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(12/03/07 5:16am)
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue will play Central Michigan in the Motor City Bowl in Detroit on Dec. 26.\nPurdue (7-5) and Central Michigan (8-5) met earlier in the season, when the Boilermakers pulled off a 45-22 victory at home.\nThe Motor City Bowl, which will be played at Ford Field, will be televised by ESPN.\nPurdue coach Joe Tiller will be taking his 10th Purdue team to postseason play in 11 seasons. Tiller says the team hopes to make the bowl game its best game this year.
(12/03/07 5:15am)
INDIANAPOLIS – Five Indianapolis Colts fans won Super Bowl rings at halftime of Sunday’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.\nRaffle tickets for the “Quest for the Ring” cost $5 each and were sold through Nov. 20. Twenty-five finalists were chosen, a number that was knocked down to ten on Saturday. The remaining contenders gathered on the RCA Dome’s field at halftime.\nFive of 10 treasure chests contained a Super Bowl XLI ring. Ten cheerleaders lined up on the field with the boxes, and each contestant chose one in hopes of receiving a $23,000 piece of jewelry.\nWinners were Chris Carr of Indianapolis, Ed Ressler of Avon, Ind., Jeff Haggard of Indianapolis, Jay Williamson of Franklin, Ind., and Bryan Snyder of Indianapolis.\nThose finalists who didn’t win a ring received tickets for the opening game at Lucas Oil Stadium next year, part of what the Colts called a “VIP Experience.”\nTeam owner Jim Irsay first announced the promotion at a pep rally on Oct. 30, during the week leading up to the game against the New England Patriots.
(12/03/07 5:14am)
LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Clippers chose to leave Jamaal Tinsley alone on the perimeter because Jermaine O’Neal was enough trouble in the low post.\nThey made the wrong choice.\nTinsley capitalized on the open looks, scoring 10 of his 29 points in the final 4:09 and leading the Indiana Pacers to a 101-95 victory on Sunday.\n“I’m always confident when the ball is in my hands. I don’t care if I miss eight or nine shots, I feel like the next one is going to go in,” Tinsley said. “I’ve got to credit my coaching staff for leaving me out there when I miss a lot of shots so that I get an opportunity to take another one. They were doubling down on Jermaine, the guys made the extra pass, and they just went in today.”\nO’Neal had 20 points and 15 rebounds despite a sore right shoulder. The six-time All-Star was forced to sit out the final 2:19 of Friday night’s 95-93 loss at Seattle after hurting himself setting a screen.\n“Yesterday morning he wasn’t able to get his arm above his shoulder, but we kept on working on it,” coach Jim O’Brien said. “He was doubtful today, and I was actually planning on going without him. But I found out he could go, and he had a great game.”\nO’Neal was more concerned about his left knee Saturday morning than his shoulder. He missed five games prior to the Seattle contest because of swelling in the knee and his lower leg.\n“Obviously, my knee has been a concern over the last two months, and I’ve been struggling to make moves, make shots, rebound and block shots,” O’Neal said. “The Seattle game was actually the first time I didn’t have pain in my knee in almost a year and a half, and today I didn’t have any pain in my knee at all.\n“My shoulder was about 85 percent,” O’Neal added. “We iced it a lot yesterday, I took some Advil, iced it again this morning and was ready to go.”\nChris Kaman had 22 points and 22 rebounds for the Clippers, who are 2-9 since a 104-89 win at Indiana on Nov. 7 that capped their 4-0 start. Sam Cassell, who scored 35 points that night, missed his second straight game with a strained left calf.\nThe Clippers’ injury woes grew a bit worse when No.1 draft pick Al Thornton sprained his left ankle and left the game with 1:22 to go in the first half.\n“It seems like it’s one injury after another for this team,” said Kaman, the only player to start all 15 games for the Clippers. “We can’t make excuses, because every team in the NBA goes through that. But it has been ridiculous.”\nTinsley hit a 3-pointer and a 19-footer 44 seconds apart to put the Pacers ahead to stay, then drained another 3-pointer with 1:56 remaining to put them ahead 96-90 and added a pair of free throws in the final minute.\nLos Angeles used an 8-0 run to turn a four-point deficit into an 88-84 lead with 7:08 to play. Tim Thomas’ nine-foot jumper capped the rally, but it would be the Clippers’ last field goal until Corey Maggette’s 3-pointer with 6 seconds left in the game.\nDanny Granger beat the buzzer with an 11-footer in the lane to give the Pacers a 77-76 lead entering the fourth.
