Catholic Seven confirmed; McCoy wants Vick; and ovetime galore in NHL

1. I typically do not like to comment on the slavery that his college sports but there has been recent developments in the Big East that I feel deserve attention.The Seven Catholic schools, DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, and Villanova have settled an agreement that will allow them to keep the Big East name as they separate themselves from the football conference. Next year they plan on adding Butler and Xavier for sure with Creighton likely joining afterwards. Dayton and St. Louis will be candidates in following seasons. Notre Dame may be in this conference for the first year until it settles out what it's situation with the ACC is. This will dramatically hurt the rest of the conferences TV contract but not destroy the union. They will still be an AQ school in football but just not have a name.
2. The Yankees have reportedly offered All- Star Second baseman Robinson Cano a very lucrative deal in order to entice him into staying int he Bronx. Cano will be payed $15 million this year on a club option and is expected to test the free agent market this winter.
3. LeSean "Shady" McCoy has publicly stated that he wants Michael Vick to be the starting quarterback for the Eagles next year. He said "People forget- this is Michael Vick" (trust me, I remember the turnovers). While Vick may seem to be suited for Chip Kelly's running offense, Chip Kelly would probably prefer someone who can make smart decisions and not turn the ball over. That is why Michael Vick should be the Eagles' last option; they can either go with Nick Foles who has proven to be a work in progress yet able to be competent. Another option would be Dennis Dixon, who the Eagles have recently acquired and had ran Kelly's offense during his senior year of college. The last option before Vick should be Geno Smith of West Virginia that they could easily pick up at the number 4 spot of the draft. He is similar to Vick but younger and appeared to be a very efficient passer in the beginning of the year but dipped off at the end. The Eagles' need an efficient passer who can move the ball down field, not a flashy runner with a 56% career winning percentage.
NBA Recap

Noah

The Clippers took care of things in Indiana beating the Pacers 99-91. Chris Paul led the way for the Clippers with 29 points and 8 assists while Blake Griffin grabbed 14 rebounds.
Joakim Noah had an incredible 23 point 21 rebound performance in the Bulls 93-82 win over the Sixers. Jrue Holiday led the Sixers with 22 points while his teammate Spencer Hawes had 15 rebounds in the loss.
After just saying that he plans on playing in the 2016 Olympics Dwight Howard played a solid game scoring 11 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. Kobe Bryant scored a game-high 33 points while Ricky Rubio had 13 assists as the Timberwolves fell 116-94 to the Lakers.
All NBA
Not many games last night so this won't exactly be the all-decade team.

All NBA 2/28/13
Pos	Player	Note
G	Chris Paul- LAC	Second in the league with 29 points last night and also dished out 8 assists. Went 11-18 from the field.
G	Ricky Rubio- MIN	Had a league high 13 assists and and also scored 13 points (they lost so its still an unlucky number). He came two rebounds away from a triple-double.
G	Kobe Bryant- LAL	Shot 13-22 from the field and 4-8 from downtown to score a league high 33 points. Also had 5 assists and 5 rebounds.
F	Blake Griffin- LAC	Scored 18 points shooting 7-10 from floor and 4-5 on free throws. Grabbed 14 rebounds.
C	Joakim Noah- CHI *Player of the Night*	Grabbed an amazing 21 rebounds including 8 on the offensive end. Scored 23 points as well and completed the triple-double with 11 blocks.

 
NHL Recap
Only two goals were scored in regulation in the Bruins-Senators game as Nathan Horton scored for Boston and Jim O'Brien scored for the Sens both scored in the second period. Once in overtime Patrice Bergeron scored three and a half minutes into sudden death. Robin Lehner saved 44 of 46 shots in the 2-1 loss.

