Not in Cards: Wild grab steals HR, saves CrewNot in Cards: Wild grab steals HR, saves Crew
Defense sealed it, but as so often has been the case in the Brewers’ surprisingly competitive season, power put them in position to win.
Day: August 30, 2017
Anthony Davis to the Celtics rumors won’t go away. Here’s whyAnthony Davis to the Celtics rumors won’t go away. Here’s why
A trade isn’t imminent, but if the Pelicans can’t win, they’ll want to trade Davis before losing him for nothing. The Cavaliers and Celtics will likely soon finalize a blockbuster trade that sends Kyrie Irving to Boston. If Anthony Davis becomes available — and the Celtics’ eyes are very much trained
Scott calls an audible after birth of son ByronScott calls an audible after birth of son Byron
NORTON, Mass. – When Adam Scott left the Quail Hollow Club after a T-61 finish in the PGA Championship on Aug. 13, he expected his 2016-17 PGA TOUR season was over. Headed back to Australia to be with his wife Marie in advance of the birth of their second child, Scott was 61st in the FedExCup standings. Planning to miss the first two weeks of the FedExCup Playoffs, Scott figured he would drop below the top 70 that advance to the BMW Championship. The early arrival of his son enabled Scott to call an audible and so there he was late Wednesday afternoon, making his way to the practice range at TPC Boston. He’ll tee it up in this week’s Dell Technologies Championship, now 73rd in the FedExCup standings but determined to make the BMW Championship (Sept. 14-17) and possibly the 30-man TOUR Championship (Sept. 21-24). “It’s all good. The baby arrived Friday the 18th at 5 p.m. (in Australia) and it’s a good thing he was early because he wasn’t small,� said Scott with a smile. He conceded he had all but written off the first two events, but then came the early delivery and Scott wondered if there could be a change of plans. Give credit, he said, to Marie. Yes, he “tiptoed around� talk of playing, but Scott said his wife was on board. As for naming his son Byron, Scott nodded his head when asked if he had heard from people wondering about another Byron Scott. “Yeah, I have. I have a mate back home who is a huge basketball fan,� and he now knows of the former Los Angeles Laker and three-time NBA champion. But his son is Byron for another reason. “I just liked the name. It’s a strong name and it has a lot of meaning,� Scott said. “There’s a great spot, Byron Bay (in New South Wales) in Australia, Lord Byron, and Bryon Nelson.� The last name brought a nod of approval from Scott. He met Nelson at the 2006 AT&T Byron Nelson, four months before the icon died at the age of 94. Two years later, Scott made “the Nelson� his sixth PGA TOUR win. “He was a great man,� Scott said. “As good a man as I ever met.� After being home in Australia for nine days with Marie, baby Byron and the couple’s daughter, Bo, Scott flew to California, where he broke up the long trip by spending time club-testing at Titleist’s Oceanside facility just north of San Diego. He took a red-eye Tuesday night, arrived Wednesday, and after some rest, Scott was at TPC Boston ready to go. His desire to play this week has several components. One, “I’m not satisfied with the year I’ve had,� and sitting 73rd in the standings is a sore spot with him. So he’d like a few more chances to put a brighter bow on his 2016-17 season. Then there’s The Presidents Cup “and I’d like to find some form for that.� The Sept. 28-Oct. 1 competition at Liberty National in Jersey City, New Jersey, means a lot to Scott, who’ll be making his eighth appearance in the team competition. “We have a good team,� he said, “but our form is all over the place, so it would be nice to get that fixed.� Given that his first PGA TOUR win came at TPC Boston in 2003 and that he’s finished top 10 on five other occasions, Scott is feeling good about his chances to play his way into the top 70 and a spot at Conway Farms. With Marie, Byron, Bo and other family members scheduled to join him for the off-week, he said it will be a comfortable situation for him through The Presidents Cup, at which time they’ll all return to Australia.
