Lynx sign free agent shooting guard Erin Thorn (AP)
Lynx sign free agent shooting guard Erin Thorn (AP)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP)—The Minnesota Lynx have signed free agent shooting guard Erin Thorn, formerly of the Chicago Sky. The deal was announced Monday. The 5-foot-9 Thorn shot nearly 40 percent from 3-point range last season as a reserve for the Sky. She appeared in all 34 games and averaged 5.4 points, 2.4 assists and 1.7 rebounds in 16.8 minutes. Thorn was drafted by the New York Liberty in the second round in 2003. This will be her 10th year in the WNBA. The defending champion Lynx open the 2012 season at home against the Phoenix Mercury on May 20.
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Orozco adds Winter Cup title to resume (AP)
Orozco adds Winter Cup title to resume (AP)
LAS VEGAS (AP)—The former Olympic champion is one and done. Paul Hamm struggled big-time Thursday in his first gymnastics meet in four years—a day that started poorly and got even worse after he left the gym. Hours after his below-par performance at the Winter Cup Challenge, a second round of gymnasts took to the floor and knocked Hamm to a tie for 48th place in the standings, denying him one of the 42 spots for Saturday’s finals. An unfathomable result for the man who used to be known as the world’s best gymnast, but is now simply another guy with a dream of making the London Olympics—and a lot of work in front of him to get there. “This has been one of my weaker performances of my career,” Hamm said. “It’s disappointing for sure. I’m not happy. I just have to be constructive here. It’s all I can really do.” The 2004 all-around Olympic champion fell off the pommel horse early, landed hard on the floor exercise late and mixed in more wobbles and bobbles than he usually throws out there in a year. Performing in four of six events, the 29-year-old from Wisconsin scored higher than 13.9 on only one of them—a frustrating day for an athlete not used to giving performances like this in public. “He came up to me and said, `Man, I don’t feel like myself today,”’ said Jonathan Horton, another past national champion, who has been training with Hamm for the last three weeks. Granted, this event is viewed by almost everyone in gymnastics as a warm-up for the more important stuff to come on the road to London. And Hamm has only been training for eight months since tearing up his right shoulder—injuries that have ended many a career in this sport. Still, after a day that fell well below his own lowered expectations, the man who used to define excellence found himself in spots that were once unthinkable. Not only did he miss the final 42, he now must wait to see if he’ll earn one of three wildcard spots on the 15-man national team to be named at the end of the weekend. Not making that team won’t eliminate him from contention for the Olympics, but it would deprive him of some funding opportunities and chances to compete for the U.S. in international events. Hamm said he would continue to train either way. “Paul, whether he makes the national team or doesn’t make the national team, he’s a big-picture guy,” said four-time national champion John Roethlisberger, who is on the men’s program committee. “I’m not going to say it doesn’t matter. But this is a step on the road. Tomorrow, for him, he’s going to go back in the gym. Maybe there will be a little more fire in his belly, but there’s fire in his belly already.” Save his high-flying vault—where he scored a 15.4 for his roundoff into a front flip with a full twist—this was not a pretty day. He opened the meet on the pommel horse and was the last competitor in the gym to go during the first rotation. The judges, slow on the draw, held him up for more than a minute, and when Hamm finally did get the green light, he grabbed onto the pommels for five, six, seven seconds, then jumped onto the horse and back into the world of competitive gymnastics. Less than 10 seconds later, though, he slipped and was back on the ground. “Pommel horse and parallel bars, I goofed up a skill early in the routines and that just kind of set me off on a bad path for the rest of it,” Hamm said. Leading after the first day was Chris Brooks, an alternate from the team that finished third at last year’s world championships. Next were John Orozco and reigning national champion Danell Leyva, both members of the bronze-medal team that has potential, Hamm says, to do even better this year in London. Horton worked on