All I want for Christmas is…NBA – five teams and players to watch
The new NBA season took a while to come around after a five-month lockout spent negotiating an improved labor agreement. What better day to start than Dec. 25. Merry Christmas!
Read the season preview here courtesy of Larry Fine, and our American sports editor Julian Linden weighs in with five players to watch as well as five teams sure to set pulses racing over the shortened 66-game programme.
All in all, we can’t wait for the games to begin. So whether you’re in an office scrunching up receipts and taking aim at the waste paper basket or on a basketball court shooting hoops, bring on the action. NBA, we’ve missed you.
Picture: Los Angeles Lakers power forward Pau Gasol of Spain slam dunks against the Los Angeles Clippers during their NBA preseason basketball game in Los Angeles, California December 19, 2011. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
Post-Christmas cheer in Oslo for out-of-contract players
By Philip O’Connor, Scandinavia sports correspondent
For many football fans, the post-Christmas blues will be banished by the prospect of their club buying big when the transfer window opens in January.
But the out-of-contract players taking part in the FIFPro Winter Tournament in Oslo are hoping to get their futures sorted out before the window opens again.
On a full-size indoor pitch, players affiliated to Norwegians, Swedish, Finnish and Irish unions got together to play a tournament in front of invited scouts and club representatives from across the region.
All the players are out of contract, and many are desperate for a chance to stay in the game.
“We had 120 players looking for places in the squad,” Irish players’ union boss Steephen McGuinness told Reuters. “Last week we took the decision to bump the kitman, just so we could bring another player on the plane”.
For McGuinness and some of his players, it’s their second visit; some of them got short-term deals at the first tournament here in January, but with many clubs in Ireland and elsewhere only offering short-term, 40 week contracts, several have come back to try their luck again.
Record breaker Paterson calls time on Scotland
LONDON (Reuters) – Scottish rugby said goodbye to the unerring boot of Chris Paterson on Wednesday when the country’s most capped player announced his retirement from the international game.
During a 12-year career with Scotland, Paterson won 109 caps and scored 809 points – both records – and established a reputation as one of the world’s most accurate kickers.
Even during his last appearance for Scotland, against England during a 16-12 group stage loss at the World Cup in New Zealand in October, Paterson’s kicking was on song.
However, the 33-year-old, who is the only Scot to appear in four World Cups, said the time was right to retire.
“My biggest fear would be devaluing what I have achieved and devaluing the jersey. You have to stop at some point and this is the right time for me,” Paterson said on the Scottish Rugby Union website (www.scotlandrugbyteam.org).
“I’ve always said I wanted to bow out at the highest level of the game, while I still had the ability to go on. It was a massive goal for me to play for Scotland at my fourth rugby World Cup.”
Paterson will now focus on club rugby with Edinburgh, who top Pool Two of the Heineken Cup group stages and will look to become the first Scottish winners of Europe’s leading club competition.
Rugby-Record breaker Paterson calls time on Scotland
LONDON, Dec 21 (Reuters) – Scottish rugby said goodbye to the unerring boot of Chris Paterson on Wednesday when the country’s most capped player announced his retirement from the international game.
During a 12-year career with Scotland, Paterson won 109 caps and scored 809 points – both records – and established a reputation as one of the world’s most accurate kickers.
Even during his last appearance for Scotland, against England during a 16-12 group stage loss at the World Cup in New Zealand in October, Paterson’s kicking was on song.
However, the 33-year-old, who is the only Scot to appear in four World Cups, said the time was right to retire.
“My biggest fear would be devaluing what I have achieved and devaluing the jersey. You have to stop at some point and this is the right time for me,” Paterson said on the Scottish Rugby Union website (www.scotlandrugbyteam.org).
“I’ve always said I wanted to bow out at the highest level of the game, while I still had the ability to go on. It was a massive goal for me to play for Scotland at my fourth rugby World Cup.”
Paterson will now focus on club rugby with Edinburgh, who top Pool Two of the Heineken Cup group stages and will look to become the first Scottish winners of Europe’s leading club competition.
Tom Lewis named European Tour rookie of the year
LONDON (Reuters) – Briton Tom Lewis has been named the European Tour’s rookie of the year after the 20-year-old won on his third professional start at the Portugal Masters in October to secure a two-year tour exemption.
“I appreciate this honor very much. It certainly tops off what has been an amazing year,” Lewis said in a statement on Monday.
Lewis shot a scintillating seven-under-par final-round 65 in Portugal to win by two shots from Spain’s Rafael Cabrera-Bello, having burst onto the scene in July at the British Open where he became the first amateur to lead the Open since 1968.
The Englishman hit a first-round 65 at Sandwich on his way to finishing as the leading amateur, then helped Britain and Ireland beat the United States in September’s Walker Cup before turning pro and recording a top-10 finish in his first start at the Austrian Open.
Lewis paid tribute to his father and coach, Brian, a former Tour professional, who has been an influential presence during his son’s rise through the amateur game into the professional ranks.
