Rickey Henderson dashed into the Hall of Fame on his first try, Jim Rice made it with a final swing. It’s hard to imagine their induction speeches will have much in common, either. “I’m going to leave all the stories to Rickey,” Rice said, confirming that his remarks in Cooperstown this summer are likely to match his personality. “Believe me, it’s going to be short and quick. I don’t think you need to go there and talk for 15 or 20 minutes when you can get right to the point.”
That never stopped Henderson — but neither did opposing pitchers or catchers during his 25-year career.
The undisputed standard for leadoff hitters, Henderson received 94.8 percent of the vote from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America in balloting announced Monday, well above the 75 percent needed.
Rice, among the game’s most feared sluggers in the late 1970s and early 1980s, got 76.4 percent in his 15th and final year on the ballot after falling just shy with 72.2 percent last year.
“The only thing I can say is I’m glad it’s over with,” the Boston outfielder said. “I’m in there and they can’t take it away.”
Henderson, baseball’s career leader in runs scored and stolen bases, became the 44th player elected in his first year of eligibility. Rice was only the third elected by the BBWAA in his final year, joining Red Ruffing (1967) and Ralph Kiner (1975).
The pair will be inducted into the Hall during ceremonies on July 26 in Cooperstown, N.Y. They’ll be joined by former Yankees and Indians second baseman Joe Gordon, elected posthumously last month by the Veterans Committee.
“I feel great about it. It’s been a long time coming,” Henderson said. “I was nervous, waiting.”
Henderson spoke on a conference call before boarding a flight to New York. He was rushing right along, even on this day.

Only fitting.
Next up, his highly anticipated induction speech. Known for his confounding comments, Henderson has a penchant for referring to himself in the third person — at any point during an amusing stream of sometimes indecipherable chatter.
“It’s really just an honor to me. I’m really just spaced out,” he said. “I haven’t really thought about what I’m going to say.”
Henderson was picked on 511 of 539 ballots and Rice was selected on 412, just above the 405 needed.
Rice received only 29.8 percent of the vote in 1995, when he appeared on the ballot for the first time. He initially topped 50 percent in 2000 and reached 64.8 percent in 2006 — the highest percentage for a player who wasn’t elected in a later year was 63.4 by Gil Hodges in 1983, his final time on the ballot.
Some thought Rice’s prickly personality and curt relationship with reporters during his playing career helped keep him out of the Hall all those years.
“I don’t think I was difficult to deal with for writers. I think the writers were difficult to me,” he said. “I wasn’t going to badmouth my teammates. When you start talking about my teammates or what goes on outside baseball, I couldn’t do that.
“I don’t know why it took me so long. I don’t even want to think about it,” he added. “I’m just happy I’m in and that’s what I’m going to cherish.”
What did he learn all these years?
“Be patient and wait until the last out,” Rice said. “I guess everything was just timing, because my numbers have not changed over the last 14 years.”
Andre Dawson fell 44 votes short with 67 percent. He was followed by Bert Blyleven (62.7 percent), Lee Smith (44.5), Jack Morris (44.0), Tommy John (31.7) and Tim Raines (22.6). John appeared on the ballot for the final time.
Mark McGwire, stigmatized by accusations he used performance-enhancing drugs, received 118 votes (21.9 percent) in his third year of eligibility, down from the 128 votes he got in each of his first two tries.
Henderson, who played with McGwire in Oakland, said the first baseman was one of the best people he’s ever been around.
“He played the game the right way to me,” Henderson said. “I feel he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.”
Henderson, the 1990 AL MVP, was a 10-time All-Star who swiped 1,406 bases, one shy of 50 percent more than Lou Brock, who is in second place with 938. Henderson batted .279 with 297 homers, 1,115 RBIs, 2,190 walks and 2,295 runs. He owns the modern-day season record with 130 steals in 1982, and the career mark with 81 leadoff homers. He played for Oakland, the Yankees, Toronto, San Diego, Anaheim, the Mets, Seattle, Boston and the Dodgers.
Henderson wanted to be a football star before his mother persuaded him to give pro baseball a try, figuring it offered a better chance at a long career.
If it were up to Henderson, now 50, he’d still be playing ball.
“They said I have to be retired to go in the Hall of Fame,” he said. “Maybe they give me that day or two that I come back and it wouldn’t mess up anything.”
Henderson wasn’t sure which team’s cap will go on his Hall of Fame plaque. He gets some say in the matter, but ultimately it’s the Hall’s decision.
Henderson was with his family when he got the call Monday and pointed out that they have been with him through “all the glory and the headaches.”
“They enjoyed it probably as much as I enjoyed it, probably even more,” he said.
Rice, the 1978 AL MVP, was an eight-time All-Star who hit 382 home runs in 16 seasons with the Boston Red Sox from 1974-89. He had a .298 career batting average and 1,451 RBIs, and from 1977-79 averaged .320 with 41 homers and 128 RBIs.
He becomes the fourth Hall of Famer to have spent his entire career with the Red Sox, joining fellow left fielders Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski, along with second baseman Bobby Doerr.
“That’s I think one of the biggest accomplishments,” Rice said.

