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What: George Mason (3-3) at Bucknell (2-5)
Where: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
When: Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2007, 7 p.m.
Radio: WVBU 90.5 FM and SportsJuice.com
Live Video: SportsJuice.com
Promotions: Feed the Fan/Student Study Break
Game Notes

With a Victory Over George Mason, Bucknell Would…
► Win its last game before final exams for the fifth consecutive season
► Post its second consecutive home win
► Improve to 32-67 all-time against CAA teams
► Collect three wins in a five-game span for the first time since ending a school-record nine-game winning streak last February

About the Game
Having lost at Marist over the weekend, Bucknell will look to get back to its winning ways at Sojka Pavilion, a place the Bison have posted a 39-21 all-time record. Kathy Fedorjaka will be coaching the 400th game of her 15-year coaching career and the Bison will need a victory to avoid a 2-6 record and equal the 2004-05 squad for the worst start during Fedorjaka’s 11 years at the helm. George Mason, which has just one player (Lateisha Wade) averaging double figures, had a three-game winning streak snapped at Richmond on Saturday. The Patriots will be idle for 15 days following the game and will next be in action Dec. 19 against Patriot League foe American.

Bucknell-George Mason Series
The Bucknell-George Mason series is being rekindled after nearly 16 years. The last time the two teams met was Feb. 24, 1992 and the Bison were triumphant by a 68-64 score. Bucknell owns a 3-2 lead in the series, including 2-0 in Lewisburg, and has won each of the last two meetings.

Last Meeting - Feb. 24, 1992
► Bucknell 68, George Mason 64
Bucknell outscored George Mason 37-26 in the second half to overcome a seven-point halftime deficit. Juliet McGee, who ranks 14th on the Bison career scoring list, had 16 points and 12 rebounds, while Nickie Hilton registered a double-double of her own with 22 points and 10 boards for the Patriots. Bucknell improved to 7-18, while George Mason fell to 13-11.

Bucknell vs. Colonial Athletic Association
Bucknell is 31-67 all-time against teams that currently compete in the CAA. The Bison lost to CAA foe James Madison by a 73-53 score earlier this season.

Sojka Success
While Bucknell has struggled to a 2-5 record to start this season, they are 1-1 at Sojka Pavilion. The Bison will now play three consecutive games on their home court, where they are 39-21 (.650) all-time.

Tough Start at Marist
Bucknell opened last Saturday’s game at Marist missing its first 28 field goal attempts. The Bison trailed 19-0 before getting on the board, and 23-3 before Kristina Collymore netted their first field goal more than 14 minutes into the contest. Bucknell rebounded and made 19 of its final 40 field goal attempts as it whittled what once was a 27-point deficit to just 10 in the final minutes.

Getting Ready for Exams
Each year Bucknell has a lengthy break for final exams in December, but it has not let the studying get in the way of winning games. The Bison have won their final game before final exams each of the last four years. The wins have been by an average of more than 10 points per game. Bucknell is 6-4 in the final game before final exams under head coach Kathy Fedorjaka.

20+ 3-Pointers
Bucknell attempted 23 3-point field goals this past Saturday at Marist, a figure that was nearly double its amount from any of the first six games of the season. The Bison made just six of the 23 attempts (26.1 percent). Last year Bucknell attempted at least 20 3-points five times and made just 29 of 116 (25.0 percent) in those games. The Bison shot 35.9 percent in the other 26 games.

400th Career Game
Bucknell head coach Kathy Fedorjaka will coach her 400th career game against George Mason. The 15th-year head coach has a career record of 226-173. It will be her 295th game at the helm of the Bison, where she has a record of 159-135 and is in the midst of her 11th season.

Three of Four Above 40%
Three of Bucknell’s last four opponents have shot at least 40.0 percent from the field. While the Bison have been among the national leaders in field goal percentage defense the last two years, that occurence is not uncommon. In fact, last year Coppin State, Binghamton and Buffalo all shot at least 40.0 percent in a four-game stretch against the difficult Bucknell defense that ranked 32nd nationally in field goal percentage defense at year’s end.