“I might not even have been a golfer if it wasn’t for dad, but he has definitely made me into the golfer I’ve become. He is really the person who made this possible.”
When Lewis beat a high quality field to the title in Portugal he also eclipsed former world number one and 14-times major champion Tiger Woods, who needed five tournaments to land his first professional title.
And Porto will play…..Europa League draw provides some stardust
There was the usual hushed silence and then sudden intake of breath heard in Nyon on Friday, though not for the Champions League Round of 16 draw but the first two ties of the Europa League Round of 32.
Holders Porto will play mega-rich Manchester City, they were the first two names out of the little plastic balls when UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino was finally able to open the second after Davor Suker had tried and failed, and Ajax Amsterdam will take on Manchester United.
So what about the Champions League draw? Well, here it is in full:
Olympique Lyon v APOEL Nicosia
Napoli v Chelsea
AC Milan v Arsenal
Basel v Bayern Munich
Don’t write off the old continent just yet
Speaking about the Formula One calendar and the continuing expansion to east and west, the sport’s commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone declared this month that Europe was “finished“.
“It will be a good place for tourism but little else,” he told Spanish Sports daily Marca. “Europe is a thing of the past.”
With the financial pages full of Europe’s woes and the rise of the fast-moving BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) bloc, the 81-year-old was not just being his usual deliberately provocative self.
Formula One has always followed the money and there is still plenty of that sloshing around in the Middle East and Asia.
When it comes to the driver market, the situation is rather different. It has not been a good month for Russians, Indians or Brazilians while French fans can scarcely believe their good fortune.
Romain Grosjean will be Kimi Raikkonen’s team mate at Lotus next year, fellow Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne will be at Toro Rosso and Charles Pic makes his debut for Marussia.
Two money list titles or a major? Opinion divided over Donald’s 2011
A quick glimpse at the statistics of Luke Donald’s season and you can’t fail to be impressed, though despite a record-breaking 2011 the world number one still has his doubters.
So, those statistics. 25 tournaments entered, two money list titles (he became the first person to win both the PGA Tour and European Tour order of merit honours in the same season), four victories, 19 top 10s (including wins), and three top 20s. Crucially however, no major title.
Does this make Donald’s season less successful? Certainly, but by no means should his phenomenal consistency be mocked, Australian golfer Aaron Baddeley said earlier this year.
Golf, after all, is a difficult sport to be consistent in, and while Donald might lack the big-hitting explosive talent of Tiger Woods or Rory McIlroy, his ability to keep turning in good results even when off form has been remarkable this past season.
Like any sportsman at the top of their game, Donald knows winning the big titles matters most and the 34-year-old will want to land one of golf’s four most treasured prizes in 2012.
Around a year ago Donald was answering to critics, such as one American writer who had coined the phrase “Luke Donald disease” in an article about under-achievers in golf.
“The critics will always be there and they make me stronger to be honest,” Donald said. “Every time someone says I can’t do a thing it just makes me work harder.”
Bruce sacked as Sunderland manager
LONDON (Reuters) – Steve Bruce became the first Premier League manager to be sacked this season when Sunderland announced they had parted company with the former Manchester United player on Wednesday.
Bruce, 50, joined Sunderland from Wigan Athletic in 2009 and leaves with the north-east club languishing two points above the drop zone.
“Sadly results this season have simply not been good enough and I feel the time is right to make a change,” chairman Ellis Short said on the club’s website (www.safc.com).
“It is my job as chairman to act in the best interests of our football club at all times and I can assure everyone that this is not a decision that I have taken lightly.”
Bruce guided Sunderland to 13th in his first season in charge and improved on that with a 10th-placed finish in 2010-11.
American businessman Short, who took over the club in May 2009 and became the chairman last month, paid tribute to Bruce’s hard work.
“Steve has acted with honesty and integrity throughout, which is testament to the character and commitment he has shown during his time at Sunderland,” he said
Soccer-Bruce sacked as Sunderland manager
LONDON, Nov 30 (Reuters) – Steve Bruce became the first Premier League manager to be sacked this season when Sunderland announced they had parted company with the former Manchester United player on Wednesday.
Bruce, 50, joined Sunderland from Wigan Athletic in 2009 and leaves with the north-east club languishing two points above the drop zone.
“Sadly results this season have simply not been good enough and I feel the time is right to make a change,” chairman Ellis Short said on the club’s website (www.safc.com).
“It is my job as chairman to act in the best interests of our football club at all times and I can assure everyone that this is not a decision that I have taken lightly.”
Bruce guided Sunderland to 13th in his first season in charge and improved on that with a 10th-placed finish in 2010-11.
American businessman Short, who took over the club in May 2009 and became the chairman last month, paid tribute to Bruce’s hard work.
“Steve has acted with honesty and integrity throughout, which is testament to the character and commitment he has shown during his time at Sunderland,” he said
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