I still don’t understand why Wayne wanted to jump headfirst into the pressure cooker that is a head coaching job in the NHL. Especially with a team as underachieving as the Coyotes? Why not take some other head office job, even starting as a GM would have been a smarter move? Anyways, it should be interesting to see where he ends up now that he’s done the Team Canada thing and done the head coaching thing. Read more on his exit below from TheSportingNews.com:
Wayne Gretzky has stepped down as head coach of the Phoenix Coyotes, he announced Thursday.
“This was a difficult decision that I’ve thought long and hard about,” Gretzky said in a statement. “We all hoped there would be a resolution earlier this month to the Coyotes ownership situation, but the decision is taking longer than expected. Since both remaining bidders have made it clear that I don’t fit into their future plans, I approached General Manger Don Maloney and suggested he begin looking for someone to replace me as coach. Don has worked hard and explored many options. I think he has made an excellent choice, and so now it’s time for me to step aside.”
The team’s ownership situation continues to be unresolved.
Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie said Wednesday that he won’t move the team to Canada this season even if he wins the U.S. Bankruptcy Court fight and is given the green light to buy the team.Balsillie’s attorneys said in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Phoenix on Wednesday that they have ditched plans to move the team to Hamilton, Ont., this season, should Judge Redfield T. Baum rule in Balsillie’s favor.
The rest of Gretzky’s statement reads:
“The Coyotes scouting staff has put together a great group of young and talented players who are going to improve tremendously over the next few years,” continued Gretzky. “I’m proud of the team we’ve assembled, the organization with which I’ve been associated and the thousands of dedicated fans who have never wavered in their support of this young team. I’m confident that the best is yet to come for hockey in Phoenix.
“I want to thank every staff member of the Phoenix Coyotes, past and present. It was a real pleasure to work with each and every one of you. I’ve always said that Phoenix is a great sports city and deserves nothing but the best. I still believe that. As a young boy, I learned to play hockey in Southern Ontario, and I know what great fans they have there. It’s my hope they too will have an NHL franchise in the not too distant future.
“I often said it was the greatest honor and privilege I could imagine to be able to play in the National Hockey League. I feel the same way about being an NHL coach. I’ve loved the four years I spent coaching the Coyotes. Not a day went by when I took it for granted, and I will miss the competition of the NHL dearly. It was an honor to hold the position, and I will always consider myself especially fortunate to have had this opportunity.”
Gretzky, who is due to make $8.5 million this season, coached the Coyotes from 555-5555, finishing with a 143-161-24 record, and the team missed the playoffs in all four seasons.
Gretzky, 48, also owns a small piece of the franchise.
The Coyotes had no immediate word on a replacement. Associate coach Ulf Samuelsson had been serving as interim head coach during the preseason, and the team this week hired former NHL head coach Dave King as an assistant.
I’m sure A-Rod welcomes all the support he can get, but in this case he might want to thing again… From ESPN.com:
Pete Rose believes players who use steroids commit a transgression far worse than his admitted betting on the game, but Major League Baseball’s disgraced hit king said he’d back an admitted user like Alex Rodriguez for the Hall of Fame.
Rodriguez said in February that he used performance-enhancing drugs while playing for the Texas Rangers during a three-year period beginning in 2001.
“I’m willing to give a guy a second chance,” Rose said in an interview on “The Dan Patrick Show.” He later went on to say that steroid use is worse than someone such as himself betting on his own team to win.
Rose was banned from baseball in 1989 for betting on games while managing the Cincinnati Reds. The 68-year-old Rose is not eligible to be on the Hall of Fame ballot.
“When you take steroids you have a direct outcome of the game,” Rose said. “That’s the integrity of the game. And when you can change records when you do something illegal, it’s just not right. … Baseball records are sacred. If you do something illegal to surpass those records, it’s just not good.”
Rose, however, considers Barry Bonds to be the all-time home run king because “he hit the home runs. … I don’t think anyone has proven that he took steroids.”
Bonds long has been shadowed by allegations that he used performance-enhancing drugs and was indicted in 2007 for perjury and obstruction of justice for telling a federal grand jury he did not knowingly use PEDs.
He hit the last of his MLB-record 762 home runs in 2007.
“With Bonds, how many home runs are you going to take away from him?” Rose asked. “That’s a tough situation for the commissioner. … It’s a mess.”
From Yahoo! Sports:
The Minnesota Vikings will not sign free-agent quarterback Brett Favre(notes), a source close to the team told Yahoo! Sports on Thursday.
In a phone call that took place sometime in the last day, the source said Favre told Vikings coach Brad Childress that he wanted to remain retired. Favre is expected to publicly explain his decision soon.
Favre, who announced his first retirement in March 2008 after spending 16 seasons with the Green Bay Packers, decided to resume his career last summer and was traded to the New York Jets in August. After one season in New York, Favre retired again and was subsequently released by the Jets on April 29.