Difficult Schedule
Bucknell head coach Kathy Fedorjaka has put together a very difficult for her Bison squad this season. In fact, the five teams Bucknell has lost to this season owned a combined 26-9 record through Saturday’s action. Additionally, future opponents No. 10 Duke Penn State are at least receiving votes in the latest USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll. James Madison and Marist are also listed among the others receiving votes category.

 Records of Opponents Bucknell has Lost to in 2007-08 (through Dec. 1) St. Bonaventure 5-2 James Madison 6-0 Hampton 4-3 Cornell 3-3 Marist 8-1 Total 26-9

Strong Showing for Sprouse
Senior Ashton Sprouse has seen limited playing time throughout her career, but she made quite an impact this past Saturday at Marist. The 6-1 forward scored five points and grabbed five rebounds, both season highs, in 15 minutes off the bench.

Cold Shooting
Marist held Bucknell to just 27.9 percent shooting this past Saturday, marking the lowest figure of the year for the Bison. The last time they shot worse was last December against the same Marist team (26.9 percent). Bucknell connected on just over 15 percent of its first-half field goals over the weekend against the Red Foxes.

Changing the Starters
Bucknell head coach Kathy Fedorjaka has tinkered with her starting lineup throughout the early part of this season. In fact, the Bison have used a program-record five different starting lineups in the season’s first seven games.

High Scorers
Four members of the current Bison squad have already eclipsed 500 points in their careers, headlined by Hope Foster and her 976 career points. She ranks 17th on the Bison career scoring list. Kesha Champion, Amanda Brown and Lauren Schober also have more than 500 career points, joining an exclusive club that has just 40 members.

 Current Bison with 500 Career Points and Rank on Bucknell Career Scoring List 16. Julie Bachman 981 17. Hope Foster 976 25. Shannon McGowan 744 26. Amanda Brown 738 27. Kesha Champion 734 30. Liz Rabenold 594 31. Anne McGovern 579 t-32. Lauren Schober 578

Improved Rebounding
While Bucknell has struggled rebounding the ball this year, it had a strong showing on the boards at Marist. For the second time this season the Bison were not beaten on the boards as they equaled the bigger Red Foxes with 42 rebounds apiece. However, guards Kesha Champion (12) and Amanda Brown (6) accounted for nearly half of the caroms.

Foster Continues to Pile Up Blocks
Hope Foster has amassed 278 blocks in her career. As a freshman, she tallied 72 rejections to break Desire Almind’s year-old Bucknell single-season record of 62. She easily eclipsed that figure as a sophomore with 95 blocks to pace the Patriot League for the second consecutive season. Last year she nearly broke her own record, but finished with 93 blocks, leading the Patriot League once again. Foster finished her junior campaign with a 3.0 blocks per game average, which ranked ninth in the nation. The year before she averaged 3.3 blocks per game, good for eighth in the country. With 18 blocks this season, Foster is just 31 blocks shy of the Patriot League career record, held by Kathy Courtney of Holy Cross.

Block Drought
While Foster is among the most prolific shot blockers in the nation, she has seen her block totals fall off recently. In fact, she has had more than two blocks in a game just once over the last five outings. She was also held without a block against Marist, marking just the eighth time in her career she did not block a shot. It was also the first time she did not block a shot against a non-league foe since the first game of her freshman season against Florida International, a streak of 46 games.

Up Next
Bucknell will have 11 days off for final exams before its next game, which is Dec. 15 against Penn State. The Nittany Lions, who are 6-2 and defeated nationally ranked Duke on Sunday, have never played in Lewisburg. Tip off for the contest will be at 7 p.m. The last time the two teams met was in the 2002 Preaseason WNIT and Penn State prevailed 86-72.

Source: Bucknell Women’s Basketball Welcomes George Mason to Sojka Pavilion Tuesday Night

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Andy Pettitte has decided to put off retirement and pitch for the New York Yankees in 2008.

Pettitte’s Better Half

As far as winning games, consistency has been Andy Pettitte’s calling card since breaking in with the Yankees in 1995. In the second half of seasons, though, is when Pettitte really ramps up his performance:

Lefty’s career split   Before break After break W-L 93-69 108-44 ERA 4.13 3.53 Opp. BA .276 .263 Starts 204 189

Pettitte’s agent, Randy Hendricks, said Monday that the 35-year-old left-hander had started telling teammates on Sunday. Hendricks then informed Yankees general manager Brian Cashman of the news.

