Via ESPN:  Tragedy hits Broncos: tailback Nash collapses, dies

Denver Broncos reserve tailback Damien Nash collapsed and died Saturday night after an appearance in a charity basketball game in St. Louis.

Nash, a two-year NFL veteran, was 24.

[…]

Details of the incident were not yet available, and an official with the St. Louis police said an investigation was in its “very earliest” stages.

The proceeds of the event were to benefit the Darris Nash Find A Heart Foundation, which raises money for heart transplant research. The foundation was created last month after Darris Nash, 25, the older brother of Damien Nash, received a heart transplant.

How awful.

Via the AP:  Longhorns start spring drills with gaps to fill:

Coming off a disappointing 10-3 season, Texas begins spring practice Friday trying to shore up a defense that gave up too many big plays as the Longhorns fell to third in the Big 12.

Texas lost five starters — three defensive backs and two pass rushing ends — from a unit that ranked among the best in the country against the run but among the worst against the pass.

There is little doubt that the defense last year was not as good as it needed to be, especially in big games against the pass.

Hopefully Mack can figure it out, but there it is an uphill battle, as we lost Gene Chizik (one of the co-defcoords) and a number of starters, all of whom will likely be on NFL rosters come the Fall (indeed, I would expect that Safety Michael Griffin and Cornerback Aaron Ross will go in the first round).

Coach Mack Brown hired a new defensive co-coordinator, Larry Mac Duff, to work with longtime assistant Duane Akina. They will try to break in a talented but inexperienced group of new starters.

Although Mac Duff will be the third co-coordinator on Brown’s staff in four years, he and Akina were assistants together at Arizona and scripted the Wildcats’ dominating “Desert Swarm” defenses.

The Longhorns lost Thorpe Award winner Aaron Ross and Tarell Brown at cornerback and Michael Griffin at safety. That leaves only Griffin’s brother, Michael, as a returning starter at strong safety. Brown has stockpiled talented recruits at defensive back in recent years but is waiting to see what they can do on the field.

Technorati Tags: Texas Longhorns

Via the Star-Telegram:

Phillips said a number of players have called or stopped by since he was hired.

The player he sees the most is quarterback Tony Romo.

“He is my new best friend,” Phillips said.

May that remain the case.

Technorati Tags: Dallas Cowboys, Tony Romo

Via the Star-Telegram:  Phillips has lost his anonymity

The natural assumption upon Phillips’ hiring was that, in the Cowboys’ 3-4 defense, linebacker DeMarcus Ware would play a role like that of Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman.

Merriman had 27 sacks the past two years under Phillips with San Diego.

According to Phillips, however, Greg Ellis will play Merriman’s position, with Ware playing the linebacker spot on the opposite side. “Both of those positions are pretty important to our defense,” Phillips said. “If you get good guys there, it makes it tough on the offense. They don’t know which way to slide the line.”

As long as Ellis comes back healthy, the Dallas D should be a force to be reckoned with–especially given that Phillips’ version of the 3-4 is supposed to be more aggressive that the one that Big Bill ran.

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A Vatican soccer tournament began in Rome today.

ROME - The fans were pious. The players bound for glory. And the victory? A miracle. Priests and seminarians from several soccer-loving countries took to a field near the looming dome of St. Peter’s Basilica Saturday for the first match of the Clericus Cup, a tournament fielding 16 teams from Catholic institutes in Rome.

“You are playing in view of St. Peter’s cupola, so behave well,” admonished Cardinal Pio Laghi before giving the official kickoff at a small arena on a hill overlooking the Vatican.

In Italy soccer is a hallowed game, taken almost as seriously as Catholicism, and the players were all business once the whistle was blown.

Amid screams from the coaches, pious slogans from the small crowd and T-shirts invoking the protection of the Virgin Mary, a motley crew of Latin Americans, Africans and Asians from the Collegio Mater Ecclesiae (Mother of the Church College) took on an all-Brazilian team fielded by the Gregorian University.

In a miraculous upset, the young Mater Ecclesiae players trounced the more experienced but portly Brazilians 6-0 as their fans chanted: “The Mother of the Church wants a goal!”

Yes but whose team is the Holy Mother a fan of?

Kind of reminds me of the commercial five years ago. A father and his young son watching football and whenever one team scored a touchdown the boy would yell “Touchdown” while raising his arms in the air. Unfortunately the game wasn’t going well for Dad’s team.

That commercial(I don’t remember who the sponsor was) was seen frequently during the 2024 football season. It sticks in my memory and that of my wife who at the time was pregnant with our son Daniel. I wish Daniel was here to watch television with me now rather than me whittling away a Saturday doing nothing in particular.

Cross Posted to The Florida Masochist and Poliblog’s Deportes

Australia’s Nick O’Hern defeats the #1 golfer in the world. 

