill Biden to attend World Series opener.

....Michelle Obama and Jill Biden are scheduled to attend the World Series opener in St. Louis night to honor military veterans. It’s part of MLB’s Welcome Back Veterans program and Michelle Obama’s Joining Forces initiative, which seeks to support veterans and their families.

[pegasus]

WORLD SERIES 2011

Rangers rally late t take Game 2 winning 2-1.

Sacrifice flies by Josh Hamilton and Michael Young in top of the 9th knots the series at 1-1.
Josh Hamilton and the Texas hitters looked lost. They chased pitches that bounced, broke their bats and seemed totally overmatched. Until the ninth inning, that is.
Down to their last three outs, and in danger of dropping into a serious World Series deficit, the Rangers rallied against St. Louis' vaunted bullpen. Hamilton and Michael Young lifted sacrifice flies in the ninth and Texas startled the Cardinals 2-1 on Thursday night to even the Series at 1-all. "It wasn't a Series-saving rally, but it was huge," said Ian Kinsler, whose single and steal set up the comeback.
For the second straight night, Cardinals pinch-hitter Allen Craig greeted reliever Alexi Ogando with a go-ahead single. This time, Craig did it the seventh. In Game 1, his hit in the sixth sent the Cards to a 3-2 win. Said Cardinals manager Tony La Russa: "It was almost a great story for us, turned out to be a greater one for them."

[pegasus]

MLB 2011 World Series


Pujols takes control with night for the ages.

The Cardinals' star's 3-homer night leaves the Texas Rangers in shock, changes feel of the World Series. Pujols had the greatest single-game offensive performance in World Series history:

•Fourteen total bases — the most in a World Series game — compiled on three home runs and two singles. In order: Singles in the fourth and fifth innings, then homers in the sixth, seventh and ninth innings.
•Only Babe Ruth twice (1926, 1928) and Reggie Jackson (1977) — "pretty good company right there" in the words of Cardinals manager Tony La Russa — also have hit three home runs in a World Series game.
Pujols' trio came against three different pitchers — and in the sequence of three-run, two-run and solo shot.
•The six RBI in a World Series game had been done only twice previously — Bobby Richardson (1961) and Hideki Matsui (2009).
•Five hits tied yet another World Series single-game record, held by Milwaukee's Paul Molitor (1982). And hits in four consecutive innings is a World Series first.

Texas manager, Ron Washington ,appeared so stunned, he really wasn't sure what he was thinking. Asked if the Rangers would change their approach, Washington first said, "nope. I just hope we can make him chase some stuff, and not put stuff in the wrong spot, or get it up in the zone, or out over the plate.'' But then he added: "When the opportunity presents itself to put him on the bag (with an intentional walk), I'm not going to let him swing the bat.''

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MLB 2011 World Series


At first, fireworks over the umpiring.

The ball bounced to Elvis Andrus so neatly that Albert Pujols, the runner at first base, peeled off halfway to second. This was as routine as a double-play ball can be. Until it wasn’t. Ian Kinsler, the Texas Rangers second baseman who had earlier made his second error of the World Series, threw high to first baseman Mike Napoli. Matt Holliday, who had hit the ball for the St. Louis Cardinals, could have slid into first to avoid the tag. But he stayed upright, allowing Napoli to whirl and tag him on the shoulder, a step before he crossed the base.
Yet Holliday was ruled safe, and he went on to score the first run of a four-run rally in the fourth inning of the Cardinals’ rollicking 16-7 victory in Game 3 at Rangers Ballpark. And the blown call at first was a discouraging reminder that baseball can, and should, make the game better. After watching a replay, Kulpa acknowledged that he made the wrong call. “I had him on the base at the time of his tag,” he said. “I had a tag, but I had him on the base.”
We do not know if the Rangers will recover to win the World Series and make Kulpa a footnote. Whatever happens, he deserves no blame. The Rangers’ pitching crumbled and the Cardinals’ offense rumbled. Napoli made a two-run throwing error in the top of the fourth, and with a better slide in the bottom of the inning, he might have scored on Kinsler’s fly out to left.
This loss was squarely on the Rangers, but Kulpa’s mistake highlights a problem baseball faces every postseason. Missed calls are part of every game, all season long. But they are magnified with increased coverage and viewership. The game deserves better, especially in the postseason, with so much at stake. The umpires deserve better, too. A mistake by a player cannot be reversed by technology. A mistake by an umpire can, if baseball would allow it.
In any case, a team that allows 16 runs has no business winning, and in the warm air of their bandbox ballpark, the Rangers were helpless against the best offense in the National League.