source: news.yahoo.com

TWO martial arts starlets have received the perfect present for Christmas – being named the Bushido Academy of Judo’s Judoka of the Year.
Tom Dugdale, 12 and a pupil at St Thomas More School in North Shields, and 10-year-old David Beck, who attends St Peter’s School in Wallsend, were honoured at the Bushido’s Christmas party at Seghill Social Club.
Dugdale, who joined the club in 2001, took the award for the club’s Tuesday practice sessions and Bell, whose father was also a successful junior member and who joined the club last year, for the Friday session.
Club spokesman Chris Dawson said: “The awards are made to two of our pupils who have demonstrated the ability to regularly win the monthly club trophy.
“They must also, over the last 12 months of regular training, have shown excellent technique and fighting spirit as well as showing consideration to our younger members.”
Meanwhile, the Wallsend-based club entered nine junior members in the Northumberland Clubs for Young People Open Championships at Newcastle’s Westgate Centre for Sport.
Nine-year-old Ryan Evans started his run for gold with a spectacular ko-uchi-gake (minor inner hook) for ippon in the boys’ under-30kg section and continued his winning streak until the end of this event.
Team-mate Kieran Alpin, eight, took silver, only losing out to Evans in the same group.
Ben Kelly, 14, took the silver medal in the boys’ under-55kg event.
He lost only one fight and turned in an excellent performance in the remainder of his contests, including a perfect okuri-ashi-barai (foot sweep).
Fifteen year old Laurie Cairns gave a solid display in the girls’ open category by winning silver.
She scored ippon in all her contests except the last, where she lost only on a referee’s decision.
Ten-year-old David Beck started well in the boys’ under-35kg event, finishing up with bronze.
Melissa Carney, 11, was in a tough pool in the girls’ under-50kg event but still managed a bronze medal.
Runners-up medals were awarded to seven-year-olds Nathan McDonald and Jessica Cairns and 13-year-old Darren May.

source: chroniclelive.co.uk

news dal giappone

PGA Tour spokesman Ty Votaw declined comment, even after seeing Daly’s remarks, citing the tour’s longtime policy of not discussing fines or suspensions.
This is the second time the tour has suspended Daly, along with at least two other times when he agreed to sit out the final few months of a season to get his life in order.
He has not played on the PGA Tour since he missed the cut Oct. 17 in Las Vegas. Ten days later, police in Winston-Salem, N.C., said he appeared intoxicated outside a Hooters restaurant, and Daly was taken to jail to sleep it off. That led to his photo in the orange jail suit, which became an Internet sensation.

