Top Ad
I DIG Radio
www.idigradio.com
Listen live to the best music from around the world!
I DIG Style
www.idigstyle.com
Learn about the latest fashion styles and more...
I Dig Sports

I Dig Sports

Blackhawks hire Crawford as assistant coach

Published in Hockey
Tuesday, 04 June 2019 16:13

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Blackhawks have hired Marc Crawford as an assistant coach on Jeremy Colliton's staff.

The 58-year-old Crawford was the interim head coach for Ottawa at the end of last season. He also has served as the head coach for Colorado, Vancouver, Los Angeles and Dallas, leading the Avalanche to the Stanley Cup title in 1996.

Crawford's son, Dylan, is an assistant video coach for Chicago.

Colliton is entering his first full season as Blackhawks coach after taking over for the fired Joel Quenneville on Nov. 6. Crawford says Colliton "has an extremely bright and innovative mind," and he thinks his experience "should benefit the entire coaching staff."

The Blackhawks announced the move on Tuesday. Colliton's staff also includes assistants Sheldon Brookbank and Tomas Mitell, goaltending coach Jimmy Waite and video coach Matt Meacham.

PGA Tour adds Bermuda Championship to 2019-20 schedule

Published in Golf
Tuesday, 04 June 2019 07:07

The PGA Tour on Tuesday announced the addition of the Bermuda Championship to its 2019-2020 schedule.

The event will be staged at Port Royal Golf Club and played Oct. 31-Nov. 3, opposite the WGC-HSBC Championship in China.

The tournament occupies the place previously held by the Sanderson Farms Championship, which has been moved up to September.

“We are excited to add the Bermuda Championship to the PGA TOUR beginning next season,” PGA Tour executive vice president Ty Votaw said. “Bermuda is an appealing year-round destination, and the players will love visiting in the fall, plus we will be hosted by an outstanding golf course. It promises to be a wonderful opportunity to showcase Bermuda - a beautiful island destination that embodies genuine hospitality - to the world.”

The Bermuda Tourism Authority will serve as the tournament's title sponsor through 2023.

Port Royal previously played host to the now-defunct PGA Grand Slam of Golf, featuring the year's four major winners, from 2009-2014.

The Tour's revamped fall schedule as currently announced appears below.

Sept. 12-15:  A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier

Sept. 19-22: Sanderson Farms Championship

Sept. 26-29: Safeway Open

Oct. 3-6: Houston Open

Oct. 17-20: CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges

Oct. 24-27: Zozo Championship

Oct. 31-Nov. 3: Bermuda Championship

Oct. 31-Nov. 3: WGC-HSBC Champions

Nov. 14-17: Mayakoba Golf Classic

Nov. 21-24: RSM Classic

If you aren’t intrigued by Korean women in golf, you don’t care enough to pay attention.

That’s one of the big problems the LPGA still faces.

American media barely pays attention to the women’s game.

Aside from the tiny nucleus of writers regularly covering the LPGA, and Golf Channel’s extensive weekly broadcast and digital coverage, there’s a serious media disconnect. Most major news outlets don’t bother going beyond picking up wire reports. Often, it’s even that way at the majors.

Hank Haney was openly and unabashedly dismissive of the women’s game on his SiriusXM Radio show last week. As a high-profile figure in an influential position, he basically said he couldn’t care less about professional women’s golf and its biggest event of the year. And, he implied that Korean dominance was a big turnoff, that all he could be certain of is that there were a bunch of players named Lee in the field.

After Jeongeun Lee6 won the U.S. Women’s Open Sunday, Haney tried to justify his dismissive remarks as being insightful. He patted himself on the back for predicting the winner.

“I knew a player named Lee would win,” he tweeted.

Haney took the veil off what a lot of us still hear and sense in the male ranks, even after the heightened interest generated by the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur. There’s more than indifference to the women’s game. There’s still a lack of respect.