Chris Stroud steps up to help victims of Hurricane HarveyChris Stroud steps up to help victims of Hurricane Harvey
NORTON, Mass. – For the past three or four nights, nearly two dozen people, give or take a few, have taken refuge from Hurricane Harvey in Chris Stroud’s Texas home. He lives on high ground in Spring, which is about 20 miles north of Houston, among the areas hit hardest by the freakish, furious storm. Friends have fled suburbs to come to Stroud’s house, which he says is “built like a fortressâ€� and mercifully has stayed dry despite being pounded by more than 50 inches of rain. Neighbors without power have come knocking, as well. “The kids have been getting along well,â€� Stroud says. “A couple of guys have been cooking. That’s usually my job. I like to cook a lot. “But I’ve got a big wine cellar and (we’re) trying to ease the pain a little bit.â€� Stroud is doing more than letting his displaced friends camp out at his home, though. He has pledged $10,000 and 10 percent of his winnings this week at the Dell Technologies Championship to the relief effort and hopes others follow suit. Stroud was inspired by Houston Texan defensive end J.J. Watt, who started a fund-raising campaign on youcaring.com earlier this week that has taken off like a rocket. As of Wednesday afternoon, more than $6.7 million had been pledged through the page that Watt set up. “So I saw that yesterday that he was raising money, and I thought, that’s exactly what I’m going to do,â€� says Stroud, who also wants to organize a charity pro-am. “So I called the TOUR and I said, ‘What can I do?’ … And I said, ‘How do I do this? Who do we use?’â€� The TOUR, which has more than 30 members who live in the Houston area, responded with a $250,000 donation to the Red Cross. Fans can also make donations at (add link) as well as at kiosks on site this week at TPC Boston. Still, the stories of sadness and struggle are everywhere – and some hit very close to home. Patrick Reed, who also lives in Spring, says the Weather Channel has replaced the baseball games and other sports he normally watches on TV. He took out his phone Wednesday afternoon beside the putting green at TPC Boston and showed a sportswriter a photo of his back yard at 7 p.m. at night – and another, taken 11 hours later after Harvey started to punish the area. “(We live) 200 yards from Spring Creek and it’s 92 feet below our property line,â€� Reed says. “I got a call from my buddy, frantic, and this (photo) was at 6 p.m. the next morning. The whole thing’s under water. “This is a basketball goal that is 6 feet and the water was already over it,â€� Reed continued, pointing at the picture, which shows the outline of a pool under the muddy water. “It came up so fast, it was scary and I know a lot of people got trapped.â€� Luckily for Reed, the water, which spread across his 4-acre property, stopped just shy of the front door of his house and has steadily receded. His in-laws rode out the storm there, along with his daughter, Windsor Wells, her nanny and the director of his charitable foundation. “They barricaded everything and it got six inches short of the house and it receded,â€� Reed says. “… The worst is done. The sun was out yesterday afternoon. So hopefully, the water just keeps receding. It’s tragic what happened in Houston. For that storm just to sit over us like that and to watch how many people got affected, it’s going to be hard to bounce back but Houston will be able to do it.â€� Jhonattan Vegas has lived in Houston off and on since 2002 when he moved to the United States from Venezuela to follow his dream of playing on the PGA TOUR. His wife and their 17-month-old daughter were in Houston when Harvey hit while Vegas was preparing for the Dell Technologies Championship and playing a Presidents Cup practice round at Liberty National. “(They) haven’t been able to leave the house for five days,â€� Vegas says. “We were lucky enough that around our area nothing flooded but all the rain coming down, all the lightning, a tornado hit not far from my house. So, it’s always tough, sleeping well or doing anything around here when you’re dealing with Mother Nature that way.â€� Stroud says Dawie van der Walt, who was on the PGA TOUR last year and currently plays the Web.com Tour, has 4 feet of water in his Kingwood, Texas home. “His house is completely devastated,â€� Stroud said. “He texted me some pictures yesterday. It’s really sad.