TAMPA, Fla. – Past Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Rookie of the Year Mason Zeigler narrowly edged out Kyle Bronson to win Friday night’s Wrisco Industries Winternationals feature at East Bay Raceway Park.

For Zeigler, it was his second career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win, with both coming at East Bay.

A caution with nine laps to go set up a frantic single-file restart. Zeigler made a charge to the lead before he and Bronson traded the lead twice in the final four laps, with Zeigler ultimately winning by a scant .068 seconds.

Bronson finished second in the Brandon Ford Rocket, with Brandon Sheppard taking third in the Valvoline-backed Mark Richards Racing Rocket House Car.

Tyler Erb finished in fourth, followed by Jonathan Davenport, who completed the top five.

Before a packed house, Sheppard bolted to the lead early over Tyler Erb and Jimmy Owens, with the perennial World of Outlaws Late Model Series dominator in search of his third win of the week.

Sheppard held off Erb for the first eight laps of the race until the first caution came out. On the restart, Bronson gained the lead for the first time in the race, as he passed Sheppard for the top spot. Sheppard fell to second, with Owens still holding the third spot.

On lap 17, Josh Richards, who was running fourth after starting 10th, slowed with drive line failure. On the restart, a long green flag run opened up for 24 laps, with Bronson holding the point.

With 10 laps to go the running order was Bronson, Sheppard, Erb, Jonathan Davenport and Zeigler.

A caution for a slowing Boom Briggs on lap 41 set up a classic East Bay finish.

On the restart with nine laps to go, Bronson carried the lead to within five laps of victory, but Zeigler was picking off cars one by one as he climbed to third and then eventually second with four laps remaining.

Zeigler and Bronson then staged an epic battle for the race lead, with Bronson yielding the lead to Zeigler on lap 48, but coming back to lead at the white flag.

On the final lap, Zeigler went back around Bronson and as they came to the checkers, Zeigler edged Bronson by a nose for his first series win since winning at East Bay in 2016.

Zeigler, the 2018 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Rookie of the Year, was ecstatic with the win before a cheering crowd in victory lane.

“I knew Kyle (Bronson) was going to be tough because that cushion was still pretty good up there. The cautions really helped me, because their tires were getting a little cool and I could just work that middle (groove),” Zeigler explained. “I knew if I could just get ahead of him, clear him, and take his nose getting into (turns) one and two, we could drive away.

“He gave me all I wanted. I didn’t expect that slider. I didn’t think he’d be able to pull up alongside me again, and he sure as heck did. We just had barely enough room there,” Zeigler added. “I did everything I could not to door him; it’s just hard-core racing. This place is elbows up and get after it. We’re just happy to come out here and put on a show.”

Bronson was looking for his second career series win during the East Bay Winternationals, and led 40 of the 50 laps, but came up just short.

“The late caution definitely hurt me there. I felt like I had a little bit of a gap before that happened, but we had a 1300 on, and them guys had a 40 on,” noted Bronson. “At the end there, when we fired up with nine laps to go, I knew my tire was done. I drove as hard as I could, I felt like, without putting it into the fence.

“Mason did a good job. He raced me hard, he raced me clean, and I wasn’t going to wreck him as clean as he raced me. That was all I could do to hold him back; I just couldn’t beat that tire,” Bronson said. “He did a good job. I have to thank my guys, though. We destroyed a car this week and put this crate car together, and came back and raced last night. I’ve got some momentum going now and hopefully we’ll win $12,000 tomorrow.”

Sheppard was on a mission to win his third race of the week and led the first eight laps, ultimately taking another podium finish.

“At the beginning, I was going too hard and was overheating my tires on the long runs. Every time I tried to move down, I wasn’t any good, but it was because I was overheating my tires,” Sheppard noted. “I think Mason had a little different tire than we did, and that probably helped him get down there in the black.

“Once Kyle passed me there I was just kind of just riding behind him.”