Hank Haney sent out two strident tweets Sunday, as South Korea's Jeongeun Lee6 was busy closing out her first major victory. He even misspelled her name.

It would have been nice if Haney had tweeted something more supportive in the wake of Lee6’s victory, a sign he’s taking the time to educate himself. It would mark progress if he showed new appreciation for the women’s game going forward. It would count as a victory if he became a champion of the women’s game. That would be something to applaud.

More American players won LPGA events than South Koreans last year, but the Koreans are dominating again. They’ve won seven of 13 LPGA events this season.

Still, American players aren’t the greatest challenge South Koreans face today. It’s lingering xenophobia.

It’s not as bad as it once was, thanks to Korean players who have worked tirelessly to embrace American fans and culture.

Inbee Park, So Yeon Ryu and Na Yeon Choi have been more than great champions. They’ve been devoted Korean ambassadors to American fans. They deserve so much more respect than the dismissive treatment they got on Haney’s show. That’s a gut punch if you know the efforts they’ve made.

Park, Ryu and Choi have done admirable work breaking down barriers a lot worse than they are now. They have been a bridge between Se Ri Pak’s American breakthrough and today’s new wave of Korean stars that includes Lee6, In Gee Chun and world No. 1 Jin Young Ko.

Park, Ryu and Choi didn’t just follow the path Pak carved to America as major champions. They smoothed out a new highway, planting flowers along the way.

They devoted themselves to carrying the Korean story to our shores. They didn’t just master English. They mastered storytelling in English.

Park is one of the best interviews in the women’s game.

When Park matched Babe Didrikson Zaharias’ record winning the first three majors of the year back in 2013, she helped every one of us telling her story, with generous detail, insight and anecdotes. She answered questions she had heard a hundred times as if she were hearing them for the first time. She gave good answers to lousy questions. She never declined an interview after a round in that stretch. Not once that this reporter knows about.

If you are pursuing a certain storyline, Park will help you. She’ll affirm your angle, or she’ll steer you to the correct variation. If you don’t come away from Park with a nugget to build a story around, it’s your failure, not hers.

Ryu’s and Choi’s charms make them Park’s rival in the media center.

They are both “go-to” interviews, whether you’re telling the Korean story or just pursuing an LPGA theme. They see the big picture, with a knack for framing a story’s boundaries or defining its heart. They are helpful telling more than their own stories. They are helpful telling the game’s larger stories.

If you’re speaking to Ryu, you’re likely to get an amusing anecdote, like how her swing coach Cameron McCormick gives her odd homework assignments, like the time he challenged her to ride a roller coaster – she fears them – as a tool to help her confront fear in and outside the game.

Choi has gifted more than one writer with an angle in her career, as she did just last month in San Francisco, when she shared what she did in all her down time while taking last year off to heal a back injury. She got a master’s degree in biomechanics from Kunkok University in South Korea.

And there’s another thing about the misguided notion that Asians hurt the LPGA’s tour. You can argue they actually saved the LPGA through that economic swoon that nearly sunk the tour in 2011, when title sponsors were bailing out and the schedule shrunk to a bare-boned 23 events. Asian sponsorships and the LPGA’s Korean TV contract were vital to the tour’s survival. That commitment remains vital today. Six of the first seven events on American soil this year were sponsored by Asian companies , five of them Korean or Korean-American companies.

LPGA commissioner Mike Whan made the most of Asian devotion to the women’s game after he took the tour’s reins, choosing to embrace it when so many people were trying to tell him Asian influence was hurting his tour. He knows better. He knows diversity and inclusiveness are keys to the LPGA’s overall strength.

Too many in golf aren’t bothering to see the charms that Park, Ryu, Choi and other ambassadors bring to the women’s game. It’s troubling when they won’t bother to see beyond stereotypes.

Source: Man City to loan Steffen to Bundesliga

Published in Soccer
Tuesday, 04 June 2019 15:09

U.S. men's goalkeeper Zack Steffen will join Bundesliga club Fortuna Dusseldorf on loan from Manchester City, a source confirmed to ESPN FC's Raphael Honigstein.

