All Sport Live

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) - Tiger Woods was voted PGA Tour player of the year by his peers Tuesday, the third straight year he won the award and the ninth time in his 11 years as a pro.

Jay Haas was voted Champions Tour player of the year, while Nick Flanagan won the award on the Nationwide Tour.

Woods also won player of the year from the PGA of America, a points-based system. The PGA Tour award is a vote, and Phil Mickelson was only other player on the ballot.

Woods won seven times, including the PGA Championship for his 13th career major. He also won two of the four events in PGA Tour playoffs to capture the inaugural FedEx Cup.

It gave him another sweep of PGA Tour awards named after three of the biggest names in history — the Jack Nicklaus Trophy for player of the year, the Arnold Palmer Award for leading the money list ($10.8 million) and the Byron Nelson Trophy for having the lowest scoring average (67.79).

What’s hot:

Top stories|Rumors|Video|Photos

Steve Stricker was voted comeback player of the year, the first player to win the award in consecutive seasons. He won in 2006 after starting the year with conditional status and finishing 34th on the money list. This year, he won for the first time in more than six years and was fourth on the money list, moving into the top five in the world ranking.

Brandt Snedeker was rookie of the year, winning the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C. George McNeill was the only other rookie to win this year, although Snedeker was the only rookie to reach the Tour Championship.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Source: Tiger wins 3rd straight player of the year

The NHLPA recently signed an agreement with David Suzuki to go ‘carbon neutral’. While I think carbon credits are merely a sham that allow people to feel guilt-free while polluting at the same time, it’s definitely a good first step. It’s about time that sports leagues starting noticing that the extensive travel comes at an environmental cost.

Now, there are those who claim that ‘Global Warming’ is a myth, CO2 is not a pollutant, and that humans really haven’t damaged the environment all that much.

Sounds silly, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, too many people seem to think this way, and that needs to change.

In the spirit of Glenn Beck (ugh), here is what I do know.

Labels: environment, Global Warming, Off-topic

Source: Human Environmental Impact: It’s no Myth.

So the story is out there and reality is setting in. Paul Wulff is the new head coach. There are a lot of pros, and some cons as well, and that’s to be expected for a guy without a successful D-1 resume. But is that overrated? Does it matter if a guy is coming to Pullman without a long track record of winning on the highest level of competition?

First of all, on the field:

• Wulff comes from one of the biggest have-nots in the west. Not a swipe at Cheney, but the stadium holds 8 K and the budget is the smallest in the Big Sky.
• Wulff has a 53-40 record as a head coach. Is that some sort of world-beater? No. He’s not exactly like Jim Tressel, who won championships at Youngstown State before he went to Ohio State. But you have to take the record in context. If you factor in the games against BCS competition, where they had no choice but to take the paycheck game in order to even hope to be competitive in recruiting, they were drilled. But the record on equal footing is more like 53-30. He’s taken his team to the playoffs in 3 of the last 4 years, and had only one losing season where they basically cleared the bench and went young in every sense. All that youth used in 2006 paid off in spades in 2007 as they fought to the end vs. App State (the same App State that BEAT MICHIGAN).
• He’s got an excellent offensive staff, and one that has produced fantastic results. You don’t lead the nation twice in total offense, and finish second in two other years, over the last eight seasons if you don’t know what you are doing. His sophomore QB just threw for over 3500 yards and 34 TD’s in a system that is designed to play fast, spread the field and really be unpredictable.
• As a former center, not only is he known as a cerebral guy, but he also knows how to coach up the o-lineman. Since Wulff has been associated with EWU, he’s had 17 offensive lineman finish first-team All-Big-Sky, had 14 on the second-team, and 16 getting honorable mention. As several people have pointed out, the offensive line can make or break a team, and you can have very little doubt that the line is going to be good as things roll forward in Pullman.
• As Hooty McBoob pointed out, Wulff has spent nearly a decade building relationships with high school coaches throughout the northwest and in Washington. He knows them all, and given a recruiting budget of basically nothing, he’s turned over rocks and shaken bushes and found players that can compete.
• One more thing in regards to recruiting - Wulff may not have a lot on his roster in terms of California players. But that’s not exactly by design. Again, you have to keep in mind the situation from where he’s coming from. The recruiting budget at EWU is very, very limited. In other words, they can’t exactly afford to go on all these visits over long distances. Wulff and his staff have put in a ton of windshield time throughout the state of WA, and they have absolutely made the most of the situation they are in. But you can’t immediately dismiss the idea that Wulff can’t recruit in California. After all, he’s from there and played high school football there. If anyone can stand in a living room in that state and tell kids and families first-hand what it’s like to move from CA to Pullman and be a successful football player, it’s Paul Wulff.
• If you don’t think he’s ready for this, then you aren’t seeing the bigger picture. And based on his qualifications, you never would have hired Dennis Erickson or Mike Price either. Both were .500 coaches from lower-level programs. And guess what? With that logic, UW never would have hired Don James! Don James had a .568 winning percentage as a relative unknown at Kent State before he showed up in Seattle. Just imagine the outrage today if WSU had hired Dennis Erickson, coming off a 6-6 record at Wyoming. Imagine the rioting today if we hired Mike Price, who was just 46-44 at WEBER FRICKIN’ STATE! Yet that worked out OK, didn’t it??