only one event, the pommel horse, and struggled to a score of 12.25. He’s overcoming a broken left foot and is scheduled to get the pins out next Tuesday. “It wasn’t a great routine today, but people saw my upgrades,” Horton said. “People with a trained eye see I’m swinging better pommel horse. The national coordinator and the national coaches see what I’m doing in training and I’m not behind at all.” Of course, training and competition are two different animals, and Hamm was the first to admit that. “Today, I just felt more fatigued than I usually would in competition,” he said. “Then on top of it, there’s the nervousness and all the other elements that might throw you off. It was enough to get you off track.” Hamm scored 13.9 on floor (good for ninth on the event), 13.05 on pommel horse (12th) and 13.4 on bars (17th). Through all the struggles, however, he did show glimmers of the kind of gymnast he can be—the kind of gymnast he has been inside the training gym for the last few months, if reports from his camp, along with his video Facebook posts, are to be believed. His flairs on the floor were as big and exciting as anyone’s, legs kicking high above his shoulders and bringing audible gasps from every corner of the small arena. And there are still the precise lines of his handstands, the explosiveness of his leaps, the businesslike attitude of everything he does, that bring back memories of the champion he once was—and hopes to be again. On this day, though, it was hard not to think back to four years ago. Back then, Hamm was returning from a lengthy break, hoping to defend his Olympic title. The quest began at the same meet, in the same city, in the same gym. He won that meet by a whopping 7.25 points. After the first day—a day in which he looked every bit the champion—Hamm was asked to grade himself. He gave himself an `A-minus.’ Same question, four years later: “Definitely in the `D’ range today,” he said. “I’m not happy. I’m frustrated. Today’s been very frustrating to me.”
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Kvitova keeps semi loss in perspective (AP)
Kvitova keeps semi loss in perspective (AP)
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP)—Bob Bryan plays for his record 12th Grand Slam doubles title with his brother Mike on Saturday, but he’s advising wife Michelle not to watch on television at home in Miami. He doesn’t want her to go into labor until he’s back in the country. The couple is expecting the birth of their first child—a girl—and Michelle’s due date just happens to fall on the same day as the doubles final. “I’ve been telling her, ‘Don’t watch the matches, it will get your heart rate going and you might spit that baby out,”’ Bob Bryan said after the brothers’ tight semifinal win on Thursday. “She knows she’s a few days away from me coming home. She’s not going to risk it, not now.” Bryan almost caught an earlier flight back to Florida. The top-seeded brothers had to fight off a match point and rally from a 5-2 deficit in the third-set tiebreaker to beat Robert Lindstedt of Sweden and Horia Tecau of Romania. “I think we maybe got a little lucky,” Mike Bryan said. “Played kind of our best tennis at the very end.” The brothers were coming off a tough, three-set quarterfinal win over Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski of Poland that didn’t finish until 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday because they followed the 4-hour-plus men’s singles quarterfinal between Rafael Nadal and Tomas Berdych at Rod Laver Arena. “It was tough to sleep last night because we were used to being up,” Mike Bryan said. The Americans now play the unseeded pairing of Leander Paes of India and Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic in the final for a chance to make history. They’re currently level at 11 career Grand Slam titles with the Australian doubles team of Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge, known at home as the “Woodies.” “They’ve always seemed like they’ve been happy for us and our success,” Bob Bryan said. “They seem very secure with their own achievements and career. They’ve had an amazingly decorated history on the court.” Whatever happens on Saturday, Bob Bryan will be on the first flight out of Melbourne on Sunday morning. “(Michelle’s) been so happy and supportive of what we’re doing,” Bob Bryan said. “That makes it really easy.” ——— RANKINGS SHUFFLE: If Maria Sharapova wins the Australian Open title on Saturday, she’ll rise to the