(11/30/07 5:33am)
David Jack, husband of IU women’s basketball coach Felisha Legette-Jack, resigned Thursday as IU assistant volleyball coach, according to an IU Department of Athletics press release.\nHe said he would remain with the team in some capacity but wanted to have more flexibility in his schedule.\n“With the busy travel of my wife ... I wanted to be around more and make myself available to our 9-year-old son, Maceo,” Jack said. “I also wanted to finish what I started and continue my educational process at IU.”\nHe said he would still attend practices and make as many road trips as possible.\nIU coach Sherry Dunbar said she understands why Jack is resigning, and she said he will still be key to the team’s future success.\n“David’s first priority is, understandably, his family,” Dunbar said in a statement. “His contributions to this program from the very beginning of the rebuilding process have been invaluable. We are not saying goodbye, however, as we fully intend his involvement with the program to continue. His on-court presence has been and will continue to be one of the keys to our future success.”\nJack brought playing and coaching experience to the team, as he was selected as an All-American eight times between 1990 and 2005. Jack was a member of the Jamaican National Team from 1985-1998, and spent some time as a captain.\nJack will still attend most practices and travel with the team whenever possible, according to the release. The search for his replacement is already underway.
(11/30/07 5:29am)
INDIANAPOLIS – Team doctors have given strong side linebacker Tyjuan Hagler the OK to resume a full practice schedule, and he could be back in the Indianapolis Colts defensive lineup in time for Sunday’s big AFC South matchup with Jacksonville.\nBut veteran wide receiver Marvin Harrison, who hasn’t played in a game since the Colts and Jaguars met on Oct. 22 due to a bruised left knee, may not be available to play when the teams meet again.\nHagler has missed four games after suffering a pinched nerve in his neck against Carolina on Oct. 28, but practiced Wednesday and Thursday and expects to play this weekend.\nColts coach Tony Dungy, however, is taking a wait-and-see attitude.\n“He’s getting better,” Dungy acknowledged.\n“It’s been tough,” he added. “We’ve had a few guys like that, that have been itching to get back and haven’t been able to.”\nHarrison hasn’t played in six of Indianapolis’ last seven games and has not gone through a full practice in more than a month.\n“I thought that he’s going to need a couple of good practice days to really be ready to go. So we’ll see what happens,” Dungy said.\nSitting out Thursday’s practice were Harrison, offensive tackles Ryan Diem (ankle) and Daniel Federkeil (concussion), middle linebacker Gary Brackett (illness), weak side linebacker Freddy Keiaho (illness) and safety Bob Sanders (team decision).\nBrackett, Keiaho and Sanders are all expected to play Sunday. The status of Harrison and Diem will be updated before the game.\nOffensive tackles Tony Ugoh (neck) and Charlie Johnson (hamstring) and cornerback Tim Jennings (upper leg) practiced Thursday. A final decision on their ability to play against Jacksonville will likely be made after Saturday’s workout.\nCornerback Dante Hughes (shoulder) has been placed on injured reserve and is done for the season. Meanwhile, the Colts have signed former Cincinnati and Tampa Bay cornerback Keiwan Ratliff. Ratliff was a second-round draft pick by the Bengals in 2004 and was released on Sept. 26. He was signed by the Buccaneers on Nov. 12 and was waived on Wednesday.\nIndianapolis also signed second-year cornerback Darrell Hunter to the practice squad. Hunter, out of Miami of Ohio, played in three games with Arizona last year.