Still trying to recover from various injuries, Daly made only five cuts in 17 starts on the tour, finishing 232nd on the money list. His world ranking has plunged to No. 736.
Daly isn’t even sure when the suspension began, but he hopes it ends in May. He said PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem sent a letter to his agent, Bud Martin of SFX Sports, who passed along the news.
“Tim and his staff have to do what they do,” Daly said. “Truly and honestly, I wish Tim would get to know the facts better before he makes a decision. I would love to sit down and have a nice talk with him, tell him what really happened. But perception is reality in the world, and sometimes they have to do what they have to do.”
Martin would only say the suspension was to end in the spring, adding “it remains confidential with the PGA Tour.” He said Daly wants to use 2009 to turn his career around.
“This is the last negative thing that’s been gnawing at him,” Martin said. “We didn’t make any requests for exemptions, and John wanted to be clear with them. He wanted to play in their tournaments, but he can’t. He didn’t want to let his fans down. He wanted them to know the truth.”
Daly said he hopes to play well enough to earn sponsor exemptions on the PGA Tour when the suspension is lifted.
“John’s New Year’s resolution is do everything he can to make positive things happen on the golf course,” Martin said. “I hope he can walk the walk. The talk sounds great. But it’s going to be him working hard and staying out of trouble, and having success on the golf course.”
Daly became an overnight sensation when he won the 1991 PGA Championship at Crooked Stick as the ninth alternate, introducing his powerful “grip it and rip it” style to golf. Four years later, he won the British Open at St. Andrews. But his career has been dragged down by two trips to alcohol rehab, four marriages, gambling losses and other off-course episodes that have made him a sideshow to some and a cult figure to others.
Asked why he was suspended, Daly pointed to four incidents during the year.
After a rain delay at Innisbrook during the Florida swing, he emerged from a hospitality tent with Gruden as his caddie for the final seven holes of the round, prompting a split with swing coach Butch Harmon.
“My whole goal for him was he’s got to show me golf is the most important thing in his life,” Harmon said in March. “And the most important thing in his life is getting drunk.”
While promoting a golf course in Missouri, Daly did a regional television interview wearing only blue jeans—no shirt, no shoes—while showing how to play one of the holes. Then at the Buick Open, during a pro-am that featured Kid Rock in overalls, Daly revved up the fans by hitting one drive off the top of a beer can.
He drew the most attention from the night in jail. Daly told the AP that his friends called police when they feared he had passed out, claiming they were unaware he sleeps with his eyes open when he’s had too much to drink. Daly was put in jail under a state law called “Assistance to Intoxicated Persons.”
“The picture didn’t help,” Daly said. “People think I got arrested when I didn’t get arrested. It is what it is. I’ve got to deal with it and go on. Whatever reason the tour has, maybe a positive will come out of this.”
CBS Sports analyst David Feherty, a recovering alcoholic, said after the North Carolina arrest he hoped Daly would get help.
“He’s one of the most generous and one of the kindest souls,” Feherty said. “The stories of his generosity to the people are legendary. The only person he has ever been unkind to is himself.”
Daly has played four times overseas since the PGA Tour suspended him, tying for 17th in the Hong Kong Open and missing the cut at all three tournaments he played in Australia. In the Australian Open, he lost his patience with a fan who put a camera in his face during the round, smashing the camera against a tree.
“This is the lowest I’ve ever been,” Daly said. “There’s always light with me. Right now, my home tour is probably Europe. And I love the European tour. I always have. But my home is the United States. That’s where I would rather play.”
Daly said the publicity cost him his endorsements. His only deals are with Focus Golf Systems, which signed a 15-year agreement in 2006 to sell his golf clubs and apparel in Wal-Mart stores; and Fly Emirates, part of a deal that will pay his travel expenses when he plays the Abu Dhabi Championship, Qatar Masters and Dubai Desert Classic in January.
“This has been the worst year,” he said in the New Year’s Eve interview. “One day left.”