Phaneuf

The Maple Leafs and Islanders also went to OT but this game was much higher scoring. The teams split the period 1-1 but then the Maple Leafs scored three unanswered int the second after Lubomir Visnovsky opened up the second with a goal for the Islanders. One of the goals was James van Riemsdyk's 12th of the year and the Leafs entered the third up 4-2. Andrew MacDonald and Kyle Okposo both scored for the Islanders and the game was now headed into overtime. Only a minute into overtime did Dion Phaneuf score to end the game with a 5-4 Leafs win.
The Rangers opened up the game with goals by Carl Hagelin and Derek Stepan before Martin St. Louis answered for the Lightning with 4 minutes left in the first. Marc Staal then increased the Rangers lead to 2 when he scored on the powerplay in the second. Rick Nash then scored with only a minute thirty left to seal the 4-1 win.
The Penguins and Hurricanes split the first period 1-1 with goals by Chris Kunitz of PIT and Eric Staal of CAR. Staal's goal came with only 25 seconds in the period and the Hurricanes rode that momentum into the second with three goals including two by Jiri Tlusty. The Penguins were not able to answer in the third as the Canes walked away with a 4-1 win.
There was another close game last night in Florida where it took a shootout to sort things out between the Panthers and Sabres.The Sabres got off to a 3-2 start in the first which forced Scott Clemmensn out of the game and Jose Theodore in but Brian Campbell of Florida scored with minute and a half left in the third to send the game into overtime. Ovetime produced nothing so it was off to a shootout where Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville scored on the Sabres' first two attempts and their goalie Ryan Miller blanked the Panthers for the 4-3 shootout win. Ryan Miller made 40 saves on 45 shots while Jose Theodore was perfect on the 15 shots he saw before the shootout.

Toews

Corey Crawford and Ray Emery combined for a shutout in the Blackhawks 3-0 win over the Blues. Crawford was pulled after saving 6 shots due to an upper body injury. Jonathan Toews scored twice in the game to improve his year total to 8.
 The Jets' Andrew Ladd scored his 11th goal of the year just 8 seconds into last nights Jets Devils game. Things were quiet for the next 22 some minutes before Andrel Loktionov scored for the Devils to make things even steven. Andrew Ladd scored again in the third to break the draw and then he assisted on an empty netter by Blake Wheeler to put the clamps on the Jets' 3-1 win.
Sometimes as a goalie, you just have a really bad day, and that is what happened to the Stars' Kari Lehtonen last night. He allowed 5 goals on 38 attempts (obviously his defense didn't help) in his teams' 5-1 loss to the Oilers. Ales Hemsky had three points in the win scoring 1 goal and assisting on 2 others.
The Avalanche were down 4-2 entering the third period but they owned the final frame. Gabriel Landeskog scored 23 seconds into the third to cut the deficit to one and then Paul Stastny followed up with a goal 6 minutes later. Halfway through the third, Matt Duchene claimed the lead for the Avalanche and Semyon Varlamov held the Flames off for a 5-4 win.
Dany Heatlley scored two of the Wild's three unanswered goals to begin the game. Their streak was broken by Rostislav Klesla who brought the score to 3-1. The Wild increased the lead to four again on a Jared Spurgeon powerplay goal. The Coyotes were able to put some pressure Nicklas Backstrom in the third scoring two goals. Unfortunately the second of those two came with a minute left and they simply did not have enough time to score again losing 4-3. The Coyotes dominance of the third period can be seen by their 12-4 win in the shot department.

Brunner: Shootout Hero

Both Detroit and San Jose waited til the third period to score last night with Logan Couture netting one for the Sharks and Patrick Eaves answering 2 minutes later. The Red Wings got three shots off in overtime (won game shot total 37-28) but failed to score and the game went to a shootout. Damien Brunner slid one past Antti Niemi in the only goal of the shootout and the Red Wings walked away with a 2-1 SO win.