(11/29/07 5:18am)
COLUMBIA, Mo. – There’s a cry of “We’re No. 1” on campus, and it has nothing to do with Missouri’s renowned journalism school.\nA football team reduced to mediocrity for decades now flirts with a chance at the national title. The success on the field seems contagious.\nThe admissions office reports a 20 percent increase in undergraduate applications. Development officers find donors more receptive to opening their wallets. The alumni association hears from forgotten graduates eager to reconnect with their alma mater.\n“This is uncharted territory,” said Barbara Rupp, admissions director at a school still referred to by many in the state by its regional designation, the University of Missouri-Columbia.\nMissouri has an 11-1 record and is No. 1 in both The Associated Press and BCS polls after defeating arch rival Kansas last week to win the Big 12 North and earn a trip to the conference championship game in San Antonio on Saturday.\nA victory over No. 9 Oklahoma, the only team to beat Missouri this season, would earn the Tigers a trip to the BCS championship game on Jan. 7 in New Orleans.\nRupp cautioned that it’s difficult to determine whether the surge in interest by high school seniors is tied to the football team.\nAdmissions officers, economists and other researchers have wondered about that question since at least 1984. That’s when Doug Flutie’s desperation heave sent Boston College to a riveting victory over Miami a day after Thanksgiving.\nThe dramatics supposedly led to a large increase in applications at Boston College the next year, but the long-term influence on other aspects of college life – coined the Flutie effect – is still debated.\nStill, there’s no doubt the Missouri campus is reveling over its moment in the spotlight. There has not been this kind of success since coaching great Dan Devine roamed the sidelines four decades ago.\nAcross the country, alumni in far-flung cities such as Miami, Phoenix, Seattle and Los Angeles gathered en masse to watch the 36-28 defeat of Kansas – then ranked No. 2 – in one of college football’s oldest rivalries.\nMore than 300 Tiger faithful attended the Los Angeles watch party, with an additional 100-plus cheering in Phoenix, said Todd McCubbin, executive director of the Missouri Alumni Association.\n“We’re hearing that wave across the country,” he said. “It’s happened throughout the season, but now it’s really building to a crescendo.”\nCampus fundraisers are also taking advantage of Missouri’s newfound football prowess. While it’s still too early to directly link any hefty donations to the surprising season, administrators say the winning climate certainly helps cultivate donors.\n“Being No. 1 in football is great for fundraising,” said Beth Hammock, the school’s director of development external relations. “Everybody’s excited when they hear a Mizzou person on the phone.”\nSchool spokesman Christian Basi put it more bluntly: “When people feel happy, they send money.”\nOn Wednesday, the campus buzz surrounded the release of this week’s Sports Illustrated, featuring quarterback and Heisman Trophy contender Chase Daniel on the cover.\nStudents snapped up the magazine from the campus bookstore, which ordered 1,200 copies – more than 100 times its typical weekly allotment. The big order even eclipsed the store’s usual best-seller, Cosmopolitan magazine, which sells 500 copies each week.\nAt the journalism school, the nation’s oldest and approaching its 100th anniversary, faculty have long been accustomed to interest from students and professionals across the country and \nthe world.
(11/29/07 5:10am)
INDIANAPOLIS – The schedule-makers didn’t make things easy for the Indianapolis Colts.\nAfter a month-long span that included six games, four road trips, two short weeks and a rash of injuries, the Colts finally got what they needed most – an unusually long midseason break that seems to have re-energized some weary players.\n“I think we all needed it,” offensive tackle Charlie Johnson said. “Playing six games in 30 days or whatever wears on guys. Mentally, we could kind of get away for a chance to relax, be with loved ones and heal. It’s good because after the break, it’s going to be a grind going into the playoffs.”\nThe grind is already starting.\nThe Colts (9-2) held their first full-fledged practice in eight days and were even back in pads Wednesday, a rarity in recent weeks.\nCoach Tony Dungy has attributed some of the Colts’ struggles to the scaled-back practices that have rarely included pads – something he did out of necessity, given the ever-expanding injury list.