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środa, 5 czerwca 2013
Reprezentacja Polski w piłce nożnej zagra 2 lutego z Rumunia na stadionie w Maladze. Pierwszy sprawdzian biało-czerwonych w 2013 roku rozpocznie sie o godz. 20.45.
Rzecznik prasowy PZPN Pan Jakub Kwiatkowski zdementował swój poprzedni komunikat, jakoby „spotkanie z Rumunią będą mogli obejrzeć za darmo wszyscy chętni kibice reprezentacji”. W dzisiejszej rozmowie telefonicznej z redakcja TVHiszpania potwierdził ze organizator spotkania – Rumuński Związek Piłkarski zadecydował o płatnym wstępie na mecz w cenie 10 Euro. Bilety będzie można nabyć w kasach na stadionie.
Rzecznik prasowy PZPN Pan Jakub Kwiatkowski zdementował swój poprzedni komunikat, jakoby „spotkanie z Rumunią będą mogli obejrzeć za darmo wszyscy chętni kibice reprezentacji”. W dzisiejszej rozmowie telefonicznej z redakcja TVHiszpania potwierdził ze organizator spotkania – Rumuński Związek Piłkarski zadecydował o płatnym wstępie na mecz w cenie 10 Euro. Bilety będzie można nabyć w kasach na stadionie.
poniedziałek, 3 czerwca 2013
Marc Serota/Getty Images
Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson fired longtime agent Drew Rosenhaus on Sunday; for those of you who have “Didn’t want to pay him the money that he owes” in your office’s “Why will DeSean Jackson sever ties with Drew Rosenhaus?” pool, it looks like you’re going to be splitting the pot with whoever has “To work with Jay-Z”. Congrats!
As Rosenhaus learned firsthand, one great way to torpedo a business relationship is to request the agreed-upon remuneration for a service that has been provided. But that’s not the only way to go about it. Just or not, athletes will always find cause if they want to move on—and as these examples prove, it could be anything from failing to land sponsors to not being their mom.
Josh Reddick and the A’s have won 14 of their past 16 games to move into a playoff spot. (AP)
Don’t look now, but the Oakland A’s are the hottest team in baseball. On Sunday they snapped White Sox ace Chris Sale’s streak of 28 consecutive scoreless innings with a 2-0 victory, thus completing a three-game sweep and winning their 14th game out of their last 16. Thanks to that run, they’re positioned for another return to the postseason; at 34-24, Oakland leads the AL wild-card race and is second in the AL West behind the Rangers, just two games back.
What’s at least somewhat surprising — and yet so characteristic of general manager Billy Beane’s club — is that the A’s are getting it done while being led by a different cast of characters than last year. Of their five top hitters (in terms of OPS+) from the 2012 division winners, both Jonny Gomes and Chris Carter are now playing elsewhere, while Yoenis Cespedes (.224/.299/.448) and Josh Reddick (.165/.273/.262) have been slowed by injuries; the former missed the latter half of April with a left thumb injury, while the latter lost most of May to a right wrist sprain. Despite those setbacks, the team still ranks sixth in the league in scoring (4.67 runs per game) while playing in pitcher-friendly Oakland Coliseum.
Perhaps not surprisingly given the organization’s ahead-of-the-curve emphasis on on-base percentage, the A’s are third in the league in that category (.333) and first in walk rate (10.6 percent) despite ranking just ninth in batting average (.247). Of their 13 players with at least 80 plate appearances, nine have OBPs above the league average of .322, and with 2012 AL Manager of the Year Bob Melvin once again platooning and otherwise juggling players due to injuries, they’ve gotten OBPs of at least .339 from six of the nine positions.
Tops among the A’s hitters have been a trio who figured prominently in Sunday’s win. Josh Donaldson (.319/.392/.529 with eight homers) hit the sixth-inning sacrifice fly that ended Sale’s streak. Scoring on that play and again in the eighth inning was Coco Crisp (.284/.387/.477), who dashed home from first base on a hit-and-run play with Jed Lowrie (.314/.392/.441) at the plate, aided by an error by White Sox centerfielder Jordan Danks.