[pegasus]

MLB 2011 World Series


Rangers bounce back, take Game 4 in World Series, 4-0.

Series tied 2-2 as Derek Holland stifles Cards, including Alber Pujols, and Napoli hits key home run in 4-0 win. In a title matchup that's getting more interesting with every game, Holland put the emphasis back on pitching. Given a pep talk by manager Ron Washington minutes before the game, Holland threw two-hit ball for 8 1-3 innings to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-0 on Sunday night and even things at 2-all. He struck out seven, walked just two and never was in trouble against the team that erupted for 16 runs the night before. He came within two outs of pitching the first complete game shutout in the World Series since Josh Beckett's gem for Florida that clinched the 2003 series at Yankee Stadium.
Holland tipped his cap and waved to the fans as he walked off. His outing was the longest scoreless appearance by an AL starter in the Series since Andy Pettitte also went 8 1-3 at Atlanta in 1996. "I was very focused. I knew this was a big game for us," Holland said. "I had to step up and make sure I was prepared." Neftali Feliz took over and closed. He walked Allen Craig, then retired Pujols on a fly ball and struck out Matt Holliday to end it.
Hobbled Josh Hamilton put Texas ahead with an RBI double in the first inning. Then Mike Napoli broke it open with a three-run homer in the sixth that set off a hearty high-five in the front row between team president Nolan Ryan and former President George W. Bush. Now the whole season is down to a best of three, with the outcome to be decided back at Busch Stadium.

[pegasus]

Formula One Racing


New Jersdy officials reach deal to bring Formula One racing to the state.
State officials have reached a10-year deal to bring Formula One racing to the Garden State, beginning in June 2013. Two sources said that Formula One, considered the world's premiere racing circuit, will be taking to the streets of Weehawken and West New York, New Jersey. The route of the race featuring open cockpit, high-tech cars traveling more than 200 mph would begin in Weehawken at the beginning of JFK Boulevard East and go north, with spectacular views of the Manhattan skyline as a backdrop, before turning right down 60th street in West New York to River Road where drivers would head south, back toward Weehawken. The race course should be ideal for Formula One as it combines the sport's characteristic right turns and elevation changes and, unlike the auto racing most Americans are used to, generally features less passing and fewer crashes. Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for Christie, said the governor expects Formula One's arrival to bring "a significant economic and tourism boom for our state."
Austin, Texas, meanwhile, will host the annual United States Grand Prix for the sport beginning November 2012 and continuing through 2021 -- making it the first U.S. city in 30 years to have a multi-year deal with Formula One. The last U.S. city to have such a deal was Watkins Glen, New York. Since then, Formula One has been hosted by Long Beach, Las Vegas, Detroit, Dallas and Phoenix all on temporary street circuits.

[pegasus]

MLB World Series


Well, the World Series is going to the 7th game. Cards won the 6th game 10-9 in the 11yth inning with David Freese's walk-off home run.

Twice down to their last strike, the St. Louis Cardinals kept rallying to win one of baseball's greatest thrillers.

David Freese completed a startling night of comebacks with a home run leading off the bottom of the 11th inning to beat Texas 10-9 on Thursday night, and suddenly fans all over got something they have waited forever to see: Game 7 in the World Series.