MARANA, Ariz. - Tiger Woods’ winning streak is over no matter what tour he is playing. Nick O’Hern became the first player to beat Woods twice in professional match play, losing a 3-up lead with eight holes to play before winning with a 12-foot par on the 20th hole after two gaffes by the world’s No. 1 player. Woods hit a wedge into 5 feet for birdie on the 18th hole to extend the match, and it appeared he would sneak off with a victory when he stood over a 4-foot birdie on the first extra hole. But he pushed it badly, then missed the green to the left on the 20th hole and chipped weakly to 15 feet. O’Hern blasted out of a bunker to 12 feet and made the par putt, sending Woods home a loser from a PGA Tour event for the first time since the Western Open in July. Byron Nelson’s record of 11 straight tour victories in 1945 again looks as untouchable as ever.

My prediction about Tiger’s streak ending at the Match Play came true. Now will Tiger win his fifth Masters title in April?

Cross posted at OTB Sports and The Florida Masochist

He was a part of three NBA Championship teams. I remember Johnson when he played for the Celtics. The mid-eighties being about the only time I followed basketball.  RIP Dennis.

AP- AUSTIN, Texas - Dennis Johnson, the star NBA guard who was part of three championship teams, died Thursday at 52.

“He is deceased and is in our building. He will be autopsied,” said Mayra Freeman, a spokeswoman for the Travis County medical examiner’s office.

Johnson, a five-time All-Star and one of the great defensive guards, played on title teams with the Boston Celtics and Seattle SuperSonics.

He had been coaching the Austin Toros of the NBA Development League. Johnson played 14 seasons, retiring after the 1989-90 season. He was the NBA Finals MVP in 1979 with Seattle, with his other titles coming with Boston in 1984 and 1986. He averaged 14.1 points and 5.0 assists. When he retired, he was the 11th player in NBA history to total 15,000 points and 5,000 assists. Johnson made one all-NBA first team and one second team. Six times he made the all-defensive first team, including five consecutive seasons from 1979-83.

Johnson was born Sept. 18, 1954, in Compton, Calif. He played in college at Pepperdine and was drafted by Seattle in 1976. Johnson was traded to Phoenix in 1980 and Boston in 1983.

Via the AP: Cowboys hire Read as special teams coach

The Dallas Cowboys hired former Oregon State assistant Bruce Read on Thursday to coach special teams on Wade Phillips’ staff.

Now, if we could just get a solid place kicker…

The struggles of the defending NBA Champ Miami Heat continue.

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Miami Heat All-Star guard Dwyane Wade is out of action indefinitely after suffering a shoulder injury during Wednesday night’s loss to the Houston Rockets.

The game, won by the Rockets 112-102, marked an ominous return to the bench for Heat coach Pat Riley, who missed the team’s last 22 games to address his own knee and hip injuries.

He said the “other guys will have to step up” following Wade’s injury, initially diagnosed as a separated shoulder.

“We will have to emphasize a whole different game because he means so much to us,” Riley told reporters. “Over the next couple of days we’ll find out the extent of his injury and then we’ll go to the drawing board on what we’ll have to do.”

Wade scored 27 points and had nine assists before being forced from the game. The twice All-Star is averaging nearly 29 points and eight assists a game for the defending NBA champions.

With Wade out, Shaq barely back from his injuries, and the Heat standing at 26-27, is Pat Riley already reconsidering his return to coaching the team? Maybe he’ll give the job back to Stan Van Gundy, who made a rare appearance recently but with the wrong South Florida sports team. Yes Van Gundy will replace Riley as Heat coach the same day The Palm Beach Post hires me to write a sports column.

I’m sticking by my New Year’s prediction- The Heat will not make the postseason this year.

Cross posted to OTB Sports

Now there will be equal pay in at least one sport for men and women.

WIMBLEDON, England - After years of holding out against equal prize money, Wimbledon bowed to public pressure Thursday and agreed to pay women players as much as the men at the world’s most prestigious tennis tournament.

*****

The All England Club announced at a news conference that it had decided to fall into line with other Grand Slam events and offer equal pay through all rounds at this year’s tournament.

“Tennis is one of the few sports in which women and men compete in the same event at the same time,” club chairman Tim Phillips said. “We believe our decision to offer equal prize money provides a boost for the game as a whole and recognizes the enormous contribution that women players make to the game and to Wimbledon.

“In short, good for tennis, good for women players and good for Wimbledon.”

Last year, men’s champion Roger Federer received $1.170 million and women’s winner Amelie Mauresmo got $1.117 million.

The U.S. Open and Australian Open have paid equal prize money for years. The French Open paid the men’s and women’s champions the same for the first time last year, although the overall prize fund remained bigger for the men.

The head of the French Tennis Federation, Jean-Francois Vilotte, suggested that the French Open could follow Wimbledon’s example, though no decision is expected before the federation’s next meeting March 16.

I’m not expecting any change in regards to pro golf. The USGA which holds both the Men’s and Women’s Golf Opens, paid Geoff Ogilvy over one million for his 2024 win where as Annika Sorenstam won just $560,000. Professional golf has a way to come yet.

Cross posted to OTB Sports and The Florida Masochist