Donaldson is the team’s regular third baseman. Lowrie, who was acquired from the Astros in a trade for Carter, has shared time at shortstop and second base with Eric Sogard and Adam Rosales, both of whom are better fielders. Crisp has shared centerfield with Cespedes and Chris Young as well as rotating through the designated hitter slot where Seth Smith (.278/.355/.443) has been the top contributor when he’s not patching the outfield. Thanks to Melvin’s mixing-and-matching, which also includes productive platoons at catcher (Derek Norris and John Jaso) and first base (Brandon Moss and Nate Freiman), A’s hitters have had the platoon advantage in 67 percent of their plate appearances, second in the league behind the Indians’ 69 percent. Oakland’s righty hitters have faced lefty pitchers in a league-high 27 percent of their total PA while producing a league-best 842 OPS under such circumstances via a .279/.385/.457 line.
Melvin’s charges haven’t sacrificed defense in the name of offense; the team ranks third in the league in defensive efficiency (.706), helping to offset the staff’s subpar strikeout rate (7.3 per nine). Overall, they rank seventh in the league in run prevention (4.12 per game), but that’s more on the strength of their bullpen than their rotation. Closer Grant Balfour, lefties Jerry Blevins and Sean Doolittle and righties Ryan Cook and Pat Neshek lead a unit that has produced the league’s best ERA (2.80), helping the team win 25 out of 26 games in which it has led after six innings, about three wins above expectations given the AL average winning percentage of .849 in such instances.
Melvin hasn’t had to juggle his rotation to the same extent as last year, when seven different pitchers made at least 13 starts and nine made at least six. Aside from the season-opening PED suspension of Bartolo Colon and injuries that have limited Brett Anderson to five starts, the unit has been intact all season, with Colon, A.J. Griffin, Tommy Milone and Jarrod Parker all taking the ball 11 or 12 times thus far. The starters are just 10th in the league in ERA (4.36), with Colon (3.33 ERA, 120 ERA+) the only one who’s been better than average. The rotund 40-year-old righty continues to pound the strike zone with uncanny consistency; he has a 42-to-4 strikeout-to-walk ratio and has delivered quality starts in all but two of his 11 turns.
Meanwhile, Griffin and Milone (both 4.04 ERA, 99 ERA+) have been close enough to average for government work, and Parker has delivered a 2.41 ERA over his last five starts, compared to a 7.34 mark across his first seven. On the whole, the unit’s 57 percent quality start rate is third in the league; they’re keeping the A’s in games far more often than not.
Melvin will have to hope that Griffin, Milone and Parker can curb their homer-prone ways, because unlike last summer, it doesn’t appear as though Anderson will be riding to the rescue anytime soon. He went on the DL with a right ankle sprain on May 1, a day after pitching 5 1/3 innings in relief in a 19-inning marathon from which he had originally been scrapped as a starter. After experiencing soreness in the same foot during a rehab stint in mid-May, he was diagnosed with a stress fracture that will at least cost him most of June and could require surgery; via an update on his status in the San Francisco Chronicle, Susan Slusser noted, “Experts estimate that athletes with foot stress fractures need surgery in more than 50 percent of cases.”
As for the key injuries on the offensive side, Cespedes and Reddick may be regaining their strokes. The former recently reeled off a 12-game hitting streak and is batting .274/.366/.500 over his last 15 games, numbers more or less in line with last year’s outstanding rookie showing. The latter returned to the lineup on Friday and collected three hits in the weekend series, including a double.