Just days after his release from the Jets, speculation began that the Vikings were interested in bringing in a veteran to compete with Sage Rosenfels(notes), who was acquired this offseason from the Houston Texans. Rosenfels is atop the depth chart heading into training camp, with Tarvaris Jackson and John David Booty(notes) also on the roster.
From Bloomberg.com:
April 1 (Bloomberg) — John Calipari was hired to restore the University of Kentucky’s basketball program, agreeing on an eight-year, $31.65 million contract that makes him the sport’s highest-paid college coach in history.
Calipari, who spent the past nine seasons at the University of Memphis, was introduced as Kentucky’s 22nd head coach at a televised news conference today in Lexington.
Calipari, 50, takes over a Kentucky program that ranks first all-time with 1,988 victories and is second to UCLA with seven national championships. He replaces Billy Gillispie, who was fired March 28 after a season in which the Wildcats lost 14 games and missed the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament for the first time since 1991.
“This is a dream I had since I brought my (University of Massachusetts) team down here in 1992,” Calipari said. “I could not believe the environment. At that point I said, ‘I’d love to coach there someday.’”
Calipari leaves Memphis with four years left on a contract that was paying him $2.35 million annually. Kentucky paid Memphis $200,000 to buy out the contract.
Calipari surpasses Florida’s Billy Donovan as the nation’s top-paid college basketball coach. Donovan received a deal that’s worth about $3.5 million a year after winning back-to- back national titles in 2006-07.
Paying a Premium
“In the marketplace we operate in, to be the premium basketball program in America, you want the best coach and you must pay a premium price,” Kentucky Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart said. “We don’t mind doing that because we think it’s that important. If it’s done correctly, the investment in the coach will yield results immediately.”
Barnhart announced the financial details of Calipari’s new contract and said the base salary would be $400,000 a year, with the rest of the money coming from the school’s media and television rights.
Calipari had a 252-69 record at Memphis and helped build the school into a championship contender. The Tigers won at least 30 games each of the past four years and reached the title game of the 2008 NCAA tournament, losing to Kansas in overtime.
“This decision for me was extremely hard,” Calipari said. “It wasn’t hard coming here, it was leaving Memphis and the support that my family and I received there over the years. To walk away from that was difficult, but this is heady stuff.”
While Memphis lost three starters from last year’s runner- up team, the Tigers went 33-4 this season and reached the round of 16 at the NCAA tournament. Memphis is the only school in the nation to receive a No. 1 or No. 2 tournament seed each of the last four years.
Kentucky’s Last Title
Kentucky has won two NCAA tournament games over that span and hasn’t advanced past the second round since 2005. The Wildcats won their most recent championship in 1998 under Tubby Smith, two years after winning the title with Rick Pitino as coach.
Pitino is now at the University of Louisville, about 75 miles (120.7 kilometers) from Kentucky’s campus in Lexington. Louisville this season was the top-seeded team in the NCAA tournament.
“I do not walk on water, I do not have a magic wand,” Calipari said. “I told Mitch and I told (Kentucky President Lee) Todd, ‘If you want something to happen in a year, do not hire me.’ That’s not how I do things. But when we get it right, you notice we’re No. 1 in the country, we’re No. 1 seeds and we’re playing in Final Fours.”
Calipari has a 445-140 record as a college coach, having also spent eight seasons at the University of Massachusetts from 1988 to 1996. The Minutemen reached the Final Four in his final season, though the school was stripped of the achievement after Marcus Camby admitted he violated NCAA rules by receiving gifts from a sports agent.
Calipari then left to coach in the National Basketball Association, where he had a 72-112 record with the New Jersey Nets before getting fired in 1999. He returned to the collegiate ranks with Memphis in 2000 and ended the school’s six-year NCAA tournament drought in his third season.
Congrats to Marty Brodeur for breaking Patrick Roy’s all time career win record of 551 wins. Watch the moment here:
From Lohud.com:
PURCHASE - Former New York Knicks coach and NBA legend Isiah Thomas has been admitted to White Plains Hospital after taking an overdose of prescription sleeping pills, police sources said this afternoon.
An ambulance crew went to Thomas’ Purchase home early this morning on what a police radio report indicated was a possible overdose.
Harrison Police Chief David Hall refused to discuss details the case, saying only that his officers did respond to Thomas’ home, but another police source told LoHud.com and The Journal News that Thomas has in fact been admitted to the hospital.
“I’m not going to confirm or deny this,” Hall said. “Were we there? Yes. But I’m not going to tell you who it is. The person in question apparently took too many sleeping pills and was taken to the hospital. That’s all I’m going to say about it.”
The call came in just after midnight. A police dispatcher mentioned a 46-year-old male at the Azalea Circle home. Thomas is 47.
A woman who answered an intercom at his Purchase home today refused to comment on Thomas’ well-being, whereabouts or anything else.
When reached this afternoon, Barry Watkins, vice president of communications for Madison Square Garden, said, “Isiah is fine.”
He declined further comment, saying it was a family matter.
One neighbor in the quiet, upscale Purchase neighborhood, where Thomas purchased a home for $4.075 million in 2004, said she was asleep and heard nothing. Attempts to speak to other neighbors were unsuccessful.