\nSo after last Thursday’s 31-13 victory at Atlanta, Dungy rewarded players and coaches with a three-day weekend and encouraged everyone to spend a few days thinking about something other than football. On Monday, the Colts came back for a light workout, then took Tuesday as their normal off-day.\nThe hope among the Colts is that this late-season respite, in essence a second bye week, will help the team get healthy, refreshed and back to a more-normal schedule in hopes of another late-season charge.\n“I think the way you play on Sunday has a lot to do with what you do during the week,” quarterback Peyton Manning said. “Maybe we’ll get a few more bodies back out there this week.”\nAmong the players who returned to \npractice Wednesday were left tackle Tony Ugoh, who has missed the last five games, and linebacker Tyjuan Hagler, who has missed four straight games. Both have been out with neck injuries.\nBut Johnson, Ugoh’s replacement in the starting lineup, sat out with a hamstring injury and right tackle Ryan Diem was out with a sore left ankle.\nDungy wouldn’t say whether any of the four were expected to play Sunday against Jacksonville, who at 8-3 trail the Colts by one game in the AFC South.\nAlso out, again, was perennial Pro Bowl receiver Marvin Harrison (bruised left knee). He hasn’t played since the last Jacksonville game on Oct. 22, and although the Colts targeted this week as Harrison’s return date, it doesn’t appear likely he’ll play Sunday.\nWhen asked whether he’d welcome Harrison’s return this week, Manning responded: “Yeah, but I wouldn’t count on it.”\nDungy said Harrison, who has missed a career-high six games, feels about the same and would be monitored by team doctors throughout the week.\nBut the three-day break seems to have recharged the Colts heading into a key AFC South game.\nThe Colts, who have won the last four division crowns, know that a win would not only create some separation with four regular season games left but would also give the Colts a season sweep and the tiebreaker over the Jaguars – essentially a three-game advantage.\n“They always give us problems, so we just have to go execute our attack,” defensive tackle Raheem Brock said of the Jaguars.\nBut execution has been a problem in recent weeks, especially early.\nTurnovers, kick returns, pressure on Manning and dropped passes have led to three straight sluggish starts although the Colts recovered in time to win two of those games and could have swept all three.\nSo will the break help the Colts get back to being themselves?\nDungy hopes so.\n“It’s good to get back to work, preparing for a big game,” he said. “I think our team is re-energized.”
(11/29/07 5:00am)
I have a dream
(11/29/07 5:00am)
As the two sibling psychics Nancy Eaves and Laurie Collins sit across from each another, the vibrant colors of their clothing and jewelry set the scene for a psychic encounter.\n"First of all, you don't have a card that says you're going to die," tarot reader Eaves said.\nA psychic reads customers' body language as it coincides with their mind, body and soul, said Collins, a local psychic who specializes in rune readings. Attention to detail and body language is the basis for psychics to further a reading through their power, she said.\nDisbelief in the ability to have psychic powers is common among customers, Collins said. She has seen those who purposely try to prove her powers false. She enjoys seeing them change their minds after a reading.\n"I would love when skeptics would come in skeptical and then leave not-so-skeptical," said energy healer Christine Marie Evangelista.\nIn addition to having to deal with general skepticism, psychics are looked down upon by many religions. People in this area used to think of psychics as witches, said psychic Jan Reynolds. In the early '90s, she said, being a psychic in Bloomington wasn't user-friendly.\n"We're part of the Bible Belt, where psychics don't advertise much," Reynolds said.\nThere are numerous psychics in the area who are available for palm, tarot, runes, channels and regular readings, which range in price and length.\nThe various readings are used for different times in people's lives. A tarot reading, for example, does not tell time very well, while other psychic readings can predict time elements better. Whichever reading is comfortable for those interested can be done in a personal and comfortable setting.\n"Our readings get very emotional, so we keep a box of Kleenex at our station," Eaves said.