How about off the field? As the Go-2-Guy writes today, Wulff is a tough SOB. How tough? Try having an appendix out on Monday, then plays in the Apple Cup on Saturday. Try having your mother disappear when you are 12 years old with no concrete explanation or evidence as to what happened, all the while suspecting that your father did it. Try having the woman you love, your first wife, fade away to brain cancer and having her pass away in your arms.

Adversity can make or break a person and has a huge say in who you are today. Wulff has dealt with tougher times than any of us can ever hope to deal with in our lifetimes, and he’s had it all happen at a relatively young age. Yet instead of laying down and wallowing in the hand that he’s been dealt, he’s instead scraped himself off the floor and said the hell with it. All that’s happened to him has made him the man that he’s become. He’s embraced the challenges and has become one heck of a success story in the making.

And for all that, I’m glad that WSU is going to be another chapter in the Paul Wulff story.

Some other news-n-notes:

I heard Dennis Patchin on KJR last night with Ian Furness. Patchin claims that Wulff will bring with him offensive coordinator and QB coach Todd Sturdy, as well as former Coug and defensive coordinator Jody Sears. Patchin said that it’s not exactly known what their roles will be at WSU, but that will be decided shortly.

Everyone wants to know, what about Rosenbach? Patchin made it sound like that is very much up in the air. Rosenbach is actually a candidate to take the EWU job, at least according to Patchin, so he might be moving on. But if Wulff is taking Sturdy with him to Pullman, well, there might not be a spot for Rosey on the staff.

One other key from Patchin’s interview last night - Wulff was told that he DOES NOT HAVE TO RETAIN ANY OF THE EXISTING ASSISTANTS ON STAFF. For those of you thinking Wulff was hired on the cheap and would be forced to keep some of the staff together, well, you are wrong. Wulff was told during the interview process that he will have full authority on which assistants he can retain, period. Patchin also noted that it was possible however that Wulff, Rosey and Steve Broussard were part of the greatest upset in school history on that fabled 1988 team, and they all could potentially be on the coaching staff going forward.

Source: Wulff Brings What We Need

The Pittsburgh Steelers have lost star defensive end Aaron Smith for the rest of the season with a torn biceps sustained in Sunday’s blowout loss to the New England Patriots.

Smith

Coach Mike Tomlin revealed the injury at his Tuesday news briefing.

The Steelers are already playing without starting safeties Ryan Clark, who was placed on injured reserve earlier this season, and Troy Polamalu, who has missed the last three games. The additonal loss of Smith, one of the best two-way defensive ends in the league, is a significant blow to the NFL’s top-rated defense.