The finish:

Mason Zeigler, Kyle Bronson, Brandon Sheppard, Tyler Erb, Jonathan Davenport, Mike Marlar, Tim McCreadie, Tanner English, Brian Shirley, Tyler Bruening, Devin Moran, Jimmy Owens, Hudson O’Neal, Dennis Erb Jr., Billy Moyer Jr., Shane Clanton, Stormy Scott, Chase Junghans, Shanon Buckingham, Pearson Lee Williams, G.R. Smith, Boom Briggs, Earl Pearson Jr., Jadon Frame, Josh Richards, Brian Birkhofer, Charles Powell, Billy Moyer, Colton Flinner, Freddie Carpenter.

TORONTO -- Brian Glennie, a hard-hitting defenseman who spent most of his 10-year NHL career with the Toronto Maple Leafs, has died. He was 73.

Glennie, who was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2005, helped the national team win Olympic bronze at the 1968 Winter Games in Grenoble, France, under Father David Bauer.

The Maple Leafs confirmed his death on Friday.

There was no immediate word on the cause of death, although he had been in ill health. Funeral arrangements were pending.

"The Maple Leafs are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Brian Glennie," the team said on Twitter. "Glennie was named one of the 100 Greatest Maple Leafs of all time and played over 500 games on the blue line in Toronto. Our thoughts are with his family during this difficult time."

Glennie was No. 94 on the 2016 list, part of the franchise's centennial anniversary.

Glennie, born on Aug. 29, 1946, in Toronto, captained the AHL Toronto Marlies to a 1967 Memorial Cup win on a team that included Brad Park and Mike Pelyk. He spent time at Michigan State before splitting the 1968-69 season with the minor league Rochester American and Tulsa Oilers.

After nine seasons with the Maple Leafs, he finished his career in 1978-79 with the Los Angeles Kings.

Over 572 career NHL regular-season games, Glennie had 14 goals, 100 assists and 621 penalty minutes. He had one assist in 32 playoff games, all with the Maple Leafs. He played more games on the blue line than any other Toronto player in the '70s.

Glennie's hip checks stopped many opposing players in mid-stride. Former tough guy John Ferguson called him "an old-style standup hitter."

Glennie was easy to spot with a mop of hair and, then later in his career, a helmet that looked like a bowling ball.

While Glennie gave out hits, he also absorbed them and was on the wrong end of an infamous incident in 1975 at Maple Leaf Gardens after he was blindsided by Detroit's Dan Maloney. Irate at Glennie's hit on a teammate, Maloney jumped the defenseman from behind, rode him down and then smashed him into the ice.

Knocked unconscious, Glennie was taken to hospital with a concussion. Maloney was charged with assault causing bodily harm the next day but was later acquitted.

Maloney died in 2018 at the age of 68.

Glennie took his tough-guy style to the advertising world, joining forces with fellow Leafs player Lanny McDonald for a Swanson's Hungry-Man dinner ad that saw Glennie rip the freezer door off to get his meal.

Glennie was named to the Canadian roster for the 1972 Summit Series against the Soviet Union, but he was an extra player and did not play in any of the eight games.

A back injury forced Glennie to retire from hockey. Later in life, he moved to Ottawa to be closer to his grandchildren.

PEBBLE BEACH, Fla. – So, this balloon therapy’s working out well.

Jason Day isn’t just becoming a big hit at children’s birthday parties, with growing skill blowing and shaping balloons into a variety of farm animals, he’s also learning to shape shots without as much pain again.

But . . .

“If you need a kids’ party, I can do it for you,” he cracked.

Day was just joking with media about his thoracic therapy routine after Friday’s round at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, but he saved the real fun for the course, showing signs his ailing back is growing strong enough to allow him to contend for titles again.

With an 8-under-par 64 at Pebble Beach Golf Links, Day is in weekend position to end a nearly two-year victory drought and a frustrating slide in the world rankings. He’s just two shots behind the 36-hole leader, Nick Taylor.

“I love everything about Pebble and the landscape that all three golf courses are on,” Day said.

And why wouldn’t he? Day has done everything but win the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. 

He has finished T-5 or better in four of his last five starts in the event.

“I don't know why I play well here,” Day said. “I would like to change having the Top-5s. I would like to win. That's the main goal is to try and win one.”

Day is looking for his 13^th PGA Tour title, his first in nearly two years.