source: sports.yahoo.com

The Chargers (9-8) won the overtime toss. Indy’s Darrell Reid called heads, but referee Ron Winter’s flip came up tails. Sproles sent the Chargers into the second round of the playoffs, either at Tennessee or Pittsburgh, by finishing off the only series of overtime with his TD run around left end against an exhausted defense for the Colts (12-5).
San Diego’s winning drive was aided by two defensive holding calls, the second against Tim Jennings on third-and-8. On the next play, Colts linebacker Clint Session was whistled for grabbing Sproles’ facemask. Sproles scored on the next play, shedding a defender at the 5-yard line.
“You know, when your number is called, you have to be ready,” said Sproles, who earlier in the game fumbled into the end zone, with the Colts recovering.
“Right after that fumble, it was still kind of in my mind,” Sproles said. “I wanted that TD back to make up for the fumble.”
Sproles’ TD run sent Qualcomm Stadium into bedlam, and he ran off the field with the game ball. Manning hung his head in disappointment.
“We played hard till the end, but those guys played even harder all the way through the game,” Colts safety Bob Sanders said.
It was San Diego’s fifth straight win, and the Chargers needed the previous four victories to secure the AFC West title with an 8-8 record. San Diego was the ninth team to enter the playoffs with an 8-8 record and became just the third to win its opener. The Chargers had gone 0-5 against teams that made the playoffs, including a 23-20 loss to the Colts here on Nov. 23.
Last season, the Chargers pulled off a 28-24 upset at Indianapolis in the divisional round after Philip Rivers and Tomlinson both went out with knee injuries.
This was the fourth time the teams met in two seasons, and the sixth in five years. The Chargers have won four of the six.
San Diego got its only sack at a key time, when Tim Dobbins dropped Manning at the Colts 1 on third down with 2 minutes left, forcing a punt and giving the Chargers the ball at the Indy 38.
Nate Kaeding kicked a 26-yard field goal with 31 seconds left to force overtime.
It was the 25th overtime game in the postseason, including one game in the AFL. The last overtime game in the playoffs was last season’s NFC title game, won by the New York Giants and Manning’s little brother, Eli, against Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers.
Still, Manning caught the Chargers napping on a 72-yard touchdown play that for a while seemed as if it was going to stand as the winner.
Facing third-and-5 from the Colts 28, Manning quickly lined up and took an immediate snap that caught cornerback Antonio Cromartie so flat-footed he was looking at the Chargers’ bench when receiver Reggie Wayne went speeding past him and safety Paul Oliver. Wayne caught Manning’s pass at the Chargers 45 and was gone for a 17-14 lead.
The Colts came up with two turnovers in the end zone. Sproles was hit at the 2-yard line and fumbled into the end zone late in the third quarter, with Raheem Brock recovering.
Rivers kept San Diego’s next drive alive with a 13-yard scramble followed by a 1-yard sneak on fourth down, but then overthrew Chris Chambers in double coverage and was intercepted in the end zone by Antoine Bethea.
The teams traded TDs early, with Indy’s Joseph Addai scoring on a 1-yard run late in the first quarter and Tomlinson scoring on a 3-yard run early in the second quarter, his last play of the game. The Colts went ahead 10-7 on Adam Vinatieri’s 43-yard field goal midway through the second period before Sproles’ 9-yard run just before halftime put the Chargers ahead 14-10.
Manning was 25-of-42 for 310 yards. Rivers was 20-of-36 for 216 yards, with one interception.
Tomlinson was hurt a week earlier in a 52-21 rout of Denver.
“From the first run, it was evident that I just didn’t have the burst,” said Tomlinson, who gained 14 yards on the game’s first play from scrimmage. “I couldn’t put my foot on the ground and get through the hole the way I wanted to. I went as long as I could. After the TD run, it was at the point where I felt like I was making it worse.”
Scifres had punts of 51 yards to the 10, 58 yards to the 15, 50 yards to the 3, 67 to the 5, 38 to the 9 and the 52 to the 1 with 2:41 to play.
“I think that their punter is the MVP of the game,” Colts running back Dominic Rhodes said. “He did a real good job of putting us deep in our territory, and their defense did a good job of keeping us there.”

Notes
Kaeding injured his groin when he slipped on the kickoff following Tomlinson’s touchdown. … San Diego TE Antonio Gates, playing on a sprained ankle, had eight catches for 87 yards, including consecutive 11-yard receptions on the tying drive in the closing seconds of regulation.

Two weeks after stunning spectators when he came from 65th to finish second in a downhill in Lake Louise, Switzerland’s Carlo Janka clinched his career first World Cup win during a giant slalom in Val d’Isere. The U.S. Ski Team’s Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) struggled under tough light and snow conditions to finish 12th.

The men’s giant slalom, along with the rest of this weekend’s alpine coverage, will be webcast on demand at UniversalSports.com.

Italy’s Massimiliano Blardone took second in the giant slalom and Gauthier De Tessieres of France was third.

According to Ligety, conditions on the course were desirable as the first six racers took their runs, but shifted after that to little light and a choppy course. For example, De Tessieres, 30th after the opening run, had the fastest second run going out first and nearly held on for the win, eventually taking a career best third.

“It’s tough when they start a race and the first six guys who go down get perfect conditions and then it gets blacked out and you can’t see anything. You couldn’t see the ground below you,” Ligety said. “Every single guy around me was just hacking their way down. I tried to go hard but it was just too hard to do when it was that bumpy.”

It has been nearly two years since Ligety, the reigning World Cup giant slalom champion, has finished outside the top 10.

“You have to ski well, as well, but the light really does make a big difference,” Ligety said. “It was hard to struggle your way down that with the light conditions the way they were.”

Reigning overall World Cup champion Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) was the only other U.S. skier to make it down both runs, finishing 24th on the tricky course.

Men’s Alpine Head coach Sasha Rearick agreed that the conditions on Saturday’s hill were challenging, but said that Ligety did a great job..

“Today was a tremendous challenge,” Rearick said. “Ted was attacking the first run and made a mistake - his ski got caught up between the ice and the grippy snow. He made a fantastic recovery. To be in the top 10 after the first run was amazing.”

The men compete again in a slalom on Sunday in Val d’Isere, the site of the 2009 FIS World Championships this February.

“The guys are skiing slalom well. They’ve had good preparation,” Rearick said.

source: sportsnetwork.com