Steffen's transfer from the Columbus Crew to City becomes official on July 9, and from there is expected to join the German club.

The Athletic initially reported the loan deal.

It would be Steffen's second stint in Germany. He spent 2015-16 with Freiburg, but was limited to 14 appearances with their reserve team. He joined the Crew in 2016 and won the MLS Goalkeeper of the Year award in 2018.

Manchester City signed the 24-year-old in December for a fee between £7 million and £10 million -- which would constitute a Crew and MLS record for a keeper. He remained with the Crew with last week's draw with NYCFC being his last with the club.

As the presumptive No. 1 keeper for the U.S. ahead of the Gold Cup, Steffen said he was nervous and excited for his move from the MLS back to Europe.

"There's a lot of nerves, a lot of excitement, a little bit of sadness leaving the chapter in Columbus," he said following Monday's training session on the campus of the U.S. Naval Academy. "But I'm really focused on the Gold Cup and doing well here, and raising the trophy here, and then I'll focus on what lies next."

The U.S. play Jamaica in a friendly in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday and then host Venezuela in Cincinnati on June 9. They begin their Gold Cup campaign on June 18 with group stage matches against Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Panama.

Sturridge, Moreno leave Liverpool; Shaqiri stays

Published in Soccer
Tuesday, 04 June 2019 12:35

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp thanked both Daniel Sturridge and Alberto Moreno ahead of their departures from Anfield on free transfers after their contracts expired.

Sturridge joined the club from Chelsea in January 2013 and scored 105 goals in 306 appearances in all competitions, while Moreno arrived from Sevilla in 2014, playing 141 games and finding the back of the net on three occasions.

- When does the transfer window close?

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp thanked the pair, describing Sturridge as "one of the best finishers I have ever seen in my life."

"The most important words to say to these two remarkable players is: 'Thank you,'" Klopp told Liverpool's website. "They were here when I arrived as manager and during that period they -- as much as anyone -- helped to establish us as a team that would be heading in the right direction. Without them we wouldn't be the team and club we are in this moment.

"Alberto is a person whose personality is reflected in how he plays. Full of life, full of energy, always positive. How he was in training kept the entire group on their toes.

"Daniel has earned the right to be considered a modern-day Liverpool great, I would think. He came to the club while we were trying to rebuild and re-establish ourselves. Some of the goals he has scored for Liverpool were so, so, so important.

"He is one of the best finishers I have ever seen in my life. He scores goals you think could and should not be possible."

Former England international Sturridge's first full season with the club was his most productive, when he scored 24 Premier League goals as Liverpool took the title race until the final day of the season before losing out to Manchester City. Sturridge was named in that season's PFA Players' Team of the Year alongside strike partner Luis Suarez.

Meanwhile, Xherdan Shaqiri said he will stay at Anfield despite his recent lack of opportunities at the club.

Speaking ahead of Switzerland's Nations League semifinal clash against Portugal, Shaqiri said he knew when he joined Liverpool from Stoke City a year ago that he would face a battle to get regular minutes on the field.

"The manager has many good options and has to decide who can play. I knew before my transfer that the competition here is very tough," he said.

The former Bayern Munich midfielder was restricted to the bench for the bulk of the Premier League run-in and the final stages of the Champions League, although he helped Klopp's side reach the final with a key assist in the 4-0 win in over Barcelona in the last four.

"I have a long-term contract and I definitely will stay. It's a special moment for me standing here with the gold medal again," he said.

"I'm just proud and happy. I think I contributed my part to the title," added the 27-year-old who has another four years on his deal at Anfield.

Information from Reuters was used in this report.