Just over one-third of the way through the season, the Oakland has benefitted from a bit of a soft schedule, going 9-0 against the Astros and 5-1 against the Angels but 20-23 against everyone else. A look at the expanded standings at Baseball-Reference.com shows that the A’s are actually just 11-19 against teams with records of .500 or above, compared to 23-5 agains those below .500. With 10 of their next 13 games against losing teams (the Brewers, White Sox and Mariners) the smooth ride may continue for a while, but eventually the A’s are going to have to show that they can hang with the tough teams while walking over the doormats. In the meantime, they’re again one of the game’s more surprising and fascinating teams
LeBron James was sensational in Game 7 of the 2012 Eastern Conference finals. (Issac Baldizon/Getty Images)
Monday night’s contest between the Heat and Pacers will mark just the fourth Game 7 of LeBron James’ 10-year career.
Here’s a quick side-by-side statistical look at how James has fared in his previous Game 7s compared to Bulls guard Michael Jordan and Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, plus Game 7 career highlights and lowlights for all three players.
Game 7 Highlights
Michael Jordan: MJ famously never needed a Finals Game 7 to secure his six championships. His 42-point outburst against the Knicks in the 1992 Eastern Conference semifinals pushed the Bulls into the Eastern Conference finals, where they defeated the Cavaliers in six games. From there, Chicago defeated Portland in the 1992 Finals to repeat as champions for the second title of Jordan’s career.
Jason Kidd made the All-Star team in 10 of his 19 seasons. (Paul K Buck/AFP)
Ten-time All-Star Jason Kidd retired Monday after 19 NBA seasons.
The 40-year-old Kidd, who signed a three-year, $9.3 million with the Knicks last summer, announced his decision in a statement released by the organization.
“My time in professional basketball has been an incredible journey, but one that must come to an end after 19 years,” Kidd said. “As I reflect on my time with the four teams I represented in the NBA, I look back fondly at every season and thank each every one of my teammates and coaches that joined me on the court.”
Kidd, the No. 2 pick in the 1994 draft after earning All-America honors as a sophomore at Cal, played for the Mavericks, Suns, Nets and Knicks. The 1995 co-Rookie of the Year finishes with career averages of 12.6 points, 8.7 assists, 6.3 rebounds and 1.9 steals. Kidd made the All-NBA first or second team six times and the All-Defensive team nine times. He also won a gold medal with USA Basketball at the 2000 and 2008 Olympics and he received the NBA’s sportsmanship award twice.
“I think it is the right time,” Kidd told ESPNNewYork.com. “When you think about 19 years, it has been a heckuva ride. Physically, I want to be able to participate in activities with my kids, so it has taken a toll. It is time to move on and think about maybe coaching or doing some broadcasting.”
Regarded as one of the greatest all-around point guards in NBA history, Kidd ranks No. 2 all time in assists and steals, trailing only Jazz Hall of Fame guard John Stockton in both categories. He won the 2011 championship with the Mavericks and went to the 2002 and 2003 Finals with the Nets. Kidd leaves the NBA having earned more than $187 million in contracts.
“Anybody who wants to learn to play point guard should study Jason Kidd,” former NBA point guard Mike Bibby told Sports Illustrated in 2000. “Nobody does everything a point guard needs to do as well as he does.”
“Jason’s value to the Knicks and the National Basketball Association cannot be quantified by statistics alone,” Knicks GM Glen Grunwald said in a statement. “Everyone here in New York saw firsthand what a tremendous competitor he is and why Jason is considered to be one of the best point guards, and leaders, the game has ever seen.”
Kidd, one of the NBA’s oldest players this season, averaged six points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 76 games. He went scoreless in the Knicks’ final 10 playoff games, shooting 0-of-17 in that stretch. He told ESPNNewYork.com that those struggles didn’t influence his decision.
“[I] didn’t come into the league as a shooter or scorer and I guess I won’t be leaving as one,” Kidd said. “I just tried to play the game the right way. As you get older, Father Time is undefeated. The ball just wouldn’t go in for me at the end. I thought I had a great season.”
Kidd’s announcement comes two days after Grant Hill, with whom Kidd shared the 1995 Rookie of the Year award, announced his retirement. Miami’s Juwan Howard is now the only active player from the 1994 draft, which had a top five of Glenn Robinson (who retired in 2005), Kidd, Hill, Donyell Marshall (who retired in 2009) and Howard.