All NHL

All NHL 2/28/2013
Pos	Player	Note
F	Paul Stastny- COL	Scored a goal and had an assist for the two point night. Finished game with at +3.
F	Marcel Goc- FLA	Finished the game with +2 and recording two hits. On offense, had a goal and an assist.
F	Patrice Bergeron- BOS	Netted the game winner for the Bruins and also had two hits in the game.
F	Sidney Crosby- PIT	Had an assist in the loss but dominated the faceoff circle. Finished the game at -2.
D	Jeff Petry- EDM	Scored a goal and assisted on another while recording 4 hits and 5 blocked shots.
D	Mark Fraser- TOR	Had two assists on the night in addition to his 5 hits.
D	Dion Phaneuf- TOR	Scored in ovetime to give the Leafs the win while finishing game at +2.
G	Devan Dubnyk- EDM	A usual on this list Dubnyk saved 33 of 34 shots in Dallas's blowout win.
G	Antti Niemi- SAN	Although he lost Niemi saved 33 of 34 shots while his offense only got 26 off.

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Wrestling being Dropped; D-Rose out for awhile

I know that I am a couple days late on this but this is actually something that pisses me off. With sports such as equestrian and modern pentathlon continuing to be on the Olympic Schedule while Wrestling gets dropped, there needs to be an examination of the sports world. Equestrian is popular among 10,000 or so people by my guestimation while modern pentathlon probably has about 10 followers. Wrestling is popular in every high school in the US and Canada and is a common sport for the youth of most developed countries. I don't get how the IOC can say that Wrestling is not exciting while it allows these two dull sports to continue on. A writer for ESPN mentioned the idea of bringing the Ancient Pentathlon back, an event hat consisted of the long jump, the discus, javelin, a foot race, and then capped off with wrestling. This would definitely show who the best athletes in the world are. The possible exclusion from the games could be a good thing for Wrestling however, I know that I myself had trouble keeping up with the rules and the challenge system of Wrestling. Instead of deducting points from a wrestler when he challenges and fails to overturn the referees decision, they should just have all replays come from the booth. There is ample time between period and even during the action for the judges on the side to determine whether or not a point was justly withheld or rewarded. I also understand that there are three (I think) different types of wrestling at the Olympics and I think it would be best if they would just streamline it all into one even. That is all I have to say about wrestling but I conclude with this video: If Wrestling gets taken away we will never see another event like this.

In other news, Oscar Pistorius "Blade Runner" the South African paralympic who competed in the able bodied olympics last year has been held in jail for alledgedly killing his girlfrind. I'm sure more will come on the situation.
NBA Recap
24 of the league's 30 teams were in action last night and their were some dandies.
This first one was not a particularly interesting one as the Atlanta Hawks destroyed the Orlando Magic 108-76. Josh Smith led the Hawks with 30 points and ten rebounds while his teammate Al Horford had 26 and 12.
The Spurs somehow almost lost to the Cavaliers but Kawhi Leonard's gamewinning 3 pointer with 3.9 seconds helped them edge out the Cavs 96-95. In addition to his gamewinning shot, Leonard had 10 rebounds.
The Pacers took care of the Bobcats 101-77 thanks to a 4th quarter that they won 31-17. Paul George led the Pacers in all three major categories with 23 points, 12 rebounds, and 12 assists.
The Bulls lost twice yesterday and another to the Celtics. The game was defensive battle only being 71-69. Joakim Noah had a game-high 16 rebounds. Their other loss was the fact that D-Rose will not be coming back from his injury for a long time. The Bulls have proved to be contenders without Rose but he would sure provide a spark for their lineup.
At the Barclay's Center their was a high scoring game between the Nets and Nuggets. Ty Lawson of Denver and Joe Johnson of Brooklyn both scored 26 points in Brookyln's 119-108 win. Johnson also had 9 assists.

Will be out longer
than expected

Alan Anderson led the Raptors with 26 points as they defeated the Knicks 92-88.
Emeka Okafor went for 20 points and 9 rebounds but that wasn't enough as his Wizards fell 96-85 to the Pistons.
In Milwaukee, the Bucks overcame 3 point deficit heading into the 4th quarter to win 94-92. Monta Ellis led the Bucks with 27 points while Samuel Dalembert had 14 rebounds.
The Hornets blew out the Trail Blazers 99-63 in New Orleans. Anthony Davis had 21 points and 11 rebounds in the win.
Paul Milsap's 21 points helped the Jazz defeat the Timberwolves 97-93. Derrick Williams had 24 points and 16 rebounds in the losing effort.
Vince Carter led the Mavericks with 26 points in their 123-100 win over the Kings. With those points he has passed Larry Bird on the NBA all-time scoring list.
Lastly, Blake Griffin went for 20 points and 11 rebounds as the Clippers beat the Rockets 106-96.

