The Daily Blog

May 6

Bulls guard Derrick Rose to be named NBA MVP for 2010-11 season.

Derrick Rose will be named the NBA’s MVP of the 2010-11 regular season, according to an ESPN report.

Rose will be notified of the win Tuesday and presented with the trophy before Game 2 of Chicago’s series against the Atlanta Hawks, the website reported through a source.

Rose, at 22 years old, is the youngest to ever win the award, one he has been considered a lock to take home. Forever modest, Rose has shut down speculation he was the league MVP for months and made such comments as recently as Sunday.

In a year when his coach, Tom Thibodeau, was named Coach of the Year, Rose averaged 25.0 points, 7.7 assists and 4.1 rebounds. Rose and Thibodeau will become the 12th player-coach duo to win MVP and Coach of the Year in the same season.

During his statistical climb from a year ago, his team also jumped from the Eastern Conference No. 8 seed a season ago to the No. 1 position in the 2010-11 playoffs.

What many considered while voting Rose the MVP was his ability to keep the Bulls afloat as big men Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah missed considerable stints during the season. Before his name was necessarily in play, Rose made comments that grabbed attention.

“The way I look at it, within myself, why can’t I be the MVP of the league?” he said. “Why can’t I be the best player in the league? Why? Why can’t I do that?”

Apparently, he can.

Rose led a Bulls team that never lost more than two games in a row during a long 82-game season. They finished at 62-20 to claim the best record in the NBA, making this Bulls team the first to reach 60 wins since Michael Jordan’s 1997-98 Chicago squad.

May 3

Reggie Bush hints he’s done with Saints after Mark Ingram pick.

Five years ago, he was the second overall pick in the draft.

On Thursday night, Reggie Bush sounded like a player in search of a team for next season.

The Saints running back tweeted: “It’s been fun New Orleans” shortly after the team drafted Alabama’s Mark Ingram in the first round.

Bush, who like Ingram is a former Heisman Trophy winner, is scheduled to earn nearly $12 million next season.

The Saints haven’t said Bush is longer part of their plans, but it’s doubtful they’re willing to pay that steep of a price.

Bush (broken fibula) was limited to eight games last season, rushing for 150 yards on 36 carries.

Jan 17

Nick Fairley, Potential No.1 Draft Pick, Leaves Auburn for NFL.

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — Lombardi Award winner Nick Fairley is skipping his senior season at Auburn to enter the NFL draft.

The potential No. 1 overall pick announced his decision Friday at his old high school, saying he didn’t make up his mind until that morning.

“I was thinking, ‘What more could I accomplish my senior year?’” Fairley said.

He and quarterback Cam Newton — who is also turning pro — led the Tigers to a 14-0 season and their first national title since 1957.

Fairley was the defensive MVP in the BCS title game against Oregon when he had a sack, three tackles for losses and forced a fumble. He also led the Southeastern Conference with 24 tackles for a loss and had a school-record 11.5 sacks.

Fairley said he had a long visit with Auburn coach Gene Chizik and defensive line coach Tracy Rocker in Auburn, then came home and talked it over with his parents.

After that, “I went on a long ride by myself. I think I came out with the best decision to benefit me, my family and all the folks around me.”

Fairley played two seasons at Auburn after transferring from junior college. He flashed his potential at times in 2009, but didn’t consistently dominate until this season.

“It’s crazy for me to be in this position,” Fairley said. “Coming into this year, I didn’t think things were going to be this big. I didn’t know I was going to have a big year like that.”

If he is taken first in the draft, he would join former Williamson High quarterback JaMarcus Russell as a No. 1 pick from the school.

Jan 6

NFL Playoff Schedule 2011.

The complete NFL playoff schedule for the 2010-11 season can be found below. Teams and game times will be updated as they are known.

Saturday, Jan. 8
4:30 p.m. ET — New Orleans Saints at Seattle Seahawks
8:20 p.m. ET — New York Jets at Indianapolis Colts

Sunday, Jan. 9
1 p.m. ET — Baltimore Ravens at Kansas City Chiefs
4:30 p.m. ET — Green Bay Packers at Philadelphia Eagles

Sunday, Feb. 6
6:30 p.m. ET — Super Bowl XLV

Saturday, Jan. 15
4:30 p.m. ET — Colts/Chiefs/Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers
8 p.m. ET — Seahawks/Saints/Packers at Atlanta Falcons

Sunday, Jan. 16
1 p.m. ET— Seahawks/Eagles/Saints at Chicago Bears
4:30 p.m. ET — Chiefs/Ravens/Jets at New England Patriots

Sunday, Jan. 23
3:00 p.m. ET — NFC championship
6:30 p.m. ET — AFC championship

Dec 14

Jets Suspend Coach Sal Alosi for Rest of Season.