Victor Oladipo made huge strides on offense as a junior at Indiana last season. (Andrew Hancock/SI)
Victor Oladipo is coming off perhaps the best junior breakout season since UConn’s Kemba Walker exploded back in 2010-11. Already well established as a lockdown perimeter defender, Oladipo made huge strides on the offensive side of the ball this past season, and that has catapulted him high into the lottery — possibly as high as the No. 2 overall pick.
It’s easy to look at Oladipo’s progression from three-point range as a barometer of his expanded game. After making just 18-of-74 threes in his first two seasons, Oladipo knocked down 30-of-68 (44.1 percent) this past season, and showed the ability to make pressure ones, like the one that iced the Round of 32 NCAA tournament win over Temple. Of course, NBA shooting guards have to be able to shoot from deep, but Oladipo brings so much more to the table than that, both in transition and in halfcourt sets.
LeBron James finished with 29 points while the other Heat starters combined for just 25 points in a Game 6 loss. (Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)
No offense featuring LeBron James at its center could ever be toothless. But in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals, the most explosive team in the regular season was reduced to the contributions of a single star and a burst of hot three-point shooting, producing just 77 points as the Pacers evened the series with the Heat at 3-3.
The Heat, known for their potent dribble-drive offense in the regular season, were held to 32 percent shooting in the paint and 25 percent inside the arc. James, who finished with 29 points (on 21 shots), six assists and seven rebounds, did what he could. But with no teammate creating competently (Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh combined for 15 points on 4-of-19 shooting), James was essentially left to fend for himself against the top defensive team in the league.
niedziela, 2 czerwca 2013
JASON COHN / REUTERS
The Bruins celebrate a goal by David Krejci as Penguins' Sidney Crosby skates away during the third period of Game 1 Saturday night in Pittsburgh.
PITTSBURGH—The Boston Bruins insist they aren’t trying to draw the high-flying Pittsburgh Penguins into a street fight.
However, if one breaks out during the Eastern Conference final, all the better.
David Krejci scored two more goals during his torrid post-season, and the Bruins shut down the Penguins 3-0 in Round 1 — make that Game 1 — on Saturday night.
Nathan Horton assisted on both of Krejci’s scores and added an insurance goal in the third period, and Tuukka Rask stopped 29 shots for the Bruins, who silenced Sidney Crosby and the rest of the NHL’s top-scoring team.
Boston did it by forcing the Penguins into the kind of sloppy, undisciplined play they largely avoided during the first two rounds of the playoffs.
Crosby was penalized twice, reigning NHL MVP Evgeni Malkin engaged in a rare fight, and longtime instigator Matt Cooke was ejected after he checked Boston’s Adam McQuaid from behind into the boards in the second period. That ratcheted up the intensity from contentious to chippy in a matter of seconds.
“They were a little bit frustrated and we just wanted to put the pressure on them. Good things happen when we do that,” Horton said.
And bad things happen to the Penguins. Pittsburgh came in averaging a league-high 4.27 goals in the playoffs but couldn’t solve Rask. The Penguins hit the post a handful of times and seemed a bit off following an eight-day break between rounds.
Tomas Vokoun stopped 27 shots but surrendered a soft goal to Krejci, and Pittsburgh’s sizzling power play cooled off. The Penguins came in leading playoff teams with the man advantage, scoring on 28 per cent of their chances, but went 0 for 4 in the opener.
“We didn’t play in a week and I think probably was pretty emotional, getting into it a little bit,” Crosby said. “Like I said that’s not something we go out there looking for.”
Yet it’s something the Penguins are sure to expect again heading into Game 2 on Monday night. Boston clogged the neutral zone to disrupt the timing of Pittsburgh’s free-flowing offence then counterpunched behind Krejci, whose 19 points in the playoffs lead the league.
“He’s a good player,” Boston coach Claude Julien said. “Why should he be different than Crosby or Malkin, who are good players?”