Sri Lanka 201 (Kusal Perera 78, Nabi 4-30) beat Afghanistan 152 (Najibullah 43, Pradeep 4-31, Malinga 3-39) by 34 runs (via DLS method)

As it happened: Afghanistan v Sri Lanka

Two teams, both doing a lot of things wrong. In the end, Sri Lanka did just about enough right and got on the points table with a 34-run (DLS method) win, preventing Afghanistan from recording their first World Cup win over a full-member nation. In the process, they also ensured that Lasith Malinga finally figured in an ODI win after July 6, 2017 - he had been part of 21 losses and one no-result in between.

For Afghanistan, the day started well with the right call on the coin, but Hamid Hassan missed his lines and lengths completely upfront to concede 31 runs in his first two overs. Dawlat Zadran was better only in comparison and the ground fielding even worse than what Hassan dished out. If Afghanistan were in the contest despite all that, it was only due to one man: Mohammad Nabi. Nabi's four wickets - including three in a chaotic over - put Sri Lanka in a hole they never quite got out of but rain and a revised target later, a batting effort even poorer than the Sri Lankans' meant Afghanistan finished second best.

WATCH on Hotstar - Kusal Perera's punchy half-century (India only)

But, chasing 187 in 41 overs after Sri Lanka were bowled out for 201 in 32.4, Afghanistan met with their old frailties: lack of patience, an obsession with big shots, and a failure to bat in phases. Hazratullah Zazai looked good - in his smash-everything way - early on, but despite a let-off when he skied Malinga only for Kusal Mendis to drop a sitter at deep square leg, he only managed 30 off 25 before Nuwan Pradeep had his number. Though it really was Thisara Perera's wicket, as he followed Zazai's mistimed hook and threw in the dive to grab the dipping ball at fine leg.

That made it 44 for 3 - Mohammad Shahzad and Rahmat Shah had been dismissed earlier - and 57 for 5 was only around the corner, but amid a drizzle that didn't really go away but never really threatened to push the players off the field either, Gulbadin Naib and Najibullah Zadran scripted a remarkable recovery.

The pair, up against a bowling attack with more experience and nous than them, fought hard, played their shots but without much risk, and added 64 runs for the sixth wicket. A straight drive from Naib off Malinga was especially pleasing to the eye, though when they threw their bats, they mostly went aerial.

But once Thisara got a gentle cutter to nip in big time to hit Naib's off stump, the wheels came off the chase. Najibullah tried, farming the strike in the company of the tail-enders, and kept Afghanistan in the fight. who knows what might have been had he a partner he could depend on. As it turned out, he went for a run that wasn't and could only trot off once Dimuth Karunaratne knocked the stumps down at the non-striker's end. That, really, was the end of it. Malinga applied the finishing touches with two yorkers that took out the stumps, but Pradeep was the star of the bowling effort, his pace and the steep bounce he generated netting him 4 for 31, his career-best figures, and the Man-of-the-Match award.

In the first innings, it was all about Nabi. Four times in five balls he looked like he had a wicket. Three of those times, he actually did. Sri Lanka, who started their 22nd over on 144 for 1, were suddenly 146 for 4 at the end of it. Nabi's ploy was to go slow, slower, and slowest, and it worked like a charm on a grippy surface.

Lahiru Thirimanne was the first of those three, waiting for Nabi's flighted delivery on off stump to arrive, then pushing at the ball and under-edging on to the stumps. Next ball, Nabi had new man Kusal Mendis edging, but just past Rahmat at slip; the very next ball, it went to hand. A ball later, this time Angelo Mathews, nicked off to Rahmat off Shahzad's pads. Just like that, Sri Lanka's projected score on ESPNcricinfo's forecaster dipped from 333 to 217.

It had started beautifully for Sri Lanka after they were put in. In overcast conditions, Hassan conceded 15 and 16 runs in his first two overs, and Sri Lanka were on their way till Nabi and Naib got together to stem the flow of runs.

By the end of the tenth over, though, Sri Lanka were cruising, the 136-run rollover against New Zealand forgotten.