After declaring that he was ready for whatever his punishment would be after intentionally tripping Miami Dolphins cornerback Nolan Carroll in a game on Sunday, New York Jets assistant coach Sal Alosi learned that he has been suspended for the remainder of the season and will receive a $25,000 fine from the organization, the New York Daily News reported.

“We are extremely disappointed with what he did,” Jets General Manager Mike Tannenbaum said. “There’s no place for it in the game, and he knows that. It’s our job to hold him accountable for that.”

Earlier today, Alosi reflected on what he had done. “I made a mistake that showed a total lapse in judgment. My conduct was inexcusable and unsportsmanlike and does not reflect what this organization stands for,” Alosi said. “I accept responsibility for my actions as well as any punishment that follows.”

Oct 31

(Oct. 29) — The Alantic basin hurricane season officially ends Nov. 30, but an ongoing burst of activity indicates that this active season is not ready to end quietly. Tropical Storms Shary and Tomas have formed in the Atlantic.

Shary will pass well to the east of Bermuda tonight, and the rapidly strengthening Tomas is forecast to become a hurricane in 12 to 24 hours as it crosses the Windward Islands. It’s expected to become a major hurricane in the Caribbean by early next week.

Shary, a small storm, has strengthened into a 70-mph tropical storm this evening, and the official National Hurricane Center forecast is for the storm to remain below hurricane strength of 74 mph. With the storm passing to the east, tropical storm warnings for Bermuda have been canceled.

The storm will weaken and race northeastward across the open Atlantic this weekend, posing no direct threat to land.
As of late this evening, Tropical Storm Tomas had quickly intensified and had a sustained wind of 65 mph. It was located about 100 miles southeast of Barbados and was moving northwestward toward the Windward Islands. Tomas is larger than Shary and is in an environment conducive for additional development. U.S government forecasters predict that it will become a major hurricane in the central Caribbean by midday Tuesday.

A major hurricane is a Category 3 or higher storm, with a sustained wind of at least 110 mph.

Tropical storm and hurricane warnings have been issued for the Windward Islands, and additional watches and warnings will be issued for the Caribbean in the coming days.Given the expected intensification and track of Tomas, residents in the Caribbean need to monitor the system very closely. A direct hit from a powerful hurricane is not needed for life-threatening weather conditions.

Tropical Storm Tomas is the 19th named storm of the season, compared with a 1966 through 2009 average of 11.3 named storms per year.

Only two names remain on the prepared list of names because the letters Q, U, X, Y and Z are not used. If the number of named storms exceeds 21, then the letters of the Greek alphabet will then be used to name additional storms. The only time this happened was in 2005, when a record-breaking season of 28 storms resulted Tropical Storm Alpha, Hurricane Beta, Tropical Storm Gamma, Tropical Storm Delta, Hurricane Epsilon and Tropical Storm Zeta late in the season.

Oct 23

Don’t get too warm and fuzzy about the start of what will be an epic 2010-11 NBA season. League commissioner David Stern reminds us there’s a bit of labor strife on the horizon, telling the Associated Press he and the NBA’s owners are hoping, in the course of collective bargaining, to cut players’ salaries by a third.

That’s a lot of change, roughly $700 million based off the 2009-10 season’s numbers. Players currently take a 57-percent cut of the league’s basketball-related income. Cutting salaries by a third would lower the players’ share to about 48 percent. Previous owner chatter had targeted a players’ split as low as 45 percent.Obviously, the players’ union will fight this tooth and nail, and maybe hammer and chainsaw. Is it a case of Stern simply reflecting the wishes of his bosses, the owners? Or is he setting the stage for a grand compromise where both sides — owners and players — win, the owners by cutting costs significantly and the player might not giving up as much money as the owners would like?

It’s worth noting that if Stern is being honest in reporting that the league’s 30 teams will lose a combined $350 million, then the proposed salary cut would turn that $350 million deficit for the owners into a $350 million profit. There is no way on Earth, Mars or Jupiter players will accede to such a request.