(11/29/07 5:00am)
It is difficult for a film to have both commercial appeal and artistic integrity nowadays. And it's even more difficult for a novel to be successfully adapted to the big screen. "Love in the Time of Cholera" struggles with both these issues. And while it's fairly enjoyable, it doesn't live up to its precedent set by the novel it's based on.\nLeave it to "Love in the Time of Cholera" author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the master of magic surrealism, to write "the greatest love story ever told." Florentino, played by Javier Bardem, falls in love at first sight with Fermina (Giovanna Mezzogiorno). The two exchange love letters in their adolescence and telegrams when Fermina's father, played by John Leguizamo, sends her away after finding out about her romance. Eventually, Fermina attempts to believe that the love between her and Florentino was "just an illusion," as her father told her. She returns to the town where she first fell in love and marries a successful doctor, played by Benjamin Bratt. To heal his broken heart, Florentino sleeps with hundreds of women and documents each affair with prose and poems. He still pines for Fermina and says he is waiting to return to her when the doctor dies. Florentino's loyalty is shown as noble and true. The film is set in Colombia at the turn of the 20th century, during a time of disease and war, but this is only shown as a backdrop and serves as an afterthought. \nIt is indeed a sophisticated story, but the Hollywood-ization does not do the novel proper justice. This is not to say that the film isn't an enjoyable flick. It keeps the viewer's attention throughout its entire 139-minute span. But it is just the simplicity of the love story that is isolated. The emotions are captured quite poignantly and passionately. The actual context of the story is only on the surface, however. Then again, critics of the novel originally said the story itself was too simple. \nMy reaction toward this film was not much different from my reaction to "The Notebook." There is an obvious difference between the writings of the author Nicholas Sparks and Marquez. There is a creativity and imagination that no author shares with Marquez. Perhaps this parallel means I'm supposed to see that love in itself is simple and is the same to all humans. But still, there should be a difference between reading Shakespeare and empathizing with Romeo and Juliet and watching Joanie and Chachi on "Joanie Loves Chachi"
(11/29/07 5:00am)
Stephen King and Frank Darabont, director of King-penned movies "The Shawshank Redemption" and "The Green Mile," have a joke that Darabont's directing career will stall unless King writes more "period prison stories."\nNow with "The Mist," that joke can be revised to just "stories."\nBased off of King's horror novella "The Mist," the movie takes place in a small town after a violent thunderstorm, when a strange mist begins to drift out over a nearby lake. David Drayton (Thomas Jane), a local artist whose house has suffered damages, takes his son (Nathan Gamble) and his neighbor (Andre Braugher) to the grocery store, which is crowded after the storm. While waiting in line to check out, one of the townsfolk comes sprinting in and yelling about "something in the mist." After the initial shock, one man flees to his truck, only to be attacked by the creatures lurking in the mist. Those left in the store find they can't escape. They begin to grow restless, taking sides about what to do, now being left to their own devices for survival.\nWith this latest King film, Darabont shows the audience why he has been pushing for making a film adaptation of "The Mist" for the past decade. Adding his own creative twists to King's novella, Darabont gives this film its own distinctive identity. In some parts of the story, like the emotional relationship between Drayton and Amanda Dumfries, Darabont holds back from the novella. In others, like the grim climactic ending, he one-ups King. \nProbably the strongest aspect of the story-telling in "The Mist" comes from King's penchant for everything psychological. The characters are clouded in mystery and fear, and in turn they take sides and become just as much of a threat to each other as whatever it is they have to deal with outside. And a little bit of that fear and uncertainty rubs off on the audience. In the beginning of the movie, the story's protagonist seems like the one who's crazed. Near the end of the film, the town Bible-thumper, played by scene-stealer Marcia Gay Harden, seems to have enough reason for why the townsfolk should hold a human sacrifice.\nWhile the creatures in the mist are relatively scary, the real fear comes from the elements of mystery and the unknown. The waiting and uncertainty make "The Mist" frightening for what it is: a mirror of human panic.
(11/29/07 2:36am)
The Hoosiers were defeated in penalty kicks, following two overtimes, by Bradley in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. See tomorrow's IDS for more coverage.