True, Karunaratne was crawling, after carrying his bat through the collapse the other day, but Kusal Perera, opening instead of Thirimanne, was in fine fettle, chugging along in style. They put on 92 for the first wicket - the highest partnership in the game. Afghanistan's fielding, average at the best of times, was fraying at the edges at that stage, and it was all Sri Lanka. The tide had to turn, and it did, and it was courtesy Nabi, who struck first ball of the 14th over. Karunaratne stepped out, swung, but never got any sort of connection to a 'slower', going only as far as Najibullah at long leg.

Then came the three-wicket burst, and the meltdown was on. Hassan, after that awful two-over spell, came back and hit a beautiful length and aimed fourth stump. Dhananjaya de Silva succumbed, hanging his bat out and bringing Shahzad into business.

Udana's straight six off Nabi was really just an aberration as the wickets continued to fall. When Kusal nicked a reverse-sweep off Rashid Khan for 78, Sri Lanka were 180 for 8.

That's when the rain came down, kept everyone out for almost three hours, and when the game restarted, lasted four more overs and, courtesy Suranga Lakmal's biggies off Dawlat, Sri Lanka got past 200. It was enough in the end.

She was a fast machine, she kept her motor clean.

As the Australians arrived for their first training session at Trent Bridge, the head-banging guitar riff and grinding lyrics of ACDC's You Shook Me All Night Long bellowed from the speaker on the dressing room balcony.

Several West Indies players were still at the ground, wrapping up a clinic and signing autographs for children. One member of the camp joked that Bob Marley music would be more welcome.

But the upcoming match between the two sides has all the makings of a heavy metal contest rather than a reggae groove; the battle of the bumpers, the barrage of bouncers, so to speak.

It's no surprise. Australia and West Indies boast heavy artillery in the fast bowling department and both deployed it liberally in their opening seven-wicket victories against Afghanistan and Pakistan, respectively. But while Carlos Brathwaite acknowledges that bouncers are a "preferred tactic" for West Indies, he emphasised the importance of the balls that bracket them, the spaces in between.

"Obviously we've been hearing the talk of bouncer this and bouncer that but it's always been a part of cricket," said Brathwaite. "Probably it's come to the fore a bit because the pitches will take the bouncer and only four fielders out, so the bowlers need to find something and obviously no one likes a ball 140-145 k's at your head. So that's why the bouncer has been the favourite tactic thus far.

"But you can only bowl two an over and the other four you have to be spot on and I think, as much as it was mentioned against Pakistan about our bouncers, I think those are the four balls in the over if you use them quite well. Up front Jase and Sheldon tried to swing it and myself and Russell tried to hit our lengths and then the bouncer became a surprise, probably even a dot ball option, so whilst it is obviously the preferred tactic, the most important thing is the balls that accompany, the other four balls in the over.

"We may get early wickets, we may not. When do we use the bumper? How regularly do we use it? And how much will the effect of the pitch allow us to use the bouncer as well?"

As Sid Monga noted in his early analysis of short pitched bowling this World Cup, against Afghanistan, "Eighteen percent of balls delivered by Australia's quicks were short, almost double the usual rate you see."

West Indies demolished Pakistan with similar roughhouse tactics. Most notable was Andre Russell's venomous three-over spell, of which 18 deliveries were short, that netted two wickets and conceded just four runs.

Made a meal outta me And came back for more

England tried it unsuccessfully against Pakistan, playing Mark Wood and Joffra Archer in the hope fast, short-pitch lightning could strike twice on the same ground against the same opponents but, as is often the case, while the high-risk high-reward tactic of bowling short did result in six wickets, it also allowed for a big score: Pakistan made 113 runs of their total score off 109 short balls.

Thursday's match will be played on the same pitch that was used in that run-fest. Pitch 6, or the record pitch, as it's often called after England's 481 in last year's ODI against Pakistan. But Brathwaite knows Australian batsmen are more likely to treat short, fast bowling like Vegemite on toast; a familiar meal.