For a night anyway, Krejci was a notch better. Crosby and Malkin generated plenty of scoring chances, but Boston linemates Krejci and Horton buried theirs.
“That line was really good for us,” Julien said. “They made some great plays and scored some big goals.”
It’s a role often filled by Crosby and Malkin, but Pittsburgh’s two stars — not to mention the rest of the team — couldn’t find a way to sneak a puck by Rask.
Crosby hit the post in the opening minutes, and Pittsburgh put the kind of pressure on Rask that Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said would be necessary if they wanted to advance.
Rask, playing this deep in the post-season for the first time, proved equal to the challenge. He stuffed Crosby from point-blank range on the power play, then added an acrobatic save on Malkin in the final moments of the period when Malkin attempted to bang home a pass off the end boards.
The stop preserved a 1-0 Boston lead after Krejci beat Vokoun 8:23 into the game. Krejci’s sixth goal of the post-season was also the first sloppy mistake by Vokoun during his excellent playoff run.
The Bruins raced in on a 3-on-2 break, and the NHL’s leading post-season scorer found himself alone 30 feet in front of the net. The shot slid by defenceman Paul Martin and rolled slowly through Vokoun’s legs and into the net.
The game’s tenor, however, changed abruptly in the second period when Cooke slammed McQuaid from behind into the boards behind the Bruins net.
McQuaid had his back turned when Cooke came in at full speed and raised his left arm just before impact. The collision sent McQuaid crumpling to the ice. Cooke — whose career was pockmarked with suspensions and fines for hits before he made it a point to clean up his play two years ago — was given a major penalty for boarding and was ejected.
“We all know the history with (Cooke),” Crosby said. “It’s going to be looked at and scrutinized a lot more because it’s him, but I wouldn’t go as far to say it’s a penalty because it’s Cooke.”
By the end of the second period — after Brad Marchand thumped James Neal into the boards in front of the Pittsburgh bench — the Penguins turned their anger on the Bruins.
Pittsburgh’s Chris Kunitz and Boston’s Rich Peverley were called for unsportsmanlike conduct 5 seconds before intermission, a preview to the main event moments later.
Just as the horn sounded, Malkin and Bergeron started up, with Malkin dropping Bergeron to the ice with a couple shots to the face. It ended with both assistant captains given fighting majors.
The momentary momentum swing, however, also left Pittsburgh without one of its key performers for a crucial power play at the start of the third period.
“It did, I think, get us off our game,” Bylsma said. “I think we could have come out and scored a power-play goal, it would have been different. We weren’t able to get back at our game after that power play.”
Instead, Malkin was still in the penalty box when Krejci punched in a rebound for his 19th point of the playoffs 4:04 into the period to give Boston a two-goal lead.
Horton put it away less than 4 minutes later with a blast from the left circle. The puck darted over Vokoun’s glove and seemed to deflate the Penguins. Pittsburgh trailed longer in the opener — 52 minutes — than it did during its entire five-game series win over Ottawa in the second round.
JASON COHN / REUTERS
The Bruins celebrate a goal by David Krejci as Penguins' Sidney Crosby skates away during the third period of Game 1 Saturday night in Pittsburgh.
PITTSBURGH—The Boston Bruins insist they aren’t trying to draw the high-flying Pittsburgh Penguins into a street fight.
However, if one breaks out during the Eastern Conference final, all the better.
David Krejci scored two more goals during his torrid post-season, and the Bruins shut down the Penguins 3-0 in Round 1 — make that Game 1 — on Saturday night.
Nathan Horton assisted on both of Krejci’s scores and added an insurance goal in the third period, and Tuukka Rask stopped 29 shots for the Bruins, who silenced Sidney Crosby and the rest of the NHL’s top-scoring team.
Boston did it by forcing the Penguins into the kind of sloppy, undisciplined play they largely avoided during the first two rounds of the playoffs.
Crosby was penalized twice, reigning NHL MVP Evgeni Malkin engaged in a rare fight, and longtime instigator Matt Cooke was ejected after he checked Boston’s Adam McQuaid from behind into the boards in the second period. That ratcheted up the intensity from contentious to chippy in a matter of seconds.