All NBA
Guard- Ricky Rubio- Minnesota Despite his teams struggle and his rather awful performance shooting (3-13. 23.1%), Rubio had a great performance last night. He came a rebound away from a triple-double getting 18 points, 10 assists, and 9 rebounds. He shot a fantastic 12-13 from the line and also had 4 steals and a block.

Most Important Parr
of Pacers' Victory

Guard- Paul George- Indiana*Player of the Night* Deserves the spot despite playing against a weak Bobcats. Shot just under 50% from the field but was 6-7 from the free throw line. Scored 23 points, dished out 12 assists, and also grabbed 12 rebounds. As said earlier, those numbers led the team.
Forward- Josh Smith- Atlanta The Athletic big man went 13-20 from the field including 2-3 form the three point line. The freebies weren't so free for him as he went 2-7. He finished the night with 30 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 blocks. All while committing no turnovers.
Forward- Al Horford- Atlanta Atlanta's other big man had a great night as well. Shot 11-16 from the field and 4-6 from the free throw line. Scored 26 points while grabbing 12 rebounds and 5 assists.
Center- Greg Monroe- Detroit Earned his spot on the list for his 18 rebounds. Only scored 16 points but shot 6-8 from the line. Also chipped in 4 assists.

Blues' Hero

NHL Recap
Only three games last night so this will be quick and that is how I like it.
We will start in in Pittsburgh where the Penguin's two third period goals (James Neal, Crosby) led the Pens to a 4-2 win. Neal had two goals on the night to improve his season total to 10. Erik Karlsson of the Senators will be out indefinitely with a torn Achilles thanks to a skate blade.
The Blues and the Red Wings went to overtime last night and the Blues came out on top. Alexander Steen's goal 52 seconds into overtime sealed the deal.
In a high scoring affair in Calgary the Flames defeated the Stars 7-4. Brenden Morrow scored 2 goals for the Stars. Mike Cammaleri scored 3 for the Flames.

All NHL

Hat Trick Hero

Forward- Mike Cammalleri- Calgary In his first game off the IR due to a hip flexor injury the veteran center scored 3 goals including one on the powerplay. He finished the game with a +3 rating and also had 2 takeaways. Not done yet, he also chipped in an assist in only 16 minutes of ice time.
Forward- Lee Stempniak- Calgary Had 2 assists including one on Cammalleri's second period goal. Finished the game with a +3 rating and played great defensively. Had 2 hits, 2 blocks, and 2 takeaways.
Forward- Sidney Crosby- Pittsburgh Scored his 6th goal of the year and also added in two assists.
Forward- Patrik Berglund- St Louis Scored a shorthanded goal in the 4-2 victory over Detroit. Played a very physical game with 4 hits.
Defense- Kevin Shattenkirk- St Louis He was all over the place defensively recording 4 blocked shots, 3 hits, and 2 takeaways.
Defense- Alex Pietrangelo- St Louis Another Blues' defensemen is on the list. Pietrangelo played an incredible 28 minutes and did not put them to waste. He recorded an assist while also playing strong defense with 3 blocked shots, 2 hits and 2 takeaways. Finished the game with a +1 rating.
Defense- Dennis Wideman- Calgary A familiar name (I think he is) Wideman had an assist in the high scoring affair. On defense he had 3 blocked shots and finished the game with a +2 rating.

Goalie- Marc- Andre Fleury- Pittsburgh Honestly never thought I would see this but only 6 teams played last night. He stopped 27 of 29 shots in the 4-2 win over Ottawa.
Goalie- Leland Irving- CalgaryThis is what happens when their are almost no games, he let up 4 goals but considering the guy that only let up 3 only faced 18 shots (Jake Allen), Irving gets on this list. He only had a .882 save percentage which was 2nd best in the league last night.