Smith, 31, is a prototypical 3-4 end, a terrific anchor defender against the run who also has decent pass rush skills. On third down, the versatile Smith often moves inside to rush the passer.

Since 2000, when he moved into the lineup full-time, Smith, who will be placed on the injured reserve list, had missed just four starts. He had missed two games earlier this season with a sprained ligament in his left knee.

It is uncertain who will replace Smith, a nine-year veteran, in the starting lineup. But the Steelers probably will be forced to use a combination of players — likely Travis Kirschke, Nick Eason and Chris Hoke — in Smith’s absence.

In 11 games this season, Smith had 31 tackles and 2½ sacks.

For his career, the former Northern Colorado standout has recorded 421 tackles, 36½ sacks, seven forced fumbles, seven recoveries, one interception and 17 passes defensed. A fourth-round choice in the 1999 draft, Smith was named to the Pro Bowl in 2004, a season in which he registered eight sacks.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for NFL.com

Source: Steelers’ Aaron Smith has torn biceps, out for year

Tiger Woods was named the PGA Tour’s Player of the Year for the third straight time, and ninth in 11 years, PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem announced Tuesday.

“To earn the respect of your peers is the highest honor you can receive,” Finchem said. “These players all demonstrated remarkable skill and dedication to their craft this past season and we congratulate them on their selections.”

Woods, 31, won seven times in 2007, including the PGA Championship, his 13th major championship title, and captured the inaugural FedExCup. In addition, his season was highlighted by wins in two World Golf Championships events, and he closed by winning two of the four events in the first-ever PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup and four of his final five starts overall.

Off the course, he welcomed the birth of his first child, a daughter named Sam Alexis, now almost six months old. He left the clubs in the bag for seven weeks, and only recently returned to the range, to get ready to host the ninth annual Target World Challenge in Thousand Oaks, Calif., this week. Sam Woods has been accompanying him to the driving range in recent days. “She kind of shakes every time I hit a shot,” Woods said. “Like, she gets excited. This could be good.”

Woods also collected the Arnold Palmer Award for the eighth time as the leading money-winner, earning $10,867,052 — the second-highest total in Tour history. Woods took home his eighth Byron Nelson Trophy for leading the PGA Tour in scoring average; his 67.79 average equaled the lowest average in Tour history.

Phil Mickelson was the only other nominee for Player of the Year honors on the PGA Tour after he completed his season with three victories, including The Players Championship title.

Among other awards announced:

Brandt Snedeker, who won the Wyndham Championship and finished 20th on the FedExCup points list, was selected as the PGA TOUR’s Rookie of the Year. He had six top-10 finishes and collected $2,836,643 — the third-highest rookie total ever.

The PGA TOUR’s Comeback Player of the Year Award went to Steve Stricker for the second consecutive season. Stricker finished second in the FedExCup race and had nine top-10 finishes, the second-highest total of his career. His victory at The Barclays, the first PGA TOUR Playoff event, ended a victory drought that dated back to the 2001 season.

Jay Haas was voted as the Player of the Year on the Champions Tour for the second consecutive season, with four victories among 18 top-10 finishes in 27 starts.

Nick Flanagan, a native of Australia, became the first international player in the 18-year history of the Nationwide Tour to earn top honors. He won three times in only 17 starts to earn an automatic promotion to the PGA TOUR. Despite playing the last several months of the season on the PGA TOUR, Flanagan still finished third on the Nationwide Tour money list with $369,951.

Source: Tiger captures 3rd straight Player of Year award

Here’s the latest rumors/rumblings/grumblings on some of the head coaching searches….

ARKANSAS
The Razorbacks have all but conceded that the administration has bungled the coaching search. Arkansas has hired coaching search guru Chuck Neinas to assist from here on out.