"Traditionally they've grown up on fast bouncy tracks and there's only two balls an over," said Brathwaite. "And it's a mental game. If that bouncer can get into their head and allow our other four balls in that over to be perfectly executed or you know give us a bigger margin for error then perfect.

"If not then we have to find another strategy but yes, we do expect Australia to play it better than Pakistan. However we need to be better at our other four balls as well because everyone knows what's coming and it's about execution versus execution.

"We may get early wickets, we may not. When do we use the bumper? How regularly do we use it? And how much will the effect of the pitch allow us to use the bouncer as well?"

But while Australia's batsmen may be more accustomed to facing the heat, Brathwaite suggested that familiarity could occasionally breed contempt.

"Some batsmen are traditionally good, some batsmen traditionally not so much," said Brathwaite. "But there's a saying in the Caribbean that people that can't swim don't drown. So maybe the person that can play the short ball better may be more susceptible and the ones that are more expectant of it may be more wary and, as a result, not take it on so much."

Had to cool me down to take another round Now I'm back in the ring to take another swing

One very short boundary, The Record Pitch, some of the game's most belligerent strikers and aggressive bowlers.

All the elements are there. If they click, it could shake us all game long.

Two yorkers from Lasith Malinga crashed into the stumps and had zing bails light up the growing gloom around the Cardiff Wales Stadium and Afghan hearts, but by then Sri Lanka were as good as home.

An oxygen-depleted win but a win all the same in their second game of the 2019 World Cup. Against the event's sweetheart qualifiers, Afghanistan, by 34 runs (DL method), which doesn't prove anything except give Sri Lanka valuable points and a breather - and certainly for Malinga, his first win after 21 ODI defeats and one NR since July 6, 2017.

Sri Lanka's last ODI win against a frontline team outside of Asia was almost two years ago, against India at the Champions Trophy. In between then and now, purgatory, doubt, batting collapses (not that those have gone away) and one defeat after another.

For now, says coach Chandika Hathurasinghe the win gives the team the booster shot of confidence they needed. "We really needed a win. We haven't got much success lately… We need this win badly."

The Sri Lankans were to make the single change that may be what is needed to change their narrative. Even if that meant putting all their eggs in the one basket that Cardiff offered them - picking five seamers in conditions with clouds overhead that made the swinging ball sing. It was this fifth horsemen that was to prevent their apocalypse.

Nuwan Pradeep, hipster haircut, gunslinger walk, slinger action, biting pace and mean inswing - and left out on the weekend, turned up and did his job during the working week and produced his career-best ODI figures that made victory possible. Once it was done, the Lankans gathered together in a huddle of relief, bunting man of the match Pradeep on his head over and over.

Captain Dimuth Karunaratne's grin was visible from a distance; never mind the fates and losing the toss again, his team had climbed out of the hole they had dug for themselves after recording the highest power play total of the competition and then imploding (7 for 36 in 11 overs.) Twenty runs across the last two wickets did take Sri Lanka past 200 but Hathurasinghe said while the score had never seemed enough they had expected the seamers to "bowl well on the wicket, hit the deck hard and hit the seam". The innings break, he said, had not featured a pep talk but a talking-to to the team, "I tell them what has to be done. That they have to come and perform."

It is what the Lankan bowlers did; the 15 wides at the end of the innings will cost them heavily elsewhere, but the extravagance of the Afghan batsmen allowed them to get away with it. The key was to just to pitch the ball up or back of a length, depending on who disliked what, hit the pitch hard when required to create dot ball pressure and extract the error. Or as Thisara Perera put it, "keep our line and length and don't panic." Isuru Udana and Pradeep, the least experienced of the five, were particularly efficient in tandem, Pradeep sending home the two most dangerous Afghan batsmen on the day.

The first opener Hazratullah Zazai and the second captain Gulbudin Naib. On our Smartsstats Forecaster, Naib's wicket brought down Afghanistan's win probability from 61 percent to just under 50 percent. When Mohammed Nabi went, it nosedived further from 44 to 28 and was spot on in predicting the trend of the contest.