This is only Day’s second start since withdrawing from the Presidents Cup in December with back pain. It troubled him most of last season, so much so that he wondered if he would ever completely heal.

“It gets frustrating,” he said. “Not only do you get frustrated, you don't get the results and you lose confidence.”

That frustration, he said, creates temptation to blame others.

“You’re just trying to find a solution as to why you’re not playing well, and 'Why is this happening?’” he said. “And you feel like your world is kind of crumbling around yourself . . . And it's not a good feeling, because there are some dark moments in there that you’ve got to kind of fight through.”

Though Day reigned as the world No. 1 for a total of 51 weeks in his three runs to the top of the rankings, he has steadily slid the last year. He was No. 10 coming to Pebble Beach a year ago but arrived at No. 46 this week, putting him in danger of moving outside the top 50 for the first time in almost a decade.

In a tough stretch last year, Day wondered how much longer he really had left.

“I was playing bad golf and I was also injured,” Days said. “I talked to my wife about this a lot. I'm like, 'I think I'm nearly done here,’ just because of how much pain I was in. And then, on top of it, how stressful it is to play competitive golf, week-in and week-out, and trying to live up to the expectations, not only with yourself, but with what everyone else thinks that you should be doing.”

That balloon therapy has helped.

“It’s called PRI,” he said.

Day blows up balloons for 30 minutes at a time under a trainer’s supervision to correct issues with his rib cage and “pelvic floor” alignment, which helps his lower back.

While Day still has discomfort, and has to monitor how much he practices, he’s in a better place.

In fact, if he can get himself to the top of the leaderboard by weekend’s end, he’ll be in the best kind of place.

“I've been very blessed to be able to play this many years out here,” Day said. “So, I'm trying to be as disciplined as I can, to extend my career for even longer, because I actually I really enjoy this game. I love this game.”

And he would really love to win again.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Chris Baker is a 33-year-old journeyman who marvels at all the crazy twists and turns in his road to the PGA Tour, at the exotic and not-so exotic stops along the way.

From little Seymour, Indiana, as a kid to the far-flung reaches of Kazakhstan, Morocco and Moscow as a pro, Baker has felt a sense of wonder in so many of these places, but never quite like what he felt Friday as a rookie climbing on to the leaderboard at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Baker shot an 8-under 64 in his first time around Pebble Beach Golf Links to move into weekend contention. He’s four shots off the lead.

“Pebble Beach is my new favorite golf course,” Baker said.

Technically, it wasn’t his first time around Pebble Beach. He played a practice round Wednesday.

Baker said walking around the hedge at the fourth tee to see rugged shoreline of Stillwater Cove sprawl out in front of him for the first time was breathtaking.

“I’m like, 'Wow, that’s incredible,’” Baker said.

Baker didn’t come flying out of Iowa State and take professional golf by storm. He bounced back and forth around the Hooters Tour, the eGolf Professional Tour, Europe’s Challenge Tour and the Korn Ferry Tour before finally earning his PGA Tour card last year.

He got to see St. Basil’s and the Kremlin in Red Square along his way.

He won in Morocco.

Golf has taken him to so many thrilling places, but none more so than Pebble Beach.

“There are times where it's tough, but there are also times like today, where you play Pebble Beach and you shoot 64,” Baker said. “So, that's pretty hard not to just smile about and be really happy.”

Baker opened his rookie season missing four consecutive cuts. He has missed seven of 10 so far, but he knows a lot tougher spells than that. He knows what it’s like to have his back against the wall, with almost nothing in his bank account. He knows hard work has always helped him find a way.

“You never know when the next opportunity is, and just kind of keep plodding along and try and stay upbeat,” Baker said. “I mean, I've beaten myself up enough, so you just try to stay up and keep moving forward.”

As wonders of the world continue to unfold around him.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Phil Mickelson isn’t atop the leaderboard at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, but he’s still pretty much where he wants to be.

He’s on his way to back-to-back days at Pebble Beach Golf Links with a weekend chance to win this event for a record sixth time.

Despite a closing bogey Friday on the Monterey Peninsula course, Mickelson posted a 7-under 64 to move into third place, three shots behind Nick Taylor.

How confident is he feeling about his game?