“They were a little bit frustrated and we just wanted to put the pressure on them. Good things happen when we do that,” Horton said.
And bad things happen to the Penguins. Pittsburgh came in averaging a league-high 4.27 goals in the playoffs but couldn’t solve Rask. The Penguins hit the post a handful of times and seemed a bit off following an eight-day break between rounds.
Tomas Vokoun stopped 27 shots but surrendered a soft goal to Krejci, and Pittsburgh’s sizzling power play cooled off. The Penguins came in leading playoff teams with the man advantage, scoring on 28 per cent of their chances, but went 0 for 4 in the opener.
“We didn’t play in a week and I think probably was pretty emotional, getting into it a little bit,” Crosby said. “Like I said that’s not something we go out there looking for.”
Yet it’s something the Penguins are sure to expect again heading into Game 2 on Monday night. Boston clogged the neutral zone to disrupt the timing of Pittsburgh’s free-flowing offence then counterpunched behind Krejci, whose 19 points in the playoffs lead the league.
“He’s a good player,” Boston coach Claude Julien said. “Why should he be different than Crosby or Malkin, who are good players?”
For a night anyway, Krejci was a notch better. Crosby and Malkin generated plenty of scoring chances, but Boston linemates Krejci and Horton buried theirs.
“That line was really good for us,” Julien said. “They made some great plays and scored some big goals.”
It’s a role often filled by Crosby and Malkin, but Pittsburgh’s two stars — not to mention the rest of the team — couldn’t find a way to sneak a puck by Rask.
Crosby hit the post in the opening minutes, and Pittsburgh put the kind of pressure on Rask that Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said would be necessary if they wanted to advance.
Rask, playing this deep in the post-season for the first time, proved equal to the challenge. He stuffed Crosby from point-blank range on the power play, then added an acrobatic save on Malkin in the final moments of the period when Malkin attempted to bang home a pass off the end boards.
The stop preserved a 1-0 Boston lead after Krejci beat Vokoun 8:23 into the game. Krejci’s sixth goal of the post-season was also the first sloppy mistake by Vokoun during his excellent playoff run.
The Bruins raced in on a 3-on-2 break, and the NHL’s leading post-season scorer found himself alone 30 feet in front of the net. The shot slid by defenceman Paul Martin and rolled slowly through Vokoun’s legs and into the net.
The game’s tenor, however, changed abruptly in the second period when Cooke slammed McQuaid from behind into the boards behind the Bruins net.
McQuaid had his back turned when Cooke came in at full speed and raised his left arm just before impact. The collision sent McQuaid crumpling to the ice. Cooke — whose career was pockmarked with suspensions and fines for hits before he made it a point to clean up his play two years ago — was given a major penalty for boarding and was ejected.
“We all know the history with (Cooke),” Crosby said. “It’s going to be looked at and scrutinized a lot more because it’s him, but I wouldn’t go as far to say it’s a penalty because it’s Cooke.”
By the end of the second period — after Brad Marchand thumped James Neal into the boards in front of the Pittsburgh bench — the Penguins turned their anger on the Bruins.
Pittsburgh’s Chris Kunitz and Boston’s Rich Peverley were called for unsportsmanlike conduct 5 seconds before intermission, a preview to the main event moments later.
Just as the horn sounded, Malkin and Bergeron started up, with Malkin dropping Bergeron to the ice with a couple shots to the face. It ended with both assistant captains given fighting majors.
The momentary momentum swing, however, also left Pittsburgh without one of its key performers for a crucial power play at the start of the third period.
“It did, I think, get us off our game,” Bylsma said. “I think we could have come out and scored a power-play goal, it would have been different. We weren’t able to get back at our game after that power play.”
Instead, Malkin was still in the penalty box when Krejci punched in a rebound for his 19th point of the playoffs 4:04 into the period to give Boston a two-goal lead.
