Sports Articles

2010-02-25 | Jim Murphy

English Premier League entrant Liverpool spotted Romanian side Urinea Urziceni an early goal before roaring back to thump their host 3-1 and advance in UEFA Europa League soccer play. Liverpool had taken a hard fought 1-0 decision in the first half of the aggregate goal series at home two weeks earlier. They now advance to the final 16 of the competition against French team Lille on March 11.

2010-02-25 | Jim Murphy

Zydrunas Ilgauskas was dealt by Cleveland to Washington on February 17 as part of the trade that sent Wizards’ forward Antawn Jamison to the Cavaliers. At the time, Cavs’ management praised Ilgauskas and insisted that his number would be retired once his playing days were over. Following a buyout from his new team, there’s a good chance he’ll be needing that number. Every indication is that he’ll return to Cleveland following the NBA’s mandated 30 day waiting period for re-signing free agents in season.

2010-02-25 | Jim Murphy

There has never been any question about Carlos Boozer’s talent, but his tenure with the Utah Jazz has been a stormy one. Acquired as a free agent in 2005, Boozer has suffered through a variety of injuries that many Utah fans felt weren’t serious enough to keep him out of the lineup for as long as they did. Along the way there have been spats with Jazz management that included trade demands and insistences that he’d be leaving Salt Lake City for a more ‘cosmopolitan’ environment as soon as the opportunity presented itself. He considered opting out of the final year of his deal with Utah this past summer, but finding a chilly reception in the free agent market place eventually signed to return to the Jazz. Now, after one of his most productive seasons as a professional, he’s changed his tune considerably and given indication that he’d be interested in staying in Utah.

2010-02-17 | Jim Murphy

Manchester United is in good shape to advance to the Champions League soccer quarterfinals following a 3-2 win over AC Milan at the San Siro. The competition itself was overshadowed by the fact that it was the first time that David Beckham had played against his old team since leaving Old Trafford in 2003, and Wayne Rooney squashed Milan’s early hopes with two goals to put the game on ice. Clarance Seedorf scored at the 85 minute mark to make the score respectable, but Man U controlled play after the halftime break.

2010-02-17 | Jim Murphy

Jean Makoun scored early in the second half to give Lyon a hard fought 1-0 victory in the first leg of their round of 16 Champions League matchup against Real Madrid. The Spanish champions lost for the third straight time on Lyon’s Stade Gerland home field and will now have an uphill battle when the teams meet at Bernabeu to advance to the next round. With the Champions League final slated to be held in their stadium, an exit this early in the competition would be nothing short of an embarrassment for Real Madrid.

2010-02-17 | Jim Murphy

The Portland Trailblazers have needed a big inside presence ever since starting center Greg Oden and backup Joel Pryzbilla went down with season ending injuries. They finally found one on Tuesday as they acquired veteran Marcus Canby from the Los Angeles Clippers. The Clippers received forward Travis Outlaw and guard Steve Blake. Canby is expected to make his debut in a Blazers’ uniform on Friday when Portland hosts the Boston Celtics.

2010-02-12 | Jim Murphy

Last Saturday night, Mark Coleman headlined UFC 109 facing Randy Couture. Several days later, he’s apparently no longer good enough to remain in the UFC at all. On Wednesday, following a lopsided loss to Couture the UFC released Coleman from his contract and cut the veteran heavyweight. Coleman is now free to sign with any other promotion, but at 46 years of age his most likely—and most advisable—course of action is retirement.

2010-02-12 | Jim Murphy

Though it enjoyed solid fan support and was popular among sports betting enthusiasts, arena football fell off the map with the demise of the Arena Football League. The AFL suspended play under the weight of a poor business model in 2009 and later pulled the plug altogether. Since then, a new league has announced plans to take its place. Arena Football One (AF1 for short) will begin play in April and on Thursday secured a TV contract to broadcast games on the NFL Network in the United States. The TV deal should help the new arena football entrant to get off to a successful start as they attempt to revive the sport.

2010-02-12 | Jim Murphy

The NBA All Star game lost a couple of high profile participants on Thursday with the announcement that the Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant and Philadelphia 76ers’ Allen Iverson would not play due to injury. Kobe and ‘AI’ are the latest in a string of injuries to All Star players that have also claimed Portland’s Brandon Roy and New Orleans’ Chris Paul.