â€� Shawn Stefani, who lives in Baytown, which is southeast of Houston, barely beat the worst of Harvey’s fury as he headed to Ohio to play in the Web.com Tour Championship. “On the way up to Dallas, he passed a 200-truck convoy of what they call the Cajun Navy,â€� Stroud says. “I’m sure you’ve heard of this. It’s guys from Louisiana bringing their boats, their jacked-up trucks to help. And he said there was a subdivision probably 500 or 600 homes under four feet of water, and all these trucks were in line to back up their boats and go save people.â€� Stroud has a similar truck that he estimates extends about 4 feet into the air and can drive through 5 feet of water. So his buddies made good use of it, driving around the neighborhood to rescue people and pets. Stroud originally was supposed to make a quick trip home to Texas on Sunday. When he missed the cut at THE NORTHERN TRUST, he considered trying to get a jump on Harvey, which ended up sitting over southeast Texas for five days and dumping several trillion gallons on rain on the area. “I talked to my wife, my family, my friends, and the thing they were concerned about, if I did get back home, how could I get back out.â€� Stroud says. “And it was tough. My heart goes out to all the people there. Obviously I was extremely worried about my family being at home.â€� His wife considered taking the couple’s two daughters and going to their house at a lake about two hours north of Spring. Stroud didn’t know how to advise her from afar, but some of his buddies, one of whom is a retired Navy SEAL, stepped in and helped make the decision to stay. “I think it was Sunday night where it really got scary,â€� Stroud says. “There was lightning, flood, tornado threats. There was a tornado that hit in my neighborhood, north Houston, and just scary. And the power was going in and out. … I couldn’t get to them. I couldn’t call them — and the landline’s down. “So it was scary for me to just sit here. My heart is somewhere else and I’m supposed to be getting prepared for golf. It’s just, you know, it makes you realize what’s most important in your life is your family and friends.â€� One of those friends, former TOUR player Kelly Gibson, has reached out to Stroud several times in the last week. He’s from New Orleans and weathered Hurricane Katrina, even helping to serve food to first responders during the devastating hurricane, and watched as his beloved city resurrected itself. Stroud, who picked up his first TOUR victory last month at the Barracuda Championship, said Gibson’s most recent text was “humongous,â€� estimating that it clocked in at 70 lines. Among other things, he wanted to give Stroud advice on how to compartmentalize. “When you’re on the golf course, focus on the golf and when you’re off the golf course, focus on what you can do to keep your family everything and safe,â€� Stroud recalls Gibson writing. “The things that I did read on the text last night that I haven’t finished was it’s going to take months and years for this rebuild of Houston, and he said, just, you know, just be prepared for that. Be prepared for the process of what it takes to rebuild a city. “It’s really, really sad.â€�
Under Armour stock drops after Durant’s criticismUnder Armour stock drops after Durant’s criticism
Kevin Durant is not a fan of Under Armour shoes. He made that abundantly clear during an appearance on The Bill Simmons Podcast this week, saying “nobody wants to play in Under Armours.” For me, I didn’t want to go to Maryland. I didn’t want to stay home. I wanted to see what was outside
Strasburg escapes jam, then homersStrasburg escapes jam, then homers
In a span of about 10 minutes in Wednesday’s start against the Marlins at Nationals Park, Stephen Strasburg showed off a rare display of two-way skill to jumpstart the Nationals.
Rick Pitino plans to hold a Pro Day at Louisville for NBA scoutsRick Pitino plans to hold a Pro Day at Louisville for NBA scouts
Following in the footsteps of Duke and Kentucky, Louisville head coach Rick Pitino is looking to have a Pro Day of his own.
Mind-boggling gambling odds show how much of a lock the Golden State Warriors are to make the playoffsMind-boggling gambling odds show how much of a lock the Golden State Warriors are to make the playoffs
With a record of 207-39 over the past three seasons, the Golden State Warriors are a virtual lock…
Keon’s HR-robbing catch seals Crew’s winKeon’s HR-robbing catch seals Crew’s win
Domingo Santana hit a tiebreaking home run in the sixth inning, Jonathan Villar added a two-run shot of insurance two batters later and Keon Broxton made a game-saving catch to end a 6-5 Brewers win over the Cardinals for a split of the teams’ two-game series at Miller Park.
Sources: Blazers waive forward NicholsonSources: Blazers waive forward Nicholson
Sources: Blazers waive forward Nicholson