Horton put it away less than 4 minutes later with a blast from the left circle. The puck darted over Vokoun’s glove and seemed to deflate the Penguins. Pittsburgh trailed longer in the opener — 52 minutes — than it did during its entire five-game series win over Ottawa in the second round.
DAVID COOPER / TORONTO STAR
American goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart denies Canada's Christine Sinclair during first-half action Sunday at BMO Field.
In the game billed as “The Rematch,” American star Alex Morgan played the role of villain once again.
Morgan scored twice to lift world No. 1-ranked United States to a 3-0 victory over Canada’s women’s soccer team Sunday.
It was the first meeting between the North American rivals since Canada’s heartbreaking 4-3 loss to the U.S. in the Olympic semifinals, and the Canadians’ first game back home since they won bronze in London.
Sydney Leroux, a Canadian-born striker who plays for the U.S., drew boos from the crowd when she kissed the badge on her jersey after scoring the Americans’ third goal.
Morgan, whose goal in the 123rd minute in that memorable Olympic semi sealed the U.S. victory, scored her first Sunday in the 70th when she cut inside defender Emily Zurrer, firing from the top left corner of the 18-yard box and slotting it past Canadian ‘keeper Erin McLeod into the right corner of the net.
Morgan’s second goal came two minutes later from the identical spot.
Leroux scored seconds before the final minute when she ran in on a breakaway, placing the ball past McLeod.
The so-called friendly was anything but for the two teams, who had battled goal-for-goal in last summer’s Olympic match that will go down as one of the most memorable games in Canadian soccer history — women or men.
Canada’s captain Christine Sinclair recorded a hat trick in that match that turned on a controversial free kick. Referee Christina Pedersen awarded the kick to the Americans in front of Canada’s net, claiming McLeod took longer than the allowable six seconds to put the ball back into play.
Sunday, BMO Field’s 22,453 fans — a record for a soccer game at BMO Field — loudly counted off the seconds each time American ’keeper Nicole Barnhart took a goal kick.
Those were arguably the most entertaining moments of a sloppy affair that saw the Americans dominate possession in the first half, keeping Sinclair under wraps. She finally got free for a decent shot on net in the 48th minute, but fired it over the net.
The Canadian women’s next home game is Oct. 30 versus South Korea in Edmonton.
RENE JOHNSTON / TORONTO STAR
Horses and trainers head out for the morning run. Racing at Woodbine's Canada's biggest track, is in trouble as bidding for casinos around the GTA begins; nearby Vaughan has already indicated its willingness to host a new casino, which would compete for the same gamblers as Woodbine.
Woodbine race track in facing hard times if a casino goes up the street to Vaughn. Jockey Emma Jayne Wilson explains what's it like to be a jockey and the horse industry at Woodbine.
He’s been working with some of the most beautiful “athletes’’ in the world for decades. But 48-year-old John LeBlanc Jr. — son of a champion jockey, horse breeder and trainer — says he can only hope that the worst of the turmoil facing the horseracing industry is over. And that Woodbine Racetrack, host of Canada’s oldest and most prestigious horse race event, the Queen’s Plate, will survive.
“Am I still worried? Yes. But I am hoping the worst of the turmoil is over,’’ says LeBlanc Jr.
He’s not alone. Tens of thousands of horse industry workers, breeders and racetrack owners have been on tenterhooks ever since the Dalton McGuinty government announced in March 2012 that it was ending the revenue-sharing and sport-supporting Slots at Racetracks Program — part of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation’s plan to modernize the gambling industry in Ontario and increase revenue for the province.
His fears are echoed by Sue Leslie, president of the Ontario Horse Racing Industry Association. “There’s no question putting a casino in Vaughan probably puts the nail in the coffin at Woodbine. There’s just not enough gaming dollars out there to sustain both.’’
The racing association supports OLG’s bid to modernize, she says. “We’re just saying, pause it. We need to figure out the horseracing first or there’s not going to be an industry left to save.’’