The Houston Chronicle first reported that Pettitte would return in 2008.

“Many teammates have called urging Andy to return as well as manager Joe Girardi,” Hendricks said, according to the Chronicle. “It’s well known that the Yankees have publicly stated that they were ready for Andy when Andy was ready.”

The decision came as the Yankees set a Monday deadline for the Minnesota Twins to decide whether they will trade them two-time AL Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana for pitcher Phil Hughes, center fielder Melky Cabrera and a midlevel prospect.

Pettitte had declined a $16 million option last month, saying he needed more time, and catcher Jorge Posada said last week that Pettitte was leaning toward retirement. The pitcher had said late in the season that it had become increasingly difficult to be away from his family during the season.

Pettitte was 15-9 with a 4.05 ERA this year in his return to the Yankees following three seasons with his hometown Houston Astros. He went 11-3 after the All-Star break and was New York’s most effective starter during the first-round playoff loss to Cleveland, pitching 6 1/3 scoreless innings in Game 2.

New York had said it could wait until next month for Pettitte to make a decision. Cashman said the $16 million option Pettitte declined was a standing offer.

All of the Yankees’ major free agents have now decided to return, with Pettitte following Posada, third baseman Alex Rodriguez and closer Mariano Rivera.

New York’s projected rotation now includes Pettitte, Chien-Ming Wang, Mike Mussina, Hughes and Joba Chamberlain, with Ian Kennedy in reserve. But Yankees senior vice president Hank Steinbrenner said Sunday his preference was to make the deal for Santana, which would give New York a stronger ace as it competes to regain the AL East title from the World Series champion Boston Red Sox.

Still, Steinbrenner said he wasn’t going to wait until past Monday for the Twins to decide.

Boston also is competing for Santana. The Red Sox are thought to have offered a package that would include pitcher Jon Lester or center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury but not both. Center fielder Coco Crisp also could be part of a trade.

“I’m not going to be played against the Red Sox. That’s not something I’ll do. That’s not something the Yankees should ever do, and that’s I think what they’re trying to do now,” Steinbrenner said. “So if they want the best offer that has been offered to them, then they need to make up their minds.”

Steinbrenner wouldn’t set a specific time Monday for pulling out.

“We’ll see how it goes, but this is not an act. It’s not a bluff. It’s just reality,” he said. “Because as much as I want Santana, and you can make that clear — for his sake, to know that I do want him — but the fact is that I’m not going to play the game. We’ve made them the best offer. And at this point, it’s not going to get any better. So they can decide. At this point, it’s up to them. I don’t think they want to lose us in this thing, obviously. Nobody wants to lose the Yankees in a negotiation.”

Pettitte has a 201-113 career record with a 3.83 ERA over 13 seasons with the Yankees and Astros.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Pettitte not retiring, will pitch for Yankees in 2008

Garry Paskwietz WeAreSC.com

Well, it’s a done deal. The USC Trojans will be returning to the Rose Bowl (again) and our opponent will be the Fighting Illini from Illinois.

Over the next month we will hear stories about the reclamation job that Ron Zook has done in turning the team around from a 2-10 season in 2006 to a Rose Bowl participant the following year. We will hear of a quarterback named Juice. We will be reminded of the fact that the Illini are making only their fifth ever trip to Pasadena, while the Trojans return for the fourth time in five years.

It should all be good stuff and, to hear Coach Pete Carroll and his players, it will be a big deal.

“We’re thrilled to be going to the Rose Bowl,” Carroll said. “Frankly, I like that it’s Pac-10-Big Ten. We’re fired up.”

“It’s an honor to be playing in the Rose Bowl against Illinois,” said freshman Everson Griffen. “We’re very excited to be a part of this game.”