(11/28/07 5:38am)
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Dr. J. Robert Cade, who invented the sports drink Gatorade and launched a multibillion-dollar industry that the beverage continues to dominate, died Tuesday of kidney failure. He was 80.\nUniversity of Florida, where he and other researchers created Gatorade in 1965 to help the school’s football players replace carbohydrates and electrolytes lost through sweat while playing in swamp-like heat, announced his death.\n“Today with his passing, the University of Florida lost a legend, lost one of its best friends and lost a creative genius,” said Dr. Edward Block, chairman of the department of medicine in the College of Medicine. “Losing any one of those is huge. When you lose all three in one person, it’s something you cannot recoup.”\nNow sold in 80 countries in dozens of flavors, Cade created Gatorade thanks to a question from former Gators Coach Dwayne Douglas, he said in a 2005 interview with The Associated Press.\nHe asked, “Doctor, why don’t football players wee-wee after a game?”\n“That question changed our lives,” Cade said.\nCade’s researchers determined a football player could lose as much as 18 pounds – 90 to 95 percent of it water – during the three hours it takes to play a game. Players sweated away sodium and chloride and lost plasma volume and blood volume.\nUsing their research, and about $43 in supplies, they concocted a brew for players to drink while playing football. The first batch was not exactly a hit.\n“It sort of tasted like toilet bowl cleaner,” researcher Dana Shires said.\n“I guzzled it, and I vomited,” Cade said.\nThe researchers added some sugar and some lemon juice to improve the taste. It was first tested on freshmen because Coach Ray Graves didn’t want to hurt the varsity team. Eventually, however, the use of the sports beverage spread to the Gators, who enjoyed a winning record and were known as a “second-half team” by outlasting opponents.\nAfter the Gators beat Georgia Tech 27-12 in the Orange Bowl in 1967, Tech coach Bobby Dodd told reporters his team lost because they “didn’t have Gatorade ... that made the difference.”\nStokely-Van Camp obtained the licensing rights for Gatorade and began marketing it as the “beverage of champions.” PepsiCo Inc. now owns the brand, which has brought the university more than $150 million in royalties since 1973.\nCade said Stokely-Van Camp hated the name “Gatorade,” believing it was too parochial, but stuck with it after tests showed consumers liked the name.\nGatorade held 81 percent of the $7.5 billion-a-year U.S. sports drink market in 2006, according to John Sicher, editor and publisher of Beverage Digest.\n“Gatorade is the clear granddaddy of those drinks,” Sicher said.\nCade said he thought the use of Gatorade would be limited to sports teams and never dreamed it would be purchased by regular consumers.\n“I never thought about the commercial market,” he said. “The financial success of this stuff really surprised us.”\nCade, who was the University of Florida’s first kidney researcher, also said he was proud that Gatorade was based on research into what the body loses in exercise.\n“The other sports drinks were created by marketing companies,” he said.\nSince its introduction, Cade said the formula changed very little. An artificial sweetener has replaced sugar.\nInstead of the original four flavors, there are now more than 30 available in the United States and more than 50 flavors available internationally.\nBorn James Robert Cade in San Antonio on Sept. 26, 1927, Cade, a Navy veteran, graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas.\nUF appointed Cade as an assistant professor in internal medicine in 1961. He worked until he was 76 and retired in November 2004 from the university. He taught medicine, saw patients and conducted research.\nCade and his wife, Mary, had six children.
(11/28/07 5:35am)
PITTSBURGH – Sports in America start with a the national anthem. The Dolphins-Steelers game was an exception.\nRushing to begin the nationally televised matchup following a 25-minute weather delay, the NFL chose to skip the anthem Monday night before Miami played Pittsburgh. The game started without any of the traditional pregame ceremonies, except the coin toss, and neither team was introduced on the public address system.\nAccording to the Steelers, the NFL wanted the game to begin as soon as possible following the delay. Several more minutes would have been needed to set up a microphone and sound equipment at midfield, where the anthem is traditionally performed at Steelers games.\nThere was no apparent fan reaction to the omission, which occurred as many fans were scrambling to get back to their seats for the kickoff. The fans were ordered to leave the lower seating bowl at Heinz Field when lightning and a heavy rain resulted in both teams being waved off the field during pregame warmups.\nThe teams warmed up for an additional nine minutes before the game began at 8:55 p.m. EST. Pittsburgh won 3-0 on Jeff Reed’s 24-yard field goal with 17 seconds remaining.\nNational anthems are rarely televised during NFL games, with the Super Bowl being an exception.