He shot that 64 thinking it wasn’t his best effort.

“Average at best,” he said. “The fairways are pretty wide here, and I hit a couple wayward drives early.”

Still, Mickelson made average more than suffice.

“I drove it well the back nine and gave myself some chances,” he said. “But I made a lot of birdies. It was a fun day.”

Mickelson, 49, equaled Mark O’Meara’s record five AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am titles winning last year. He likes the idea of having his rounds at Spyglass Hill and Monterey Peninsula behind him and a full weekend at Pebble Beach Golf Links ahead.

“I just love being out there,” Mickelson said. “I love walking along the ocean, hitting shots, and playing one of the greatest golf courses in the world.”

Can Tiger Woods break through and finally win at Riviera Country Club in next week’s Genesis Invitational?

If so, he will have to beat the strongest PGA Tour field of the young calendar year, according to Friday’s release of the commitment list.

Nine of the top 10 players in the current Official World Golf Ranking are scheduled to play in suburban Los Angeles next week.

It will, however, be a smaller field than the event’s accustomed to hosting, with the tournament’s new invitational status taking effect for the first time, reducing the number of players from 144 to 121.

Notably, a new No. 1 is projected to take over at week’s start, with Rory McIlroy expected to take the top spot from Brooks Koepka in the revised rankings on Monday. They’re both scheduled to play. So are current No. 3 Jon Rahm, No. 4 Justin Thomas, No. 5 Dustin Johnson, No. 6 Woods, No. 8 Patrick Cantlay, No. 9 Xander Schauffele and No. 10 Justin Rose.

Webb Simpson (No. 7) is the only player among the current top 10 not scheduled to play.

Phil Mickelson, Jordan Spieth, Bubba Watson, Sergio Garcia, Matt Kuchar and Hideki Matsuyama are also among those committed.

Woods will be looking for his first Genesis title. He’s 0-11 trying to win the PGA Tour event at Riviera. His best finishes were a second in 1998 and a tie for second in 1999. He tied for 15^th last year.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – If Nick Taylor’s going to go for a wire-to-wire victory at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am this weekend, he has an added challenge playing the toughest course in the event rotation on Saturday in what is expected to be the toughest weather so far this week.

Taylor shot 6-under-par 66 Friday at Pebble Beach to move to 14 under overall, two shots ahead of Jason Day (64).

Both Taylor and Day will move over to play Spyglass Hill on Saturday. It’s typically the most demanding test, and it’s expected to be even tougher with winds projected to gust to 25 mph under mostly sunny skies.

“There will be some challenging holes out by the water, but that's usually, probably, the toughest golf course of the three,” Taylor said. “So, just keep my head down and try to make some birdies.”

Manchester United have made an official complaint against The Sun newspaper in Britain, saying they had received advance notice of the attack on the house of their chief executive Ed Woodward last month.

A video posted on social media showed a group gathered outside Woodward's house in Cheshire on Jan. 28, chanting threats towards him and throwing red flares over the gate. Neither Woodward, 48, nor his family were home.

United have made a formal complaint to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) about The Sun's coverage. "The club believes that The Sun newspaper had received advance notice of the intended attack, which included criminal damage and intent to intimidate, and that the journalist was present as it happened. The quality of the images accompanying the story indicate that a photographer was also present," the statement read.

"Not only did the journalist fail to discharge the basic duty of a responsible member of society to report an impending crime and avert potential danger and criminal damage, his presence both encouraged and rewarded the perpetrators. We believe that this was a clear breach of both the IPSO Editors' code and journalistic ethics," they added.

A spokesperson for The Sun said: "The Sun condemns fully the attack on Mr Woodward's home and is happy to cooperate fully with any police inquiry.

"However The Sun, like all newspapers, vigorously defends its right to report.

"Following a tip-off that there was to be a protest a Sun reporter attended. The Sun accurately reported the events that unfolded. At no time was our reporter made aware of what was to take place nor incited it or encouraged any criminal activity. The article made it clear that the behaviour was criminal and unacceptable.

"The Sun supports wholeheartedly the Editors' Code Of Conduct and will defend the complaint to IPSO."