"Man that was incredible," Freese said. "But we fought back, we made some mistakes early on, but the way the Cardinals and we've all have been playing lately, you expect to come back like this. This is just a good feeling and I'm pumped were playing tomorrow. "Just an incredible feeling, seeing all my teammates at the dish waiting for me."

Freese, the hometown boy who made good, had already written himself into St. Louis lore in Game 6 with a two-strike, two-out, two-run triple in the ninth off Rangers closer Neftali Feliz that made it 7-all.

Next up on Friday night, the first Game 7 in the World Series since the Angels beat San Francisco in 2002.
[/fong]

[pegasus]

MLB World Series


Well, the World Series is going to the 7th game. Cards won the 6th game 10-9 in the 11yth inning with David Freese's walk-off home run.

Twice down to their last strike, the St. Louis Cardinals kept rallying to win one of baseball's greatest thrillers.

David Freese completed a startling night of comebacks with a home run leading off the bottom of the 11th inning to beat Texas 10-9 on Thursday night, and suddenly fans all over got something they have waited forever to see: Game 7 in the World Series.

"Man that was incredible," Freese said. "But we fought back, we made some mistakes early on, but the way the Cardinals and we've all have been playing lately, you expect to come back like this. This is just a good feeling and I'm pumped were playing tomorrow. Just an incredible feeling, seeing all my teammates at the dish waiting for me."

Freese, the hometown boy who made good, had already written himself into St. Louis lore in Game 6 with a two-strike, two-out, two-run triple in the ninth off Rangers closer Neftali Feliz that made it 7-all.

Next up on Friday night, the first Game 7 in the World Series since the Angels beat San Francisco in 2002.

[pegasus]

NBA Season
It's official: NBA cancels games through November.

Even when you know it's coming, it coesn't make it any less painful for the NBA faithful. There will be NO games in November. And that means no 82 game season. “It’s not practical, possible or prudent to have a full season now… in light of the breakdown of talks there will not be a full NBA schedule this season,” David Stern, NBA commissioner said.
This cancelation will hit the players in the pocketbook — their first paycheck for this season was due on Nov. 15 (they get paid on the 15th and 30th during the season). A number of owners had wanted to make the players miss paychecks, to feel that pain, knowing that is their ultimate leverage. The players have been dug in for more than a year knowing this was coming and many say they are fine. Still missing a paycheck is missing a paycheck.
The big date looming on the horizon is Christmas, a showcase day for the NBA where marquee teams play on national television. For the more casual sports fan, that is like the NBA’s second opening day. It’s when they really start watching. It will take about 30 days to get up and running from the day the two sides reach a handshake deal, so you do the math. It’s not long.
The sticking points in talks remain the split of basketball related income (league revenue) and how a more stiff luxury tax will fit.
Frankly, it's hard to feel sorry for either side in this conflict. As a group, the NBA players are the highest pad athletes in the world, but on the other hand, it's the newer owners who are the hardliners. Why? Because they paid too much for their franchises and now are having troupble making ends meet.

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No. 409 make JoePa winningest Div. I coach.

Penn State legend passes Grambling's Eddie Robinson as No. 21 Nittany Lions hold off Illinois 10-7. In bright white letters against a blue background, the electronic sign boards around Beaver Stadium took note of another milestone for Joe Paterno long after the stands had cleared.
"Congratulations Coach Paterno," the signs read. "Winningest Coach In Division I College Football."
The Nittany Lions (8-1, 5-0 Big Ten) overcame six fumbles — losing two — with Silas Redd's 3-yard touchdown run with 1:08 to go. Penn State's only touchdown came after Illinois corner Justin Green was whistled for pass interference while breaking up a fourth-down pass for Derek Moye in the end zone.
Even JoePa was nervous in the press box before Penn State's last drive. Paterno coached upstairs since he's still got a sore right leg, shoulder and pelvis following an accidental preseason hit.
Congrats to Joe Paterno and long may he still coach.