top of the women’s rankings for the fifth time in her career. The 24-year-old Russian has only been No. 1 for a total of 17 weeks in her lengthy career, but those stints at the top have come in three different seasons. Sharapova first reached No. 1 on Aug. 22, 2005, but lost it a week later to Lindsay Davenport. The Russian then moved back into the top spot on Sept. 12 and held it for six more weeks before Davenport supplanted her again. Sharapova returned to No. 1 for seven weeks after losing the Australian Open final to Serena Williams in 2007, and again for three weeks in May 2008 when then-No. 1 Justine Henin retired and took her name off the rankings. Sharapova must beat Victoria Azarenka in the final Saturday to get the ranking back; if Azarenka wins, she’ll become No. 1 for the first time in her career. Current No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, who lost in the quarterfinals, will fall out of the top spot when the new rankings are released next week after spending 67 weeks as No. 1. She’s projected to fall to No. 4, behind Sharapova, Azarenka and Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova. Defending champion Kim Clijsters, meanwhile, is expected to fall from No. 14 to approximately No. 30-32 after her loss to Azarenka in the semifinals. ——— AUSTRALIA’S GOT TALENT: Bernard Tomic isn’t the only tennis phenom Australia is getting excited about. Luke Saville, the world’s top-ranked male junior player, advanced to the semifinals of the boys’ singles competition at the Australian Open with a 7-5, 7-5 victory over Kyle Edmund of Britain on Thursday. Saville, who turns 18 on Feb. 1, is aiming for his second junior Grand Slam title. He captured the Wimbledon junior crown last July and also made the 2011 Australian Open final. The 19-year-old Tomic, who made it to the fourth round of the men’s singles draw this year, was the last Australian champion in the boys’ event in 2008. Saville said after his match Thursday that he doesn’t feel any pressure coming in as the top seed. “Obviously everyone is kind of shooting for me now, trying to take me down, but from a young age I’ve kind of been top in Australia for my age group … so I’ve experienced that feeling of being the top dog,” he said. Saville plays 17-year-old Adam Pavlasek of the Czech Republic in the semifinals Friday. Pavlasek may have a famous face in his corner for the match— he’s dating Petra Kvitova, who lost in the women’s semifinals on Thursday. When asked if she’d stick around to watch her boyfriend play, Kvitova said, “Maybe tomorrow.”
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Bolt to run at Rome’s Golden Gala in May (AP)
Bolt to run at Rome’s Golden Gala in May (AP)
ROME (AP)—Usain Bolt will run the 100 meters at the Golden Gala in Rome again this year as he prepares to defend three sprint titles at the London Olympics two months later. Organizers of the May 31 meet announced the Jamaican’s participation on Thursday. “I’m training hard, the offseason has been good. Everything is going according to plan. The aim is to defend my Olympic titles in London,” Bolt said in a statement provided by Rome organizers. “Rome’s race will be a good early season test and tell me what I need to do on the way to the Olympic Games.” Bolt made his season debut in Rome last year, winning the 100 in 9.91 seconds to narrowly beat former world record-holder Asafa Powell. Tyson Gay (left) ended Usain Bolt’s two-year unbeaten streak last August.(Getty Images) Bolt has also confirmed he will run the 100 at another Diamond League meet in Oslo on June 7. Rome is the first European meet of the Diamond League season, which opens in Doha, Qatar on May 11. Another meet is scheduled in Shanghai on May 19, then Rome is the third stop. Heats for the 100 at the London Games begin Aug. 4. At the 2008 Beijing Games, Bolt swept the 100 and 200 sprints and helped Jamaica to gold in the 4×100 relay—all in world-record times. He then improved his 100 (9.58 seconds) and 200 (19.19) records at the 2009 world championships in Berlin. At last year’s worlds in Daegu, South Korea, Bolt was eliminated from the 100 final for a false start but he then won the 200 in 19.40 and helped Jamaica to another world record (37.04) in the relay. Bolt has said he also wants to run the 4×400 in London and become the first male athlete since Carl Lewis at the 1984 Los Angeles Games to win four gold medals in track and field at the Olympics. Finland’s Paavo Nurmi won five at the 1924 Paris Games.