I’m sure the Illini are a quality team, they wouldn’t have beaten Ohio State at the Horseshoe if they weren’t, but for some reason I just feel like the Rose Bowl missed on this one simply because they wanted to put together a Pac-10 vs Big-10 match-up. Don’t get me wrong, nobody is more in favor of the Pac-10 and Big-10 playing in the Rose Bowl than me. However, it should be the Pac-10 champions vs the Big-10 champions. It was the Rose Bowl Committee who made the decision many years ago to join the BCS and give up the best tradition in all of sports but when they made that decision they elected to go along with this jumbled mess we call the BCS. Based upon that, you can’t try to have the best of both worlds (the Pac-10 vs Big-10 AND the BCS) yet this is what the Rose Bowl tried to do.

For instance, how can the Rose Bowl committee sit there and justify selecting Illinois over Missouri? The Tigers are ranked #6 in the BCS poll, the Illini are ranked #13. Missouri lost twice, both times to #4 ranked Oklahoma. Illinois lost to Missouri (oh, the irony), to Iowa and to Michigan. Both are teams who are experiencing their best seasons in years so their fans would both have travelled in droves. I’m not trying to knock the Illini, I just don’t understand how this process works and I don’t feel like we got the best possible match-up for this game. Perhaps as the coming weeks unfold, and we learn more about this team, I will feel differently, but right now this is how I feel. The Rose Bowl used to be the end all-be all. There was no doubt about our goal each and every single season, to be in Pasadena on New Years Day. And when we got there, we knew we would be facing a team that ran through the Big-10 gauntlet and emerged as a champion. It was glorious, it was the Granddaddy of them All. Now, it’s simply another big bowl game. Granted, it’s a great bowl game, but it’s just not the same.

The good news is that this doesn’t change how I feel about this Trojan team and where we stand right now. I’m proud as hell to be the Pac-10 rep in the Rose Bowl, happy to hear so many of the national media members talking about how we are a team that is peaking at this point and playing good football. Do we deserve to be in the national title game? No, probably not. In my heart of hearts, I can’t make that argument. But I know we’re a good football team and I know I would take my chances lining up against any team in America right now.

This has become such a familiar feeling in December for the past six years under Pete Carroll. When it gets to November and December, the Trojans simply slide into a mode of football that is undeniable in terms of how successful it has been. The victory over UCLA yesterday may not have been the prettiest, by our standards now, but it was tremendously effective and the game was pretty much well in hand by the middle of the third quarter. One could argue (in fact, I would be one of the ones to argue) that USC should’ve been able to put the game away earlier but that has been one of the standard modes for this USC team in the 2007 season, they seem to sputter offensively more than in years past yet in part because of a great defense that has played tremendously well lately, it did not prevent us from pulling out our fourth victory in a row and capturing yet another Pac-10 title.

“Six straight Pac-10 titles, man, that’s a big deal,” said Coach Pete Carroll. “Last year was the first time anyone had ever done five straight so we’re kind of staking a new claim by stretching it to six. I like the long term consistency that the mark represents, it’s not just about winning it one or two times, it’s about being a team that can win for a long time and that is one of our goals, to win here forever.”

Well, the first step towards winning forever will be winning the next game and as of today we know who the opponent will be for that next game. Bring on the Illini. Tell them to come on out from Champaign and be prepared to battle against a team that will be ready for them. A team that will be ready to prove, once again, that by the time the end of the season rolls around that they are playing as well as any football team in the nation.

Source: To The Rose Bowl

Most Fridays I collect my 13-year-old daughter from her athletics class, just outside the Paris ring road or Boulevard Périphérique. She runs and jumps in a stadium which is within the dreaded suburbs, or “banlieues” (a source of cosmic dread to many Parisians and the scene once again this week of nasty, but limited, riots).

As I wait in the tiny, concrete stand, a score of 14- and 15-year-old boys gather for football training. They are white, brown and black. They wrestle and punch one another and trade complicated insults. They also come up to me and politely shake my hand. Maybe they think that I am a scout for Manchester United. Maybe I should be.

It was on this very pitch at the Stade Louison Bobet, the training ground for the Levallois Sporting Club, that a 15-year-old boy from Ivory Coast began his ascent to the pinnacle of the football world 14 years ago. His name was Didier Drogba.