This afternoon, police cars were blocking the private road leading to Thomas’ home while a helicopter flew overhead.
The Knicks, who are now coached by Mike D’Antoni, are scheduled to play the Nets tonight at the Garden in their final preseason game.
Thomas, who was relieved of his duties as team president and coach last April, remains employed by the NBA club as a consultant.
During the four seasons Thomas was in charge, the Knicks never won more than 33 games. He was 56-108 in two seasons as head coach.
An amazing collection of the best NBA Playoff moments guaranteed to waste your afternoon.
I bet you can’t watch just one.
Got an hour to waste? Head over to ESPN for a great look at the best NFL franchise players of all time, broken down team by team. Each player was chosen through a vote and included is the percentages for each athlete. The discussion boards should be full of good stuff!
It was the mindset that would, in three years time, help trigger World War II. In 1936, Adolf Hitler boasted of Aryan supremacy and predicted their success at the Berlin Olympics. He wanted to show the world that the German “master race” would excel in the Olympic events, to the detriment of the other races.
African-American, Jesse Owens was what Hitler would have considered part of a weaker race. He was the son of a poor sharecropper and the grandson of a slave. To Hitler, Owens would be no competition to his Aryan athletes.
Yet during the events, and in spite of the constant psychological pressure Owens did, what many considered, the impossible. He became the fastest human being on earth- and proved it by winning the 100-meter sprint, the 200-meter dash, the 400-meter relay team and the long jump!
Jesse Owens left holding four gold medals and had achieved a feat that was unequaled for 48 years until Carl Lewis.
True courage, when exhibited at a critical moment, a time when there seems to be no hope, is transcendent. Although, those who witness the moment may not understand its significance until later, they understand that it will be a moment to remember.
In 1976, in Montreal, Canada the men’s gymnastic competition was a close contest between the Soviet and Japanese teams. It was down to the last day and last score, and it would be the highest score of the day would take home the gold!
Then disaster struck the Japanese team. Shun Fujimoto, one of the key gymnasts, shattered his kneecap during the floor competition. Although the pain was excruciating, taking any form of pain medication would disqualify him. He could not be replaced, and withdrawing would most likely mean a loss, so he went ahead and took one for the team.
The injured gymnast continued on to the pommel horse routine, miraculously scoring a 9.5 out of 10. He then faced the rings, which would be his final event of the day.
As he was helped up to reach the rings, Fujimoto thought only of his team and ignored the potential consequences of the eight-feet dismount that would complete his routine.
After a beautifully executed triple-somersault dismount, Fujimoto gritted his teeth and raised his arms in a perfect finish, before collapsing from the pain.
Not only did his team win the gold, but Fujimoto was awarded a 9.7, his personal best on the rings! The Japanese team took home the gold that year largely due to Fujimoto’s courage and strength in the face of seemingly unbearable pain.
These are just two examples of courageous moments in Olympic history, but with the 2008 Summer Olympics only days away the world will surely be the witness to more courageous and memorable moments.
To read more about Jesse Ownen’s achievements click here.
To read more about Shun Fujimoto’s courage click here.
For a complete list of memorable moments in Olympic history, such as the “Miracle on Ice” and the Jamaican bobsled event continue to read here.
Very interesting…from ESPN.com:
The New York Jets have received permission to talk to retired Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre, a source told ESPN’s Chris Mortensen on Friday.
Also Friday, a Packers source told Mortensen that Favre informed Packers general manager Ted Thompson by phone on Thursday that he was planning to report to the team’s training camp this weekend.
The Jets and Tampa Bay Buccaneers have expressed interest in Favre, according to a Packers source.
Favre, who retired in April, hasn’t made a decision on whether to send in his reinstatement letter but would need to do so in order to report to camp.
Favre has asked to be released from his contract and is aware of the Jets’ and Bucs’ interest, the source said. The Packers have no intention of releasing Favre from his contract, which expires after the 2010 season.
At training camp on Friday, Jets coach Eric Mangini did not deny that the Jets have been given permission to talk to Favre.
“With all discussions, those things are internal and that really hasn’t changed,” Mangini said, adding that he and Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum talk every night about “a lot of different things” but always keep them internal.
Mangini reiterated that he was happy with the team’s top quarterbacks, Chad Pennington and Kellen Clemens.
“I feel the same way as I felt yesterday and nothing’s changed,” Mangini said. “With any conversations me and Mike have, Mike likes to talk about a lot of different scenarios and he enjoys a good chart, he enjoys a good graph and he enjoys a lot of scenarios. That’s what he does, and that’s what he’s supposed to do.
“So, just normal discussions that we always have.”
The Packers made phone calls Tuesday to several teams after being encouraged by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to resolve the controversy surrounding Favre before camp opens, according to league and players’ union sources.
On Wednesday, NFL officials said privately that Favre and the Packers have been talking about which teams he’d be willing to go to in a potential trade, according to ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio.
Read the rest of the article HERE
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