(11/28/07 5:34am)
UNIONDALE, N.Y. – Marty Turco skates pretty well for a goalie, just not well enough to beat forward Richard Park to a loose puck.\nTurco and the Stars were able to laugh about the goalie’s gaffe that put them behind the New York Islanders early, especially after Mike Modano scored twice to lift Dallas to its sixth straight win.\n“Normally I would just take him out, but I thought I still had a chance,” Turco said after the 3-2 overtime win Monday night. “You win some, you lose some.”\nModano made it a fantastic finish for the Stars when he scored 35 seconds into overtime. Turco lost the race to the speedy Park, but left the ice as a winner anyway.\nWith the game scoreless and the Islanders playing short-handed in the second period, Park raced alone after a loose puck that slid toward the Dallas end. Turco, never shy about leaving his crease, skated out toward the charging Park but didn’t get to the puck in time. Park corralled it above the right circle, moved around Turco and stared at an empty net.\nPark controlled the puck at the goal line, worked away from defenseman Sergei Zubov, who tried to cover for Turco, and tucked in a backhand at 9:07.\n“I don’t know if I ever got walked on like that,” said Turco, who finished with 23 saves. “We had a little chuckle when I got back to the bench.”\nIt was almost the second skating blunder of the night for Turco, who got caught in the first period while playing a puck along the left-wing boards. He had to scramble back to the net after the Islanders provided Dallas with some anxious moments.\n“He’s a much better goalie in the net than out of the net,” Stars coach Dave Tippett said. “That’s why he plays goal and not defense.”
(11/28/07 5:34am)
What a difference two weeks make.\nIt’s been two weeks since New York coach Isiah Thomas decreed that he didn’t think his point guard was worthy of starting. Now, he can’t stop gushing about him.\nStephon Marbury continued his turnaround with a season-high 28 points, and the New York Knicks beat the Utah Jazz 113-109 on Monday night.\n“I thought Marbury was great,” Thomas said. “His leadership throughout the game, during the course of the game, his decision-making, his defense, his shot-making ability. Just from start to finish he was great.\n“Overall a good team effort, but No. 3 was really good tonight.”\nMarbury was still hearing pregame boos along with Thomas after ditching the team for a game in Phoenix when the coach told him of plans to remove him from the starting lineup. Marbury regained his starting spot last week, and on Monday he keyed one of the Knicks’ best offensive performances of the season.\nThomas stressed it was his disappointment in Marbury’s defense and leadership that led to the demotion, but Marbury has shown his offense is rounding into shape. He scored 19 points Saturday against Chicago, and followed that by going 9-for-14 and making all three 3-pointers Monday.\n“When I have the ball more and I’m able to create and make plays, I can get into a nice flow,” Marbury said. “Coming into this year I was trying to pick up from last year from the end of the season, but that didn’t happen. But with time, everything might happen. The season is still young, it’s November. I’m not panicking at all. I’m not worried, I have no worries as far as how I’m going to play.”\nZach Randolph had 25 points and 14 rebounds. Jamal Crawford added 22 points for the Knicks, who have won two in a row following an eight-game losing streak. Randolph, who grabbed a huge offensive rebound in the final seconds, has eight double-doubles in the 10 games he has played this season.\n“Right now we feel like we beat anybody,” Randolph said. “We got a lot of talent in here and guys have got to be ready to play. Like I said to the guys, when we compete we can play with anybody in this league. I really mean that.”\nCarlos Boozer scored 16 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter, but the Jazz had their three-game winning streak snapped. Deron Williams added 26 points and eight assists for Utah, which played Sunday in Detroit and seemed a step slow on defense, allowing the Knicks to shoot 53 percent from the field.
(11/28/07 5:33am)
INDIANAPOLIS – Defensive end Simeon Rice, signed two weeks ago to fill in for injured Pro Bowler Dwight Freeney, was released Tuesday by the Indianapolis Colts.\nRice, who played one season for Colts coach Tony Dungy at Tampa Bay, was claimed off waivers from Denver after Freeney suffered a season-ending foot injury at San Diego. Rice played the past two games, both as a reserve, and had one sack.\nDungy and other team officials were not available for comment, Colts spokesman Craig Kelley said.\nThe team also re-signed running back Luke Lawton, who played the first six games mainly on special teams, but was released last month.