This week I was talking to another group of 15- and 16-year-old boys of African and North African origin in Villiers-le-Bel, 12 miles further north. They were mourning the deaths of two friends in an accident with a police car, and threatening vengeance. That same night, 49 policemen were injured, mostly by gunfire, in riots involving boys as young as 10.

In 1998, when those boys were babies, a brown, white and black France team won the World Cup, generating extravagant hopes of a new era of racial and social harmony.

At a France-Morocco friendly match two weeks’ ago, there was a very small crowd at the Stade de France (admittedly at the peak of the transport strikes). Almost the entire crowd was wearing Morocco shirts and waving Moroccan flags. You can bet that most of them had not travelled from Morocco.

They – or a large minority of them – whistled at the French national anthem and whistled every move of almost every France player. They made an exception, however, for three young men who have just broken through into the France team, which, courtesy of two defeats for Scotland, qualified for Euro 2008.

The three young men are the belated heirs of Zinedine Zidane: the first players of North African origin to reach the uppermost slopes of French football since the great “Zizou”. The France squad has been dominated for several years by wonderful players of French Caribbean origin (Henry, Thuram, Gallas, Saha, Malouda) or African origin (Makelele, Vieira). There is now also a handful of very promising, young white players, not only Franck Ribéry but also Jérémy Toulalan and François Clerc, both from Lyons.

French kids of North African origin are as football-daft as white and black French kids. Until now, they have mostly failed to break through to the top level. Zidane was a great player – the greatest of his generation – but also a great exception.

Suddenly, three wonderful young French players of Arab origin have arrived together, like buses on a non-strike day.

They are aged 19 or 20. They represent each of the three great “Beur” – French-born Arab – communities in France (those with Moroccan, Algerian or Tunisian parents or grandparents). All are spoken of as big-money targets for the Premier League or La Liga or Serie A in the next close season.

Karim Benzema, 20 this month, is a tall, mobile, intelligent striker – a more graceful version of the young Nicolas Anelka. He has scored 12 goals in 19 appearances for Lyons this season and three goals in eight for France.

His parents are of Moroccan origin. He was born in the suburbs of Lyons. Arsène Wenger is rumoured in the French press to be preparing a big bid next summer. So are Real Madrid and Barcelona. Do you have €30m (£21.5m) to spare, Monsieur Wenger? Lyons will not let this handsome local hero part for less.

Samir Nasri, 20, is a darting, daring, offensive, baby-faced midfielder, who plays for his home-town club, Marseilles. He, like Zidane, is of Algerian origin. He, like Zidane (and Eric Cantona) was born in the tough, northern districts of Marseilles. He is also rumoured to be a target for Arsenal and Barcelona.

Hatem Ben-Arfa, 20, is a striker in the Thierry Henry mould, a great dribbler with a talent for spectacular goals (and for missing easy ones). He was born in the tough Paris banlieue of Montrouge, of Tunisian parents. He also plays for Lyons. French-press rumour links him with Manchester United.

Hopes that the 1998 World Cup victory of a white, brown and black team would instantly begin a new era of social and racial relations came to nothing. The success of a handful of talented footballers did not reconcile the great mass of young brown and black French people to social exclusion. Why should it? It was depressing all the same to hear those young French-Moroccans booing white and black France players.

And yet and yet. These things take time. The true, political achievement of the 1998 team was to educate subliminally the rising generations of the white, majority population (just as the black footballers of Britain have done).

A generation of French youngsters of all races has been brought up with brown and black heroes. Little by little – if not yet enough – they have helped to wash away barriers to the sons and daughters of immigrants in other areas of French life.

Even on the television. Even in government.

As almost the sole standard-bearer for second- and third-generation North Africans, an enormous, artificial pressure was placed on Zidane. Now, a trio of great “Beur” footballers has broken through at the same time. They could, quietly and without fuss, have more social impact than Zizou on the attitudes of young French people, both white and brown.

All have long international careers ahead of them. A decade from now, the sight of talented people of North African origin wearing the blue shirt of France will seem banal.

Brian Viner is away

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Source: John Lichfield: The heirs of Zidane break down barriers to claim birthright