My Sports News Digest

TAMPA (WIRE/CBB) Former University of Florida basketball star Dwayne Schintzius, who also played in the NBA, has died after a two-year battle against cancer. He was 43. Relatives say Schintzius died Sunday at a Tampa hospital following complications from a failed bone marrow transplant. Schintzius began treatment for leukemia in 2010. The 7-foot-2 center played for the Gators from 1987 to 1990, helping Florida to its first three NCAA Tournament appearances. He is Florida’s sixth-highest scorer with 1,624 points. Schintzius was drafted 24th overall in the first round by the San Antonio Spurs in 1990. He also played for the [...]

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LOS ANGELES (HELIN/NBA) – When the Clippers beat Oklahoma City Thunder last Wednesday, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook were 2-for-12 shooting in the fourth quarter. In the second half Monday night, Durant and Westbrook were a combined 1-for-13 shooting and the Clippers pulled away with an 18-4 run in the fourth quarter to win 92-77. The OKC loss combined with a Spurs win over Golden State moved the two teams into a tie for the top spot in the Western Conference. Taken by themselves, the Clippers’ wins over the Thunder don’t mean much. And regular season results have limited relations [...]

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One week ago, Bubba Watson defeated Louis Oosthuizen in a playoff to win the 2012 Masters. In the week since, the Bubbster made the rounds of talk shows in New York City, a well-deserved victory lap, and one in which his wit and sense of fun probably drew a few more fans to golf. And Oosthuizen? He merely hopped a plane and spent 30 hours traveling to play in the Maybank Malaysian Open. Was the effort worth it? You bet. Oosthuizen won in Malaysia today, despite the travel fatique, despite weather interruptions to the tournament, despite having to play 26 [...]

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WIRE/F1 – Lotus are looking into the potential benefits of developing their own version of Mercedes’ ‘double DRS’ system, after their protest against the solution in China failed, effectively rubber-stamping it and similar designs as legal. However, Lotus insist it will not be a question of simply aping Mercedes’ system, which uses airflow channelled from the DRS rear wing to stall the front wing, but rather of exploring all the possibilities opened up by the stewards’ ruling. “We are at the point of making estimates of how big the gain might be and assessing the difficulty in actually realising that [...]

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SAN JOSE – If the San Jose Sharks are searching for inspiration after digging a 2-1 hole in their Western Conference Quarterfinals series against St. Louis, they know where to look. The Sharks were down 2-1 two years ago in a first-round series against the Colorado Avalanche. Then they won three straight games — two of those on the road — captured the series and went all the way to the Western Conference Final. Of course, the Sharks were the No. 1 seed in 2010 and are seeded seventh this time around, but they’re still drawing on that experience of [...]

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NEW ORLEANS (NFL) – The New Orleans Saints began their voluntary offseason workouts Monday under unusual conditions — circumstances that were not solely limited to the fallout from their “bounty” scandal. Saints quarterback — and unquestioned team leader — Drew Brees was noticeably absent from the day’s workouts, as the franchised signal-caller continues to engage in a contract dispute with the team. One Saint, whose success is particularly tied to Brees’ presence on the field, said Tuesday enough is enough, it’s time the team signed Brees to a long-term deal. “I think it’s very important,” tight end Jimmy Graham told [...]

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CALCATERRA/MLB – One last thing on the Cody Ross strikeout: feel pity for Ross, feel some aggravation at umpire Larry Vanover, but let us not slight Jose Molina, whose pitch framing is about as good as it gets in baseball and, as Bradley Woodrum notes at FanGraphs today, was likely the biggest reason that call went the way it went. That link has a lot of detail about pitch location and framing. But if it’s too much for you, the topic of a catcher’s influence on the game is tackled in a less complicated fashion in Anna McDonald’s piece from [...]

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COLLEGE STATION (WIRE/CFB) – Texas Which way to the Southeastern Conference? A Texas-based apparel company, Aggieland Outfitters, recalled a handful of T-shirts on Tuesday after they were ridiculed online for having some geographic mistakes. The maroon shirt has an “SEC” logo emblazoned on a mapped section of U.S. states, ostensibly representing members of the league. But North Carolina, which does not have a team in the conference, is included and Missouri is not. Missouri and Texas A&M are both leaving the Big 12 for the SEC this year. Texas is on the back of the shirt, not the front. The [...]

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