The Hogs were in talks with Atlanta Falcons head coach Bobby Petrino, but that did not pan out. Oakland Raiders OC Lane Kiffen was also linked to the position, but sources say that Kiffen has removed his name from the search, too. Auburn DC Will Muschamp is still in the mix. The Gold Mine says that a “head coach at a Texas school ” is also on the list, presumably TCU’s Gary Patterson. Arkansas is also said to be interested in Oklahoma DC Brent Venables and even interim coach Reggie Herring, although the Razorbacks would prefer to hire a proven head coach rather than an assistant.

The Arkansas list seems to be pretty crowded with defensive minds, so I don’t know what to make of news that Auburn OC Al Borges has left the Tigers, with no word whatsoever on his coaching future.

MICHIGAN
Despite his very emphatic press conference, it appears that Michigan is still making eye at LSU HC Les Miles. For what it’s worth, there are reports that Miles had a conference call with Michigan last week. LSU AD Skip Bertman is doing his best to dissuade the Wolverines, which leads me to suspect that there may still be some smoke left on that fire.

It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if Les Miles leaves LSU for Michigan.

Rutgers HC Greg Schiano quickly denied rumors linking him to UM after he interviewed (or at least had casual talks - there is some dispute) with UM skipper Bill Martin.

Cal’s Jeff Tedford is finally being looked at as a serious candidate. (It’s about time.)

DUKE
Former UCLA HC Karl Dorrell has fact-checked the Blue Devils, checking into a local hotel under his own name and tooling around the Duke campus. Dorrell joins Vandy’s Bobby Johnson, new Georgia Tech HC Paul Johnson, and Grambling coach Rod Broadway as the only coaches known to have had a formal interview. In a sign of the times, Duke has never had a black head coach in any sport, but has already interviewed two black candidates.

WASHINGTON STATE
The Cougars have wrapped their coaching search and will hire Eastern Washington’s Paul Wulff. He will be introduced today at a press conference in Pullman. Wulff was Big Sky Conference coach of the year in 2001, 2004 and 2005 (and maybe even again this year after taking EWU to the FCS quarterfinals).

UCLA
Interviews are expected to begin this week for the Bruins top job. Despite his tomato-tossing comments, Boise State coach Chris Peterson is expected to be on the list. You might want to take that with a grain of salt, though, as Peterson is rumored to covet the Oregon job a few years from now. Texas Tech head pirate Mike Leach will not be interviewing with the Bruins this week, as was rumored. Legendary OC Norm Chow is also expected to get an interview today. Meanwhile, Hawaii’s June Jones has been linked to UCLA, but he has publicly denied interest.

Source: As the coaching search turns…

Fabio Capello

LONDON - Fabio Capello is the new favourite to become England manager after Jose Mourinho pulled out of contention.

The former AC Milan and Real Madrid coach was widely tipped by all of Britain’s national newspapers Tuesday to get the job, left vacant when Steve McClaren was fired after failing to guide England to the European Championship.

British bookmaker William Hill cut Capello’s odds from 11-8 to 4-7 a day after Mourinho said he wasn’t interested. Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill, former Italy coach Marcello Lippi and former Germany coach Jurgen Klinsmann are also in contention.

British news reports said Football Association chief executive Brian Barwick was likely to meet with Capello later this week.

Related Info

• Mourinho not interested in England job

The Daily Telegraph reported that Capello planned to bring in former Chelsea forward Gianfranco Zola, and either Alan Shearer or Stuart Pearce as assistants if he was hired.

Shearer retired from soccer last year and Pearce is England’s under-21 coach. Both played more than 50 times for England.

Barwick will present his suggestion for England manager to the FA board on Dec. 19.

The 61-year-old Capello has won four league titles with Milan, two with Real Madrid and one with AS Roma. He also won the 1994 European Cup with Milan.

He also coached Juventus to the 2006 Italian league title, which was subsequently stripped because of the club’s involvement in a match-fixing scandal.

He was fired after his second spell at Real Madrid at the end of last season despite the club winning the league. At Madrid, he was criticized for benching David Beckham when he first took charge in 2006.