[pegasus]

Sports Highlights

NCAA Football.
College football overview: Oct 30th.
Rain and snow soaked the East Coast, and a storm of touchdowns showered the rest of the country, with blowouts for Florida State, Michigan and Oklahoma.

Ohio St. deals No. 12 Wisconsin another tough loss.

Miller's 40-yard TD pass with 20 seconds left lifts Buckeyes to 33-28 victory. After almost a year of suspensions, rumors and NCAA trouble in the headlines, Ohio State finally made some news on the field. Braxton Miller threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Devin Smith with 20 seconds left and the Buckeyes beat No. 12 Wisconsin 33-29 on Saturday night, handing the Badgers their second consecutive stunning defeat.

Stanford and Luck pull out a victory.
It took three overtimes, but the 4th-ranked Cardinal finally prevailed over a tenacious Southern Cal team.

With the Big East teetering, Rutgers stumbles.
West Virginia, which is leaving the Big East for the Big 12, rallied in the 4th quarter for a snowy victory over the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.

Oklahoma 58, Kansas State 17 - Sooners gave Wildcats a crushing first defeat.

Despite losing a heartbreaker to Texas Tech the week before, No. 10 Oklahoma still entered today’s game against No. 11 Kansas State as a nearly two touchdown favorite. The end result, however, was far more than a two-possession game, as the Sooners rolled in the second half to a 58-17 victory over the Wildcats.

Richt, No. 22 Georgia get 'awesome' win over Florida.

A potential job-saving victory for coach as Bulldogs prevail 24-20. Georgia coach Mark Richt took several steps toward midfield with his son draped around his neck. His players and assistant coaches were in the background, celebrating in the same end zone that caused such a stir during the Bulldogs' last win against Florida. This one was special. And everyone knew it. Richt may have saved his job with two gutsy, fourth-down calls that resulted in touchdowns, and No. 22 Georgia overcame several mistakes to beat Southeastern Conference rival Florida 24-20 Saturday.

Other games.
Nebraska 24, Michigan State 3 - Michigan State was powerless to stop rout by Nebraska.
Syracuse sputters in a loss to an inspired Louisville 27-10.
Notre Dame Irish rout Navy 56-14.

NFL Football.

Life without Manning leads to thoughts of life beyond him.

The Colts had won at least 10 games for nine consecutive years before quarterback Peyton Manning's neck injury; this year they are 0-7.

NFL should try draft lottery.

Andrew Luck is the best quarterback prospect since Peyton Manning and it's impacting the integrity of the game. A draft lottery could avoid the potential problem of teams tanking to get the Stanford QB.

NHL Hockey.

Up by 3 goals, NY Rangers find a way to lose again.

Brad Richards, the $60 million free agent, had two goals and an assist but gave up the puck on a steal that led to Ottawa's tying goal with 2 minutes 50 seconds left. (They won the overtime shootout 1-0.)

Yacht Racing.

Riding (and selling) a world of waves.

A stream-lined fleet of six yachts is ready to set off from Alicante, Spain on the 9-leg Volvo Ocean Race with the Prince of Sweden Carl Philip and Franz Koch, the CEO of PUma, among the competitors in the first Pro-Am Race of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 (an around-the-world race held every 3 years).

Formula 1 Racing.

Indian Grand Prix 20011.

Formula One and India await the results of the inaugural Indian Grand Prix this weekend with a mixture of optimism and trepidation. Sebastian Vettel led from start to finish in the inaugural race at the Buddh circuit for his 11th win. He is now just two wins shy of equalling a record many thought would never be touched (Michael Schumacher's 2004 mark of 13). For the first time in his career the Red Bull driver achieved Formula One's grand chelem of pole, win, fastest lap and leading for every single lap, to further underline his dominant campaign.