MILAN, Italy -- The Derby della Madonnina between Inter and AC Milan, with their latest meeting coming this Sunday, has always had more bite to it than other rivalries. Not just in a sporting sense -- Inter are three points behind league leaders Juventus, with Milan a distant sixth -- though "bite" doesn't necessarily mean what you might think.

It was almost midnight when Giorgio Muggiani proposed a toast. The artist, known for the advertising campaigns he had designed for Cinzano, Pirelli and Martini, wished to celebrate his latest creation.

Around 40 friends and like-minded people had been invited to dinner at the Orologio, the restaurant's tables and chairs spilling out on a street behind Milan's Neo-Gothic cathedral known as the Duomo. They were dubbed the "secessionists" and came not only from Italy, but Switzerland and Scotland too.

What united the party was a passion for football. Muggiani had come to love the game while studying in St. Gallen, across the Alps in Switzerland. The local team won the championship during his time there, and he returned to Milan with the desire to experience the same emotions again. Muggiani became a member of AC Milan and acted as the club's general secretary for a season. However, there were differences between him and the president, Giannino Camperio, which came to a head over the participation of foreign players and led him to call the meeting at the Orologio on March 9, 1908.

Muggiani wished to start a new club, and passed a pen around the room in the hope his guests would sign up and become founders as well as footballers. "We will call ourselves Internazionale because we are brothers of the world," he declared. Inter were born from the rib of AC Milan probably over a plate of cotoletta (a breaded veal cutlet). As a club formed in opposition, the Derby della Madonnina against Milan -- Sunday (2.45 p.m. ET, ESPN+) marks their 226th official meeting -- was the next course.

The Orologio no longer exists. There is no plaque to mark it. A mediocre and overpriced pizza place is now serving food in the same space where Muggiani designed Inter's badge and settled on blue and black as the team's colours.

The same can be said of the Fiaschetteria Toscana, the wine bar where AC Milan's cricket captain, Edward Nathan Berra, and the football team's player-manager, Herbert Kilpin, frequently dined, using the space as an office. Other venerable institutions soaked in history have closed down too, like l'Assassino, where Cesare Maldini and the great Milan coaches of the 1950s and '60s used to lunch. It was here that Gianni Brera, the influential columnist and ideologue, held court and defined Italian football (on rather dubious ethnographic grounds) as innately defensive.

The pipe smoke and bottles of San Colombano may have gone, but the stereotypes, nicknames and neologisms he coined, all lasting memories and accoutrements of Brera's influence, remain.

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Eating in Milan means a regular and welcome confrontation with football both past and present. The family of Nacka Skoglund, the Inter striker of the 1950s who used to bet punters to buy him a glass of Campari if he could toss a coin, flick it up with his heel and into his pocket, still run a bar in town. The crosser of the ball for Mark Hateley's towering header in the 1984 Madonnina, Pietro Paolo Virdis, he of the sweeping brush moustache, also has a restaurant in via Piero della Francesca. The tuna is caught and the bottarga sourced from his native Sardinia.

Walk past Osteria del Corso in Moscova, with its framed Paolo Maldini and Lionel Messi shirts and artwork depicting Alessandro Del Piero and Christian Vieri, and chances are you'll see Vieri sat on the bench outside, holding court, laughing and joking with his pals. Visit the city over the summer or in January and don't be surprised if, after stumbling into a random place in search of a bite, the party opposite is brokering a transfer deal. Most of Italy's clubs have offices here and as such Milan rivals London as Europe's capital of food, fashion and player trading.

TV crews often stake out the Antica Osteria Cavallini, knowing it is a favourite with agents in need of the sustenance from a plate of ossobuco to keep negotiating through the night and find a breakthrough. Christian Eriksen's €20.5m move from Tottenham to Inter last month progressed and reached its conclusion over several dinners at Risacca Blù, a spot famous for its seafood. Pretending not to know each other when they were snapped outside, Inter's chief executive, Beppe Marotta, and the player's agent must just have the same exquisite taste for lobster spaghetti.