Capello played 32 times for Italy, and later coached the Italian national team from 1972 until 1976.

England’s next game is a friendly match against Switzerland at Wembley on Feb. 6, followed by a friendly against France at the Stade de France on March 26. 

Source: Capello new favourite for England job

BALTIMORE (AP) - Retired first baseman David Segui admitted on Monday that he used steroids and purchased shipments from former New York Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski, The Sun reported on its Web site on Monday.

Segui also repeated his June 2006 admission to ESPN that he used human growth hormone with a prescription.

He told the newspaper that he refused to talk to former U.S. senator George Mitchell, whose report on performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball is expected this week. Segui said he didn’t want to betray the trust of other players.

“I have nothing to hide. I have no problem talking about what I have done,” said Segui, who spent eight of his 15 major league seasons with the Baltimore Orioles. “But I never want any other players to think I was out there talking about their business. Because I do know a lot, but people have told me things in confidence and I don’t want to be spreading that.”

Radomski pleaded guilty in April to federal charges of illegally distributing performance-enhancing drugs. As part of his agreement with the government, he was required to cooperate with Mitchell’s investigation.

Segui said he met Radomski after being traded to the Mets in 1994. They became close and still talk by phone several times a week - usually about fishing and family.

At first, Radomski helped Segui with nutrition and weightlifting. Eventually, Segui said, he paid Radomski for different products, from legal supplements and workout gear to steroids and clenbuterol, an asthma drug that is said to melt body fat and is on MLB’s banned substances list. Segui also occasionally lent Radomski money.

Source: Report: Segui admits using steroids

NAGOYA, Japan (AP) - Japanese outfielder Kosuke Fukudome told the Chunichi Dragons he will not return next season, saying he wants to make a move to the major leagues.

Fukudome, who became a free agent last month, informed the Central League club of his decision Tuesday.

“I won’t be playing for a Japanese club next season, I’ll play in the majors,” Fukudome said. “I appreciate the fans who supported me for nine years. I hope that the fans continue to root for me when they see me playing in the United States.”

Fukudome is regarded as one of the best outfielders in Japanese professional baseball. The 30-year-old was a key member of the Japan team that won the inaugural World Baseball Classic in March 2006.

He had surgery on his right elbow in August and sat out the Japan Series, but has 192 homers and a .305 batting average over nine seasons with the Dragons, who won their first championship in 53 years on Nov. 2.

Fukudome has drawn interest from the Chicago Cubs, the San Diego Padres and the Chicago White Sox.

The Padres have made an offer to Fukudome, calling it “one of the two or three biggest offers” in team history.                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Source: Fukudome tells Dragons he’s heading to majors

As you may know, Own the Zone has sponsored Women’s Tennis Blog for some time, and I have already written one article about their main product, OTZ band vibration dampener, which is based on excellent design and use of quality materials to help absorb the string and racquet vibration. Today, the company would like to introduce you to their pink band dampeners.

For every pink Bucket-of-Bands (48 pink 2-band packets) purchased by pro shops and tennis specialty stores and for every pink OTZ bi-pack (2 bands per packet) sold online via www.otzsports.com, Own the Zone will make a donation to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

"When you tie the pink OTZ band to your tennis racquet, you are not only getting the world’s best vibration dampener, but you are also helping promote international awareness of this disease," said Julius Stockfish, Co-President of Own the Zone Sporting Goods. "In the United States alone there are more than 25 million tennis players and globally there are more than 100 million tennis players. We can make a difference in helping to find a cure."

“We hope tennis players around the world will Join the Band,” said David Marcus, Co-President of Own the Zone Sporting Goods. “You can show that you’re aware and care about breast cancer. We encourage everyone to tie a pink OTZ band on their racquet and wear the spare on their wrist.”

For more information visit the Own the Zone website or contact sales@otzsports.com.

Share This

Source: FROM OUR SPONSOR: Join Own the Zone Band and Fight Breast Cancer