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Speeds top 200 mph at Daytona test session (AP)
Speeds top 200 mph at Daytona test session (AP)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP)—NASCAR is making gains toward breaking up the two-car tandem racing that has taken over at Daytona and Talladega, but the fix sent speeds soaring over 200 mph Friday in a test session. Kurt Busch posted the fastest lap of the day at 206.058 mph, but was being pushed around Daytona International Speedway in a two-car tandem by Regan Smith. Kyle Busch was clocked at 205.813 while pack racing. NASCAR has traditionally shied away from the 200 mph mark, and four-time series champion Jeff Gordon said he approached series officials about the speeds because he was certain the cars would be slowed. He said he was surprised when NASCAR indicated it was comfortable over 200 mph. “It’s embedded in our minds we can’t go out there over 200 mph in race conditions,” he said. “Somehow it’s become accepted and I think that’s a good thing. It’s very comfortable. It’s extremely comfortable.” But it’s unclear what the racing will actually look like when the season opens with the Daytona 500—NASCAR’s version of the Super Bowl—on Feb. 26. Fans are clear that they want pack racing at Daytona and Talladega, NASCAR’s two biggest and fastest tracks. Drivers figured out about three years ago that hooking up in two-car tandems was the fastest way around the track, and the style evolved so quickly, NASCAR couldn’t stop it. The end result was a two-car hookup in which the trailing driver was pushing the lead car around the track. Only one spotter worked for both cars, as the pushing driver was unable to see anything ahead. Overheating issues forced the cars to swap positions every few laps, and that maneuver added an element of danger because separating slowed the two cars dramatically. NASCAR Chairman Brian France vowed to move away from the two-car tandems in November, and a series of aerodynamic rules changes have done just that. NASCAR also banned driver-to-driver communications over their scanners. It’s all part of a continuous process, that could go all the way up to race day. NASCAR has changed specifications during each of the first two days of testing, and officials summoned the drivers to a Friday meeting during the lunch break to strongly urge them to pack race during the afternoon session. Based on the data gleaned from the two drafting sessions, NASCAR made yet another series of technical changes that will be applied Saturday in the final day of testing. Last year, NASCAR made changes during actual Speedweeks in an effort to break up the tandems. More changes were made before the other three restrictor-plate races on the schedule, too. Earlier Friday, NASCAR President Mike Helton indicated speeds will likely be much different when teams return for the Daytona 500. “(Speed) is one of those things that we have to kind of monitor,” Helton said. “It is a test, so we may be a little bit more lenient at a test than we would be on race weekend. But we’ll see how everything settles out and what kind of rules package we come back with … 204 is OK for a test. It’s OK for now. “But we’ll have to take back everything we learn and then make a decision after that.” But Sprint Cup Series director John Darby said after the drafting sessions that the final product will likely be right around the 200 mph mark. “We’ll still be over 200 mph. We’d like to stay as close to that mark as we can,” said Darby, adding that NASCAR’s confidence of keeping cars from going airborne at those speed has improved through wind tunnel testing. “If we were to put a target mark, it would be right around 200, which the drivers like, the excitement level of 200 mph is always present for the fans.” The drivers seemed comfortable over 200 mph, and most were thankful to run in packs again. Gordon said it was “just reminds me of the good `ol days.” But, most of the drivers admitted the two-car tandem will never go away completely. “Everybody was really having a good time, and trying to get everything they could out of it before we went back to pushing around each other,” said Dale Earnhardt Jr., who pushed teammate Jimmie Johnson to a win at Talladega last year. “Maybe, just maybe, you don’t have to be in a two-car tandem to stay with the lead pack. The two-car tandem is probably the preferred way to go as far as speed. But maybe you don’t have to do it for 500 miles. Maybe you can just kind of save your car, save the tail and the nose of your car and yourself. “That might be the way to go just to get through the race, and be there at the end. But that tandem stuff is what is going to win the race.”