Hathurasinghe said Pradeep had "single handedly" kept Sri Lanka in the game. In conditions like Cardiff where the ball swings and often climbs, he finds himself in his element and there was no better day to put it out on display. Left-arm paceman Udana said of Pradeep: "He was the main man today he was the man who changed the game." Pradeep had never played with a cricket ball until the age of 20, was discovered through a soft ball competition and has had a career for Sri Lanka restricted by a series of injuries. His last ODI was against New Zealand in January, missing out on the March tour of New Zealand due to injury.

The collective experience of the senior seamers (Malinga, Lakmal and Perera) have played between them 455 ODIs, enough to pass on their wisdom to the younger two. Udana, playing only his seventh ODI, used his experience from the Bangladesh and Afghan premier T20 leagues to offer insights into the Afghan batsmen to the squad. Malinga's last two wickets with his signature yorkers were the Afghan Nos. 9 and 10 and ended the game but it was Pradeep that had virtually dragged it out of Afghanistan's reach and imagination.

Sri Lanka on the field were far from ship-shape but they were to find moments of inspiration - Thisara's diving catch off Zazai on the long leg boundary, Karunaratne's direct hit to run out Najibullah Zadran - that made them buzz, bouncing on the balls of their feet, backing each other up. Malinga, the angry lion in winter, patting Pradeep on the back after he conceded five wides in the 25th over in an attempt to bounce out the batsman. A team that had found the energy and the collective to compete.

Hathurasinghe hoped this game was going to change Lankan ODI fortunes specially at the event where it is most urgent and most under notice. When asked about Malinga's tongue lashing and whether he agreed with it, he said: "When you play for your country there is a lot of pride at stake. They are all hurting. I'm sure about that. They really, really want to perform well for the country. What Lasith said, whatever he said, is what he believes and I think all the players get a lot of confidence after this win for sure."

Now if only the batsmen could follow.

Haney response to Tiger's critique: #glasshouses

Published in Breaking News
Tuesday, 04 June 2019 13:05

Tiger Woods' former coach, Hank Haney, took to Twitter on Tuesday to counter the golfer's criticism last week over Haney's SiriusXM radio suspension after comments made on the air about women golfers.

"Amazing how @tigerwoods has now become the moral authority on issues pertaining to women," Haney said in his post. "I spent 6 great years coaching Tiger, and not one time did he ever hear me utter one sexist or racist word. Now, in addition to being a 15 time major champion, I guess he thinks he's also a mind reader? #glasshouses"

On May 29, prior to the start of the U.S. Women's Open, Haney said on his daily radio show that he was not up on the women's game and that he would first go with a Korean golfer as a winner. He then said he would go with "Lee'' and if he didn't have to say a first name, "I'd get a bunch of them right.''

Later in the show, Haney apologized and did so again on Twitter. But there was considerable criticism, including from former U.S. Women's Open winner Michelle Wie.

On Friday, Woods said that Haney "deserved'' the suspension, which was suggested by the PGA Tour. Sirius XM said it was reviewing the status of Haney's show and there has been no word this week on the future of the show.

"He deserved it,'' Woods said at the Memorial Tournament. "Just can't look at life like that. And he obviously said what he meant, and he got what he deserved.''

Haney, 63, had a successful six-year run with Woods that saw the golfer win 31 PGA Tour titles and six major championships before their working relationship ended in 2010. In 2012, Haney wrote a book called "The Big Miss,'' which detailed their time together but also delved into parts of Woods' personal life.

Woods told ESPN at the time that he remained thankful for Haney's impact on his career, but he was not happy about the book.

"I think it's unprofessional and very disappointing,'' Woods told ESPN then. "Especially because it's someone I worked with and trusted as a friend.''

Haney is a longtime golf instructor whose most prominent student prior to Woods was Mark O'Meara. He owns and operates several golf schools in the Dallas area.