(11/28/07 2:48am)
IU survived a scare from Georgia Tech Tuesday night by topping the Yellow Jackets 83-79. For more coverage check out the IDS Basketblog
(11/27/07 6:00pm)
PALMETTO BAY, Fla. – Washington Redskins star safety Sean Taylor was in critical condition Monday after he was shot during what police are investigating as a possible armed robbery at his home.\nThe 24-year-old player was in the intensive care unit following several hours of surgery at Jackson Memorial Hospital, said family friend Richard Sharpstein, his former lawyer. He remained unconscious early Monday evening.\nTaylor lost a “significant” amount of blood because the bullet damaged his femoral artery, and doctors are worried about blood flow to the brain, added Sharpstein, who was at the hospital with the player’s family and friends.\nTaylor has had problems on and off the field, and two years ago was accused of brandishing a gun. The shooting came eight days after another invasion was reported at his home. According to police records, someone pried open a front window, rifled through drawers and left a kitchen knife on a bed.\nOfficers were sent to Taylor’s home at about 1:45 a.m. Monday after his girlfriend called 911 and said he was shot in his lower body, Miami-Dade Police Lt. Nancy Perez said. Taylor had missed the last two games because of a knee injury and was at home recuperating. He was airlifted to the hospital.\nInvestigators were still interviewing the girlfriend and other relatives in the home, Perez said. No arrests have been made.\n“It could have been a possible burglary; it could have been a possible robbery,” Perez said. “It has not been confirmed as yet.”\nSharpstein said Taylor’s girlfriend told him the couple was awakened by loud noises, and Taylor grabbed a machete he keeps in the bedroom for protection. Someone then broke through the bedroom door and fired two shots, one missing and one hitting Taylor, the lawyer said.\n“It was clearly a burglary, an armed burglary,” Sharpstein said, adding nothing appeared to have been stolen.\nThe shooting happened at the pale yellow house Taylor bought two years ago in the Miami suburb of Palmetto Bay. Taylor is in his fourth season with the Redskins after playing at the University of Miami, where he was an All-American in 2003. Despite his injury, he is tied for the NFC lead with five interceptions.
(11/27/07 5:58pm)
INDIANAPOLIS – After a three-day break in the practice schedule, the Indianapolis Colts began preparing Monday for their AFC South showdown with the Jacksonville Jaguars.\nThe Colts (9-2) have a one-game lead in the division. A win on Sunday would give Tony Dungy’s team a sweep in the season series and a cushion in its hunt for a fifth straight AFC South title. Jacksonville would move into a tie for the division lead with a win.\nShortly after Sunday’s 36-14 win over Buffalo, Jaguars running back Fred Taylor referred to the upcoming meeting with Indianapolis as the “championship” of the AFC South.\nDungy agreed.\n“Well, it is a big game,” he said. “I mean you have to look at it that way. I think they’ve got to feel like if they don’t win this game, they’re going to have a tough time winning the division. We’ve got the tiebreaker edge right now. If we beat them, we’ll have a sweep and it will be very tough for them.”\nIt’s not yet known if any of the Colts’ injured players, such as Pro Bowl wide receiver Marvin Harrison, will be able to take part in any of this week’s workouts. Harrison has missed six of the past seven games with a bruised left knee.\n“We’re hoping that Marvin will be back and ready to go in practice, and if he’s able to do that and play, it’s going to be a big lift to us,” Dungy said.\nDungy said the availability for safety Matt Giordano, linebacker Tyjuan Hagler and offensive linemen Ryan Diem and Charlie Johnson will be hard to determine before Wednesday’s practice.\nGiordano has been sidelined for four of the past five games with a strained hamstring. Hagler, meanwhile, continues to nurse a neck injury and has missed the last four games. Diem did not play in Atlanta and saw limited work against Kansas City after incurring an ankle injury against San Diego three weeks ago.\nJohnson is also rehabbing a sore ankle, which has limited his effectiveness for the past three weeks.\nRookie offensive tackle Tony Ugoh, who has not played since he injured his neck against the Jaguars six weeks ago, could return to the starting lineup.\nGetting some of those players back will help Dungy and his coaching staff re-establish some much needed consistency to the team’s practice routine.\n“We aren’t as sharp as we need to be, because we haven’t been together and haven’t been practicing as much and as well as we need to,” Dungy said. “Again, hopefully we can get that straightened out in December.”\nDungy said if some of those players return, the Colts have a chance to have a strong finish.\n“I think our team really feels like we’re sitting at 9-2 and we haven’t probably played our best football maybe since the (first) Jacksonville game,” he said.
