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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) Racing Club midfielder Giovanni Moreno turned up for practice flanked by police and accompanied by the president of the players union on Wednesday.
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MONTREAL (AP) Bernardo Corradi and Sinisa Ubiparipovic scored in the second half Saturday to lead the Montreal Impact to a 2-0 win over the Portland Timbers.
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Now that Andre Villas-Boas' brief and confrontational reign at Chelsea has been mercifully end, giving way to the club's resurgence under caretaker manager Roberto Di Matteo, all the little details about how AVB and Chelsea just weren't a good fit for each other are coming out.
According to the London Evening Standard , some in the dressing room came up with a nickname for Villas-Boas, who served as Jose Mourinho's opposition scouting video compiler in his first stint at Chelsea.
[Di Matteo's] predecessor seemed addicted to conflict — not just with the media, whom he perceived were desperate for him to fail — but also with many of the playing staff and even those working for the club's in-house TV channel.
It was no wonder Chelsea looked so fractured and disjointed on the pitch when the atmosphere around the dressing room was far from harmonious.
From his first day in charge, Di Matteo has applied basic man-management skills to heal the wounds caused by the man some referred to as 'DVD'. All the players have been told they have a chance of playing and, significantly, two of their best performers in recent weeks, John Obi Mikel and Salomon Kalou, were previously ignored.
Granted, it's not the meanest nickname ever and I'm sure Villas-Boas is far too busy counting Roman Abramovich's money to even come close to caring, but it does show how doomed he was as the club's manager. But this should give Andre a good idea to start a line of AVB brand blank DVDs for all your media storage needs. They're Portuguese tested and ginger approved. |
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| (fixes headline)
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| Earlier Monday, Dan Devine noted that Los Angeles Clippers point guard Chris Paul is now wearing a protective mask just like fellow Staples Center star Kobe Bryant. In L.A., protecting a broken nose with a clear plastic mask is the new black.
It's so popular, in fact, that little kids are also catching on. In fact, Paul's young son has asked to get in on the trend. As you can see in this photo , he had his father make him a special mask for his own basketball games.
Well, that is pretty much the most adorable thing in the world. Teammate DeAndre Jordan mocked CP3's arts-and-crafts skills , saying that the young Paul looked like Blankman , but that's nitpicking. Plus, it'd be pretty awesome if any player, let alone a superstar, wore a mask with this shape during a real game.
After the jump, check out CP3's original tweet on why his son needed the mask in the first place. |
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| Here are your Puck Headlines: a glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media.
• Over on Chris Creamer's Sports Logos site, graphic artist Kristopher Bazen revealed that he helped create the infamous Buffalo Sabres BuffaSlug, publishing a series of concepts that were rejected along the way. Fascinating stuff for gear heads, or fans of Donald Trump's hair. [ s/t Scotty Wazz ]
• Vancouver Canucks GM Mike Gillis doesn't want to sound like a whiner when whining about officiating at the GMs meeting. [ Province ]
• Hybrid icing and elimination of the defensive zone hand pass are among the hot topics for the NHL GMs in their Boca Raton meetings. [ CP ]
• Goaltenders Ilya Bryzgalov of the Philadelphia Flyers and Jaroslav Halak of the St. Louis Blues as well as left-winger Ilya Kovalchuk of the New Jersey Devils were named the NHL's three stars of the week Monday. Don Cherry bemoans this lack of Ontarians. [ NHL.com ]
• Todd McLellan continues coaching for his job mixing things up for the San Jose Sharks, as Patrick Marleau has been shifted to the middle of Ryane Clowe and Daniel Winnik, and Joe Thornton centers Logan Couture and Joe Pavelski. [ Working the Corners ]
• Why Sidney Crosby should only be a power-play specialist upon his return to the Pittsburgh Penguins' lineup. [ Fischler Report ]
• The Detroit Red Wings are about to get Jimmy Howard back for their West Coast swing. [ Freep ]
• Injured forward Dan Carcillo and the Chicago Blackhawks have agreed on a 2-year extension worth a reported $825,000 per season. Which is perfect money for the team, and makes this potential headache (Shanahan has him on speed dial) more palatable. [ Sun Times ]
• Razor advocates for the end of morning skates among his 10 changes to the NHL: "Originally adopted to get players out of bed and perhaps curb late night extra-curricular activity the night before games, its unnecessary nowadays — it's a much different time. Adapt. Abolish. It's now merely a wooby blanket for coaches and some players, and a colossal time waste for everyone else. Not to mention an unnecessary added workload for the athletes." [ Razor ]
• "History Will Be Made" is … history. The NHL will have a new ad campaign for the Stanley Cup Playoffs called "Because It's the Cup", which will "attract non-hockey fans by 'socializing the Stanley Cup playoffs.'" Please don't be a bunch of pretty people in jerseys they don't own talking to the camera inside of random bars. [ Puck The Media ]
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| The U.S. number one was strong in net as Everton surged to a big league win, while several Americans in Germany had a rough weekend. |
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| No. 1 Star: Mike Smith, Phoenix Coyotes
Smith's career year continued as his 42-save night helped the Coyotes to a 3-0 win over the San Jose Sharks. The shutout was Smith's fifth of the season and 16th of his career, while the win was his 30th. Rookie defenseman Michael Stone scored his first NHL goal and added an assist as the Coyotes stayed two points ahead of the Colorado Avalanche for seventh in the Western Conference.
No. 2 Star: Andrei Kostitsyn, Nashville Predators
Having cornered the market on Kostitsyns, the Predators were aided by their presence in the lineup as Andrei and his brother Sergei hooked up on a pair of power play goals as Nashville beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-2. Sergei set up both of Andrei's goals as AK-46 upped his production to three goals and six points in five games since being traded the Predators. David Legwand assisted on all three goals and Pekka Rinne made 35 saves.
No. 3 Stars: Kari Lehtonen, Dallas Stars / Jonas Gustavsson, Toronto Maple Leafs / Ilya Bryzgalov, Philadelphia Flyers
In captain Brenden Morrow's return from an 18-game absence due to injury, his goal would be more than enough as the Stars would drop the Anaheim Ducks 2-0. Lehtonen made 21 saves for his third shutout of the year and 20th of his career.
Gustavsson (27 saves) and Bryzgalov (29 saves) combined for the double shutout as Philadelphia needed just this sick Claude Giroux goal in the shootout to win 1-0:
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| Little more than three
months before England kick off against France at the Euro 2012
finals, the country's planning for the tournament appear to be
at the "blank sheet of paper" stage.
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| The visiting side spurned several chances in the first half but otherwise mirrored the display of its captain and created little throughout the contest. |
