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
NEW YORK - In the days leading to the Kentucky Derby, just about everybody ignored the little gelding tucked away in his stall at Churchill Downs.
Mine That Bird, a latecomer to the Derby field, had recently arrived in Louisville after a 19-hour trailer ride from New Mexico, his trainer Chip Woolley doing the driving despite a broken right leg fused with a metal plate and 12 screws.
This was not big news, though, not with top 3-year-olds such as I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile, Friesan Fire and Dunkirk receiving all the attention.
A lot has changed in five weeks: Mine That Bird won the Derby by an astonishing 6¾ lengths at 50-1 odds, came up a length short of the filly Rachel Alexandra in the Preakness and now is the 2-1 morning-line favorite for Saturday’s Belmont Stakes.
From long shot to people’s choice, Mine That Bird has become one of racing’s most popular racehorses, topped only by the sensational filly who won’t be running the final leg of the Triple Crown.
When Woolley led Mine That Bird off a van and toward his barn at Belmont Park the other day, there were about 50 media members there to record every step.
“This is a lot different than when we arrived at Churchill Downs,” Woolley said. “Nobody even came to see me for the first week.”
Two days before Mine That Bird tries to win the 1½-mile Belmont and make Calvin Borel the first jockey to win the Triple Crown on different horses, Woolley was asked if he ever thought he’d be in the national spotlight after a 25 years of training horses.
“It absolutely never crossed my mind,” he said Thursday. “It was a major surprise.”
Starting with the Derby.
Mine That Bird came into the race 0-for-2 at Sunland Park in New Mexico after earning the 2-year-old championship in Canada, then finishing 12th in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
A son of 2004 Belmont winner Birdstone, Mine That Bird was dismissed as the 17th choice in the 19-horse Derby field. Even Tom Durkin, who called the race on national television, was late in spotting him along the rail.
“The only person more surprised than me winning the Derby seemed to be you,” Woolley told Durkin at Wednesday’s post-position draw. Durkin took the ribbing in stride, replying “There are many times I wish I’d seen that race.”
Racing fans were still not convinced after the Derby. And when Rachel Alexandra, winner of the Kentucky Oaks by 20¼ lengths the day before the Derby, was purchased by Jess Jackson and entered in the Preakness, the filly and Borel took the star turns. The filly won the Preakness by a diminishing length over 6-1 third choice Mine That Bird, but the gelding proved his Derby win was no fluke.
A field of 10 is set for the Belmont, with Flying Private the only other horse to compete in the Derby and Preakness. The other Derby runners in the field are Chocolate Candy, Summer Bird, Dunkirk and Mr. Hot Stuff. The other Preakness runner is Luv Gov.
Charitable Man, the 3-1 second choice, and a pair of long shots trained by Nick Zito — Brave Victory and Miner’s Escape — fill out the field.
Mike Watchmaker, the national handicapper for Daily Racing Form, had a simple explanation why Mine That Bird has become so popular.
“He won the Derby, ran huge in the Preakness and the Preakness winner is not here,” he said.
Kiaran McLaughlin, who trains Charitable Man, was initially a skeptic just like everybody else.
“He happened to be in the same barn I was in at Churchill,” McLaughlin said. “And to be honest, with Charitable Man and Mine That Bird, you’re looking at a magnificent animal as opposed to a small gelding that cost $9,500 as a yearling. But he’s a runner and he’s a gutsy little horse who tries hard and might have won the Preakness with a little cleaner trip.”
The first of three pools of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager begins its three-day run on Friday and the bet's opening scenario is very similar to each of its opening pools since the wager was created in 1999.
It's first time that Classic will be broadcast in primetime on Nov. 3.
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The Red Wings have finally started to embrace a record they've been chasing.