Rotoworld: Oregon RB LaMichael James and Oklahoma State WR Justin Blackmon among top 10 players who are being overhyped for the 2012 draft.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
The Detroit Red Wings equaled an NHL record with their 20th straight win at home, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 Sunday night on the strength of Johan Franzen's tiebreaking goal early in the third period.
PBT: Boston's Rajon Rondo continues to be named in trade talks, which is madness. The Celtics guard creates offense and makes everyone around him better, which was evident in Sunday's win over the Bulls.
Arc: Syracuse is among a solid group of No. 1 seeds in our latest tournament projections, but the middle of the pack is much more murky.
Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.
Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods greeted their Sunday pairing at Pebble Beach with optimism. But the day would end happily only for one.
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
AP
CHICAGO - William W. Wirtz was a philanthropist and family man who owned the Chicago Blackhawks through years of sweeping changes in the NHL and was chairman of the league’s board of governors for nearly two decades.
Amassing a fortune in real estate, liquor distribution, banking and other enterprises, he was also a tough bargainer, given the nickname “Dollar Bill” for his tightfisted approach to contracts for big-name players.
Wirtz died Wednesday at age 77. The team’s Web site said he lost a battle with cancer in Evanston.
Wirtz was remembered for both his contributions to the sport and charity and for his stubborn management style that included a refusal to televise the team’s home games, infuriating fans, many of whom had stopped watching altogether the last several years.
Wirtz’s family purchased the team in 1954 and he became team president in 1966, a position he held for 41 years.
Asked in a 2005 TV interview about his legacy, Wirtz said:
“I have been remembered very nicely in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame and the National Hockey League Hall of Fame. So I don’t need any more honors than them. The only way I want to be remembered is not by the public, but just by my family and friends. That I put more back on this earth than I took out. That’s my reputation and I’m gonna stick with it.”
Wirtz helped negotiate the merger of the NHL and the World Hockey Association in the late 1970’s.
“Bill Wirtz was a giant presence in a giant city his beloved Chicago and an even greater presence in the National Hockey League,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement. “His 41 years as President of the Blackhawks and 18 years as Chairman of the Board leave an incomparable legacy of contributions to the game and to the League.”
Together with Chicago Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf, Wirtz backed the construction of the United Center, which replaced the Chicago Stadium, the longtime home for Blackhawks.
When Chicago Stadium was knocked down by the wrecking ball, Wirtz came to the parking lot, stood, watched and wept because the building had been a part of his family for so long.
But the move across the street for the 1994-95 season has not been a transition of success for the once perennial playoff team — especially on the ice.
There has been constant shuffling in coaches and general managers, but still the Blackhawks have not won a Stanley Cup championship since 1961 and have missed the playoffs eight times in the last nine seasons. Attendance last season was 12,700 in the 20,500-seat United Center.
“In spite of the last decade, he was upbeat, and positive, and caring, the same way he was when we were successful,” general manager Dale Tallon said Wednesday. “He never changed, and that tells you what kind of a man he was. I loved him like a father.”
At the United Center, the retired numbers of Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita, Tony Esposito, Glenn Hall and Denis Savard hang high above the ice.
One of the NHL’s greatest scorers, Hull left in 1972 and went to Winnipeg of the WHA for a big contract when the Blackhawks would not meet his salary demands.
In recent years, Chicago lost such high-caliber players as Jeremy Roenick, Tony Amonte, Ed Belfour and Chris Chelios.
The Detroit Red Wings equaled an NHL record with their 20th straight win at home, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 Sunday night on the strength of Johan Franzen's tiebreaking goal early in the third period.
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Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
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