My Sports News Digest

MySportNews іѕ a sports news digest publication that compiles real time, on demand sports news, articles, аnd resources. This article was distributed by Syndicated Sports news wire and aggregation service, For more PGA news see: GolfTalkCentral Articles – News | Golf Channel.

MySportNews іѕ a sports news digest publication that compiles real time, on demand sports news, articles, аnd resources. This article was distributed by Syndicated Sports news wire and aggregation service, For more golf news see: Good News In LPGA’s 2012 Schedule.

MySportNews іѕ a sports news digest publication that compiles real time, on demand sports news, articles, аnd resources. This article was distributed by Syndicated Sports news wire and aggregation service, For more Formula 1 news see: Williams News at New Year’s.

Stunning news tonight this morning out of Boston.

According to FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal, manager Terry Francona is expected to leave the Red Sox organization after a meeting Friday morning with upper management. Allow Rosenthal to explain:

While Francona’s departure is not certain, it is the likely outcome, in part because he is pressing for a resolution, sources say. He would not be fired; the Red Sox would simply decline their club options on him for 2012 and ’13.

Francona and Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein gave no indication that such a major move was coming during their season-wrapping press conference Thursday afternoon at Boston’s Fenway Park.

But something obviously sparked a change within the past several hours.

Perhaps Francona has his eyes on the White Sox’s vacancy. He did coach in their minor league system for five years, at one point serving as skipper to Michael Jordan during the NBA superstar’s short stint with the Birmingham Barons. Or maybe he’ll be swayed by the Nationals, who seem ready to spend big money.

Then again, maybe this wasn’t Francona’s call. “Red Sox Nation” has been seeking out a scapegoat since the club’s historic collapse went final Wednesday night in Baltimore. And the Boston media has egged that blame game on since the middle of this month. It seems insane to give up on a manager who has played a role in securing two World Series titles in the past seven years. And it’s especially insane for a franchise like the Red Sox, who hadn’t won anything since 1918 before Francona stepped aboard. But these are insane times.

The Red Sox’ sad and frustrating September collapse just shifted gears into the realm of tragedy.

The judge has issued a ruling in the bankruptcy case involving the Fred Wilpon, Saul Katz and the Bernie Madoff fraud.  Full reports aren’t out yet, but it sounds like a bit of a mixed-bag, but generally good news for Wilpon and the Mets:

• Good news for Wilpon and the Mets: all but two counts brought by the bankruptcy trustee, Irving Picard, have been dropped;
• Bad news for Wilpon and the Mets: one of the two claims that remain — fraud — could, theoretically speaking, still leave them on the hook for a billion liability, should the trustee prove his case;
• Good news for Wilpon and the Mets: there appears to be a higher burden of proof placed on the trustee than he had originally sought in order to make such a recovery: he has to prove that “the defendants willfully blinded themselves to Madoff Securities’ fraud” as opposed to having to show that they could have been aware of it had they exercised good judgment.

There is still risk here, but the risk of the massive, Mets-killing award of billion is much lower, because the trustee will have to show some serious bad acts on the Wilpons’ and Katz’s part in order to get there, not just that they were generally unaware.  And while, yes, there are many people who are skeptical that sophisticated business people like Wilpon and Katz had no reason to investigate Madoff’s investments further, there hasn’t been any suggestion that I’m aware of that they ignored actual evidence that a fraud was afoot and played the see-no-evil, hear-no-evil trick with respect to it.

So where does that leave things? Both sides seem to have risk here. The trustee has had most of his case blown away and, while there still exists the potential for a home run, it’s no sure thing at all. The Wilpons still have that giant potential liability there, but it’s not imminent. This is generally where parties to a big money suit take a step back and try to settle. It might be the best course for both parties here.

I would post the video, but in all honesty, if I watch it again I’m going to throw up. If you have not seen the Andrew Bogut elbow injury, you can find it at thingswhichshouldneverbeshownagain.com. (Not a real site. I don’t want you landing on some random spam page.) Anyway, Bogut has been rehabbing after losing most of last year still trying to recover from it, which makes sense considering his arm was obliterated. And in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Bogut shared some good news… and some bad news. From the Sentinel:

On how is elbow feels after the surgery performed in April by Dr. James Andrews and if he still has limitations: “I will have limitations my whole life, but compared to where I was this time last year, it’s night and day better. I am shooting every day and lifting weights four times a week. My elbow still gets very achy if I overdo training (too many shots in one day), so I still have to be a little bit careful.”

via Bogut plays waiting game – JSOnline.

There’s a lot of precedent for why Bucks fans need to be horrified of their future. The team is entirely built around the former top draft pick, and hearing “this is going to suck for the rest of my life” has to cause a mass onslaught of Cure records and bourbon. There’s always the chance that Bogut will surprise everyone, that his positive comments are the real indication of where he’s at. But to put it simply, Bogut went through trauma. He’s lucky to be able to use the arm at full function. Then again, players have played through pain before and Bogut shows every indication of being willing to do the work to make it all the way back. The Bucks need that to happen.

When it comes to the muddled negotiations between Drew Doughty’s reps and the Los Angeles Kings, the cliche “No news is good news” isn’t really true. As I wrote before, it seems like Kings GM Dean Lombardi and Doughty’s agent Don Meehan are in a tense staring contest with millions – not to mention the Kings’ seemingly promising upcoming season – hanging in the balance.

The latest news is more of the same: the word from Lombardi’s camp is that there’s nothing new to report regarding the negotiations according to report by Helene Elliott of the Los Angeles Times.

With the underlying feeling of hostility permeating between at least some people involved, it’s easy for some to forget that Doughty will eventually need to return to work with the team that drafted him second overall in 2008. Kings coach Terry Murray told Elliott that he has Doughty in mind when drawing up line combinations.

But Murray said that in preparing for the season, “he’s very much in the front of my mind whenever I sit down and go through the lines and the defense pairings. … If things happen where he’s here two days before the season starts, he’s in the lineup and ready to go.”

It’s not exactly ideal for Doughty to miss most – if not all – of training camp and the preseason, but he shouldn’t take a long time to shake off the rust whenever he signs with the Kings. Let’s hope it’s sooner rather than later, though.

(H/T to Rotoworld.)