These restaurants are not just for meeting. Milan legend Gennaro Gattuso (a player from 1999 to 2012, their manager from 2017 to 2019) owns a fish market, Ittica, which opened with the visit of his teammates Ronaldinho and David Beckham a decade ago and boasts a kitchen that will cook and grill the frutti di mare for his customers. Located outside the city on the way to Milan's training ground, Gattuso's business was inspired by his childhood memories of seeing the fishermen pull in their nets on the Calabrian beach he grew up on.

It doesn't stop there, as Milan's team meals often end up at one of the city's many sushi joints. Clarence Seedorf (Milan, 2002-12) partnered with a Japanese chef who was born in Brazil, Roberto Okabe, to launch Finger's in 2004, a place where Elton John and Antonio Conte have been known to add soy to their sashimi.

Naturally the South American influence on Milan and Inter has also made itself felt on the city's restaurant scene. When the seasons change and the weather allows, the Argentines in particular barbecue either at the training ground or in one of their gardens along the banks of Lake Como. Sizzling big chunks of asado over hot coals, Inter defender Walter Samuel (2005-14) is reputedly as good at the grill as he is when it comes to brewing mate, the intensely caffeinated drink popular with players from the continent.

Samuel's former captain, Javier Zanetti (Inter 1995-2014), also owns a couple of steakhouses, one in the San Marco neighbourhood, the other by the canal in Navigli. On the menu at El Botinero are Argentine classics like provoleta (a grilled provolone cheese) as well as the house special that carries Zanetti's nickname, "Pupi" -- a 9-ounce (250g) filet with a red wine reduction (the Chianti comes from his own wine label), braised mushrooms and red currants. A side of "erotic potatoes," sliced thin like ridged crisps, comes recommended.

Backlit and displayed in glass cases around the restaurant's walls are some of Zanetti's captain armbands, including one he velcroed to his biceps for the derby in 2010. Then there is a "show wall" and the reason why the restaurant is called El Botinero ("The Cobbler") becomes clear, for it exhibits pairs of boots from opponents and teammates like Messi, Roberto Baggio, the original Ronaldo, Ivan "Bam Bam" Zamorano, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Neymar to name a few.

You don't have to go to San Siro to get a flavour of what makes the Derby della Madonnina one of world football's greatest rivalries. It's often there for you on a plate.

February 8: BBL Final - Sydney Sixers v Melbourne Stars, Melbourne

Our XI: Josh Philippe, Marcus Stoinis, Steven Smith, Nick Larkin, Glenn Maxwell, Peter Handscomb, Sean Abbott, Adam Zampa, Ben Dwarshuis, Haris Rauf, Steve O'Keefe

NOTE: We might not always be able to tip you off about a late injury (or other relevant) updates

Captain: Marcus Stoinis

Stoinis has been key in the Stars' journey to the final, making a 54-ball 83 in the Challenger against Sydney Thunder on Thursday. With 695 runs in 16 games at an average of 57.91, the season's highest run-scorer is almost guaranteed to give you big runs in the title clash.

Vice-captain: Haris Rauf

The Pakistan quick added three more wickets during the game against Thunder to take his tally to 20 from just nine games. He's been the find of the season, impressing with his express pace and striking at 10.4 for the Stars.

Hot picks

Steven Smith: Smith is one of the players who can keep a calm head under pressure and bat on, so that makes him a good pick for the final. He entered the BBL party late but scored a match-winning unbeaten 66 in a close chase against the Melbourne Renegades not too long ago.

Adam Zampa: He is the Stars' second-highest wicket-taker, with 18 strikes in 11 games. The legspinner has helped stifle the opposition in the middle-overs in addition to consistently picking up wickets.

Value picks

Josh Philippe: The Sixers' highest run-scorer this season has been in good form leading up to the final, with scores of 52*, 61 and 34. He might have flown under the radar a bit of late, but trust him to keep up his form in the final too.

Sean Abbott: He returned from injury with figures of 3 for 23 in the previous match against the Stars to help the Sixers secure a home BBL final. He has 14 wickets from just six games this season, so expect him to trouble the same opponents this time around too.

Point to note
There is a forecast for significant rain in Sydney on Saturday, so fill your team with big-hitting top-order batsmen who can help you put up good totals in case of a shortened encounter.