2010-02-08 | Jim Murphy

The New Orleans Saints used a 14 point fourth quarter to defeat the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 on Sunday to win their first Superbowl in franchise history. Drew Brees broke open a tight game midway through the final quarter with his touchdown pass to Jeremy Shockey, and Tracy Porter scored on a 74 yard interception return as the Colts were driving on the next series to secure the victory. Brees was named Superbowl MVP on the basis of his 288 yard, 2 touchdown, 0 interception performance. He completed 32 passes in the game, tying New England’s Tom Brady for the all time record in that category.

2010-02-08 | Jim Murphy

In one of the stranger front office shakeups in recent NBA history, the Los Angeles Clippers have ‘relieved’ Mike Dunleavy of his head coaching duties effective immediately. He’ll remain on board as the Clippers’ general manager, and both he and the team cited the demands of the forthcoming trade deadline and free agent market as a catalyst for the change. Dunleavy leaves as the most successful head coach in the team’s less than distinguished history.

2010-02-08 | Jim Murphy

The Clippers’ bizarre ‘relieving’ of Mike Dunleavy’s duties as head coach wasn’t the only strange coaching move in pro sports of late. In the NHL, the Columbus Blue Jackets fired head coach Ken Hitchcock late last week. The well traveled Hitchcock had led the Jackets to their first playoff appearance in franchise history last season, but the team had stumbled to a 22-27-9 record. Assistant coach Claude Noel will take over the team as interim head coach.

2010-02-03 | Jim Murphy

Dwight Freeney further clouded his status for Superbowl 44 with comments on Wednesday that his ankle is feeling better and that he may be able to play in Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints. Freeney had been all but ruled out of the game by NFL observers and even his own coach following a severe ankle sprain with a good deal of ‘worst case scenario’ speculation that he’d torn a ligament that would require surgery.

2010-02-03 | Jim Murphy

The New Orleans Hornets got some good news regarding injured point guard Chris Paul on Wednesday. Paul will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his left knee on Thursday, and the diagnosis is favorable for a return before the playoffs. Paul suffered a partially torn meniscus in a game against Golden State last week. Preliminary diagnoses suggested that he’d be out of action one to two months.

2010-02-03 | Jim Murphy

In what has to be one of the least difficult front office personnel decisions in sports history, Indianapolis Colts’ owner Jim Irsay has confirmed that the team will sign quarterback Peyton Manning to a contract extension that could make him the highest paid player in NFL history. Manning’s current deal will expire after the end of the 2010 season, with the final two years having been voided due to his meeting a number of performance based criteria.

2010-02-02 | Jim Murphy

If your sports betting experience dates back more than a decade you no doubt remember when pointspread favorites dominated the Superbowl seemingly every year. Through 1985, favorites were 12-6 against the spread and by 1995 that disparity had grown to 19-9 ATS. In the past decade or so, underdogs have made a comeback going 8-4 against the spread. That leaves the pointspread tally to date at 23-17-2 with no official line on Superbowl 1.

2010-02-01 | Jim Murphy

The Indianapolis Colts’ underrated defense paved the way for their Superbowl appearance, but it now may have to face the big game against the New Orleans Saints without one of its most vital components. Pro Bowl defensive end Dwight Freeney is listed as ‘questionable’ on the official NFL injury report, and Superbowl betting enthusiasts are trying to determine just how bad his injury actually is. Some reports suggest that it could keep him out of action altogether.

2010-02-01 | Jim Murphy

The Los Angeles Lakers might not want to consider Boston’s TD BankNorth Garden a ‘home away from home’ but they’re starting to enjoy success there with regularity. On Sunday, Kobe Bryant sank a jumper with just over 7 seconds remaining to propel the Lakers to a 90-89 victory over the Celtics. It was the Lakers third consecutive win over their historical rivals, and the Celtics 7th loss in their last 10 games. The Celtics have slipped to fourth place in the Eastern Conference while the Lakers are neck-and-neck with the Cleveland Cavaliers for the best record in the league.

2010-02-01 | Jim Murphy

While the sports fans of New Orleans are busy toasting the good fortune of their football team, their basketball team hasn’t fared quite so well. So as the Saints prepare to take on the Indianapolis Colts in the first Superbowl appearance in franchise history, the New Orleans Hornets are preparing for life without their all star guard Chris Paul. Paul will be sidelined indefinitely due to an injured knee, and his team is now figuring out how to fill the void left by his absence.