A report by Vaughan city staff suggests that a casino operator would need to invest about $1.5 billion in the facility.
“Someone is going to be looking to make a return on that $1.5 billion,’’ says Eaves. “It doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense to us that you would literally site, around the corner from your most profitable gaming operation, a new $1.5 billion report casino operation.”
What makes more sense, he says, is to turn Woodbine into become a full-fledged casino with a hotel and concert venue and mixed retail, all of which would complement the existing horseracing.
The “starting point is a 688-acre parcel of land’’ that already includes a large structure with 3,000 very profitable slot machines. The infrastructure is there, the parking, the staff, the expertise.
“Woodbine has been a safe, secure, successful gaming operation since 1956 — machines have been here since 2,000. It’s an existing operation and Woodbine Entertainment Group has a proven track record. We’ve partnered with the community, we’ve delivered significant economic impacts back to the community. We’ve been a spectacular partner for the province,’’ he says.
But expanding Woodbine into a full-fledged casino was an option Toronto council rejected recently at the same time as it voted against a downtown casino.
Last year, following the dissolution of the slots program, Eaves speculated that the 2012 Queen’s Plate might be the last. The program had provided 10 per cent of net proceeds for race purses, about 5 per cent to host municipalities, 10 per cent to racetrack operators.
Eaves was wrong. The 154th running of the Queen’s Plate — a race older than Canada itself — is set for July 7 at Woodbine Racetrack. But the future of horseracing overall in the province is still in doubt.
Two racetracks (Windsor and Woodstock) have closed over the past year, more are feeling the pinch and are offering fewer live race days, and horse breeders remain edgy.
Woodbine Entertainment Group, which employs about 7,500 people, had to cut more than 100 salaried jobs at the Woodbine and Mohawk racetracks earlier this year because the transitional agreements with the province and OLG didn’t make up for the loss of slot machine revenue it was receiving.
This year, Woodbine racetrack has 113 live thoroughbred races, compared with 165 in 2010.
And of course, there’s the very emotional issue of what will happen to the horses if the industry falls apart.
In the past year, some throroughbreds have already ended up in slaughterhouses or been euthanized, while other horses have starved in fields and been apprehended by the OSPCA.
Not all retired thoroughbreds are as lucky as those at the Alliston farm run by LeBlanc Jr. and his wife, Maggie. They currently care for 15 retired racehorses who are living out their lives, including one of Secretariat’s last surviving sons — 24-year-old Time Alert. It’s on the latter’s still-healthy, mellow back that LeBlanc Jr.’s almost-13-year-old son is learning to ride.
“I get to work with these athletes every day,’’ LeBlanc Jr. says, referring to the thoroughbreds he trains and also owns. “To raise them and prepare these athletes ... and to watch them race, is extremely rewarding. But the turmoil right now is so hard ... 50 per cent of the breeding is down.’’
Breeding is critical to the future of horseracing in the province and the industry’s survival. And there’s really nothing like watching a horserace live, he says.
“You get goosebumps,’’ says LeBlanc Jr. “I still do.’’
LeBlanc has been riding thoroughbreds since he was 15, one of the benefits of being the son of jockey John LeBlanc Sr. His dad, who’s 5-foot-1½-inches, left the family homestead in New Brunswick when he was 18 and moved to Windfield Farms, where he shared the tackroom with another guy named Ron Turcotte.
“I called him Uncle Ronnie,’’ LeBlanc Jr. says of the jockey who rode into history on the back of Windfield Farm’s Northern Dancer (his first victory as a 2-year-old at Fort Erie Race Track) and Secretariat in 1973, when he captured the first Triple Crown in 25 years.
His dad, who won back-to-back Breeders Stakes with No Parando and Grey Whiz in 1966 and 1969, was also pals with Sandy Hawley, and the two families would rent cottages in Fort Erie during the summer racing seasons.
He’s hoping the industry will survive and that his son, who already owns his own horses, will continue.
If Woodbine closed down, he says, “Most certainly, there would be a lot of broken hearts.”
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