After South Korea's Jeongeun Lee6 won the U.S. Women's Open on Sunday, capturing her first LPGA Tour title, Haney suggested on Twitter that it was validation for his pre-tournament prediction.

"My prediction that a Korean woman would be atop the leaderboard at the Women's U.S. Open was based on statistics and facts,'' he wrote. "Korean women are absolutely dominating the LPGA Tour. If you asked me again my answer would be the same but worded more carefully."

Pats cut TE Seferian-Jenkins on 1st day of camp

Published in Breaking News
Tuesday, 04 June 2019 12:19

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The New England Patriots have released veteran tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins.

Seferian-Jenkins had signed a modest one-year, $895,000 contract on April 10, and he was vying for a roster spot at a position where the Patriots are transitioning without the retired Rob Gronkowski. The contract included just $50,000 in guaranteed money.

Seferian-Jenkins wasn't at the team's mandatory minicamp Tuesday, with coach Bill Belichick foreshadowing his release by saying that all players who were required to be present had reported.

The 26-year-old Seferian-Jenkins, who has 116 career receptions for 1,160 yards and 11 touchdowns in 43 games over five seasons, also wasn't present during a voluntary practice in May that had been open to reporters.

Veteran Benjamin Watson headlines the Patriots' depth chart at tight end, but he will miss the first four games of the season because of an NFL suspension for banned substances.

Matt LaCosse, Ryan Izzo, Stephen Anderson and Andrew Beck round out the depth chart.

Seferian-Jenkins had 11 catches for 90 yards and a touchdown before going on injured reserve in early October with a core muscle injury that required surgery. He became a free agent when the Jacksonville Jaguars declined his $500,000 option for 2019.

Seferian-Jenkins joined the Jaguars on a two-year, $10 million deal before last season after resurrecting his career with the Jets. The Bucs cut him after a September 2016 drunken driving arrest, which ultimately resulted in a two-game suspension by the NFL at the start of the 2017 season.

Soccer

Ronaldo helps Pioli to debut win; Toney scores 2

Ronaldo helps Pioli to debut win; Toney scores 2

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsCristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring as Al Nassr defeated Al Ettifa...

Madrid learn schedule for 1st Intercontinental Cup

Madrid learn schedule for 1st Intercontinental Cup

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsThe first edition of the annual FIFA Intercontinental Cup for club...

Sources: Rose Bowl among venues for FIFA CWC

Sources: Rose Bowl among venues for FIFA CWC

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsThe Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, is among the venues selected...

2026 FIFA


2028 LOS ANGELES OLYMPIC

UEFA

2024 PARIS OLYMPIC


Basketball

Sources: Griffin, 21, mulls NBA future after buyout

Sources: Griffin, 21, mulls NBA future after buyout

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsThe Houston Rockets reached terms on a buyout with forward AJ Griff...

Raptors forward Brown undergoes knee surgery

Raptors forward Brown undergoes knee surgery

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsToronto Raptors forward Bruce Brown underwent arthroscopic surgery...

Baseball

D-backs get Gurriel back in boost to playoff push

D-backs get Gurriel back in boost to playoff push

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsMILWAUKEE -- Lourdes Gurriel is back to assist the Arizona Diamondb...

Braves reinstate 2B Albies after 2 months on IL

Braves reinstate 2B Albies after 2 months on IL

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsThe Atlanta Braves returned three-time All-Star second baseman Ozzi...

Sports Leagues

  • FIFA

    Fédération Internationale de Football Association
  • NBA

    National Basketball Association
  • ATP

    Association of Tennis Professionals
  • MLB

    Major League Baseball
  • ITTF

    International Table Tennis Federation
  • NFL

    Nactional Football Leagues
  • FISB

    Federation Internationale de Speedball

About Us

I Dig® is a leading global brand that makes it more enjoyable to surf the internet, conduct transactions and access, share, and create information.  Today I Dig® attracts millions of users every month.r

 

Phone: (800) 737. 6040
Fax: (800) 825 5558
Website: www.idig.com
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Affiliated