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Pats’ O’Brien agrees to become PSU coach (AP)
Pats’ O’Brien agrees to become PSU coach (AP)
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP)—New England Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien has agreed to become Penn State’s first new head football coach in nearly a half-century. Two people in the NFL with knowledge of the search told The Associated Press on Friday that O’Brien has told them he plans to replace fired coach Joe Paterno. Another person told the AP terms and details still needed to be set, that nothing was official and there was no signed contract. The persons spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the search. ESPN, citing unnamed sources, first reported Thursday night an official announcement would be made Saturday, and that O’Brien would remain with the Patriots as an assistant through the postseason. Two people have told the AP the report was credible. Division I’s winningest coach with 409 victories, Paterno was fired Nov. 9 by university trustees following 46 seasons in the aftermath of child sex abuse charges against retired defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. O’Brien has no apparent ties to Penn State and a proud program tarnished by a scandal that also led to the departure of school President Graham Spanier. Penn State coaches had not received any word on O’Brien or anything else related to the two-month long search as of Friday morning. A Patriots spokesman declined comment Thursday night. Messages left Friday for Penn State spokesmen were not immediately returned. Penn State athletics spokesman Jeff Nelson on Thursday night cited department policy to not comment on reports to “protect the integrity of the search.” O’Brien interviewed on Thursday, his agent said. Joe Linta told The Associated Press, earlier Thursday, that O’Brien was “flattered by the interest.” This was O’Brien’s first year coordinating the Patriots’ high-scoring offense, but he has also coached star quarterback Tom Brady since 2009 and spent 2008 coaching receivers. O’Brien recently was in the spotlight when he and Brady got into a heated argument, shown on national television, after Brady threw an interception in the end zone in the fourth quarter of the Patriots’ 34-27 win over the Washington Redskins on Dec. 11. “He’s been a great coach and friend. We have a great relationship; probably a very unique relationship in that we communicate all the time,” Brady said Sunday about O’Brien. “I always enjoy working with him and he’s done an incredible job with this team and this offense.” The Patriots are off this week, and will host a divisional round playoff game next weekend. They went 13-3 this season, won the AFC East championship going away, and secured the conference’s No. 1 seed throughout the playoffs. New England closed the regular season on an eight-game winning streak, and scored 513 points, the most in the AFC. Brady threw for 5,235 yards and 39 touchdowns, while being picked off just 12 times. “I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Brady said when asked if he would miss O’Brien’s coaching. “I hope he’s here for a long time and I told him that, too.” But the selection of a coach without Penn State ties may not sit well with several prominent former players or some alumni. Former standout linebackers LaVar Arrington and Brandon Short had organized a petition in support of interim coach Tom Bradley’s candidacy. Short said the petition only included about 100 names after he was informed by a member of Penn State’s search committee it was enough to sway their opinions. He said he planned to meet with Acting Athletic Director David Joyner on Friday in a meeting scheduled before reports began to surface about O’Brien. He would consider cutting ties with his alma mater if the O’Brien reports were true, and he said some former players—operating independently of the official Football Letterman Club for football alumni—might consider a lawsuit that would prevent the school from using their likenesses or images in the future. Now an investment banker in New York, Short played seven seasons with the New York Giants and Carolina Panthers. He called Bradley the best candidate for the job. “There are thousands of other players who will tell you the same thing. The administration is under the belief that if they hire an NFL coach, or someone flashy, that they will fill seats,” Short said in phone interview Thursday. “As an NFL player I can tell you that there is a big difference between developing young men and recruiting, then the combine and free agency. It’s two different universes.” D.J. Dozier, a running back on the 1986 title team, said Thursday the search committee should poll current and former players and high school coaches in the region. He planned to sign the petition if more signatures were taken. “Give that person and that staff a chance. I believe the current staff has done a good job,” Dozier said. “Unless there’s politics involved, give them a chance.” Some alumni also lobbied for Bradley, a 33-year veteran of the Penn State staff and defensive coordinator since 2000. Prominent donor Anthony Lubrano, a Penn State graduate, questioned the school’s hiring process. “Bill O’Brien might well be a fine football coach and more importantly an even finer human being,” Lubrano wrote in an email. “But by excluding the football (lettermen) from the search process, this administration has effectively communicated to them that their contributions to the Penn State family don’t matter.” O’Brien joined New England in 2007 following 14 seasons on the college level, including stops at Duke, Maryland and Georgia Tech. He played football at Brown—Paterno’s alma mater. The Patriots are third in the NFL overall in scoring (32.1 points per game), and second in total offense (428 yards) and passing (317.8 yards). Penn State finished a 9-4 campaign with a 30-14 loss in the TicketCity Bowl to Houston on Jan. 2. The Nittany Lions relied on defense much of the year after the offense struggled with a two-quarterback system. Penn State officials had termed the search “methodical and deliberate.” Joyner said earlier Thursday he would like to have Paterno’s replacement in place by Jan. 13, the start of 16-day recruiting window before high school seniors can begin to announce their official intentions to attend college on Feb. 1. Bradley, who took over for Paterno on an interim basis, was among the candidates interviewed. He was on the road recruiting Thursday.
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