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(04/22/08 3:34am)
BOSTON – Robert Cheruiyot is well-versed in the Boston Marathon course, with four victories in five trips from Hopkinton to the Back Bay.\nAbderrahime Bouramdane visited for the first time on Monday, learning what thousands before him have come to understand as they reached Heartbreak Hill, 20 miles into the race.\n“Up,” he said, “is the problem.”\nCheruiyot pulled away from Bouramdane as they entered the Newton Hills, reaching the crest of Heartbreak Hill with a 27-second lead and coasting to the sixth-fastest time in Boston Marathon history.\nDire Tune outkicked Alevtina Biktimirova after a back-and-forth last mile to win by 2 seconds in the closest finish in the history of the women’s race. Cheruiyot, of Kenya, and Tune, of Ethiopia, each earned a recently enhanced prize of $150,000 – the biggest in major marathon history.\nCheruiyot won in 2 hours, 7 minutes, 46 seconds to become the fourth man to win the race four times. After crossing the finish line, he dropped to his knees to kiss the ground before standing up and counting off his four victories with an upraised arm.\n“This was the hardest,” Cheruiyot said. “Boston is not a very easy course, it’s very difficult. (But) I enjoy running the hills.”\nAlthough he repeatedly checked his watch as he ran alone for the last miles, Cheruiyot did not challenge the course record of 2:07:14 he set two years ago.\nHis problem: No one to race with.\n“It’s very difficult when you’re running alone here in Boston,” he said. “You need company.”\nTune, who finished in 2:25:25, was the first Ethiopian woman to win since Fatuma Roba won three in a row from 1997-99. She ran side-by-side with Biktimirova into Kenmore Square, and appeared to give up an edge when she nearly missed one of the final turns.\nTune quickly composed herself and took the lead before the last turn, but Biktimirova caught her and regained the lead briefly. Tune pulled ahead for the good on Boylston Street in the last few city blocks and beat the Russian to the line.\n“I was fighting until the end,” Biktimirova said. “And in the end I just didn’t have enough speed.”\nThe previous closest women’s finish came two years ago, when Rita Jeptoo beat Jelena Prokopcuka by 10 seconds. Jeptoo finished third this year, 69 seconds behind Tune.\nCheruiyot’s third consecutive victory gave Kenya its 15th men’s title in 17 years; Kenyans also finished sixth through ninth. But Cheruiyot’s countrymen struggled more than usual overall, with just the one man in the top five – the fewest since 1992 – and one woman in the top 10.\nCheruiyot could not say whether the performance was related to the postelection violence back home, in which some of his country’s top runners have been killed and threatened. Cheruiyot missed two months of training because of the unrest before his coach moved their camp to Namibia.\n“My training has been going well despite the problems in Kenya,” he said. “When something happens, you have to forget and train.”\nBouramdane finished 1:18 back and fellow Moroccan Khalid El Boumlili came in third, another 1:31 back. Nicholas Arciniaga, of Rochester Hills, Mich., was 10th to give the Americans a top-10 finish for the fourth consecutive year.\nCheruiyot pulled away from a pack of four at the base of the Newton Hills, running the 19th mile in 4:37. He passed defending women’s champion Lidiya Grigoryeva, with the two No. 1 bibs running side-by-side, just before the 24-mile mark.\nCheruiyot remained on a record pace as he approached Kenmore Square before slowing down during the last mile. Although his course record remained intact, he still beat his winning time of 2:14:13 in last year’s monsoon-like conditions.\n“Myself, I tried to push,” he said. “Last year, I wanted the race to be faster.”\nThe race came a day after the U.S. trials featured the top American women running for a berth in the Olympics. Deena Kastor, Magdalena Lewy Boulet and Blake Russell finished in the top three to make the U.S. team that will go to Beijing.\nWith the three new Olympians serving as grand marshals, more than 25,000 runners left Hopkinton under a cloudy but calm sky and temperatures in the 50s – a major improvement from last year’s rain and wind that threatened to scuttle the race.\nAmong those in the event’s second-largest field: cyclist Lance Armstrong and astronaut Sunita Williams, who ran a simulated Boston Marathon last year while in orbit on the International Space Station.\nArmstrong won the Tour de France seven times on the strength of his work in the mountains. When he started preparing for Boston, his third marathon, some race veterans told him the hills weren’t as difficult as their reputation made them out to be.\n“They were wrong,” said Armstrong, who finished 496th in 2:50:58. “They are harder, and they do come at a difficult time in the race.”
(04/27/07 4:00am)
BOSTON – No paint, no ink, no ketchup.\nNothing but Curt Schilling’s blood was seeping through his socks in the 2004 postseason, current and former Red Sox said Thursday after a rumor resurfaced that the pitcher milked his injury for drama while helping Boston end its 86-year title drought.\nOn Wednesday, Baltimore announcer Gary Thorne said during his broadcast of the Red Sox-Orioles game that Boston backup catcher Doug Mirabelli admitted it was a hoax.\n“It was painted,” Thorne said. “Doug Mirabelli confessed up to it after. It was all for PR.”\nBut Mirabelli denied ever talking to Thorne, telling The Boston Globe that Thorne’s comment was “a straight lie.”\n“I never said that,” Mirabelli told the paper. “I know it was blood. Everybody knows it was blood.”\nRed Sox president Larry Lucchino said the team “would not dignify these insinuations with extensive comment ... other than to remind everyone that we remain steadfastly proud of the courageous efforts by a seriously injured Curt Schilling – efforts that helped lead the Red Sox to the 2004 World Series championship.”\nAfter an ankle injury hampered Schilling in Game 1 of the ‘04 AL championship series against New York, team doctors jury-rigged a tendon in his right ankle to keep it from flopping around. With blood seeping through his sock, the pitcher came back in Game 6 to beat the Yankees.\nThe Red Sox completed an unprecedented comeback from an 0-3 deficit to reach the World Series, and team doctor Bill Morgan repeated the procedure before Schilling’s Game 2 start against St. Louis. Boston beat the Cardinals en route to a four-game sweep and its first world championship since 1918.\nNo stranger to the spotlight, Schilling is not afraid to say or do things that court controversy. The suggestion that he faked the injury to get attention has cropped up before, including a GQ magazine article that cited an anonymous Red Sox player as its source.\nSchilling tried to settle things in his own blog this spring when a reader asked him to respond to claims by Yankee fans that the red stains were ketchup.\n“Needless to say it was blood, my blood, and it was coming from the sutures in my ankle,” Schilling wrote in a March 17 Q&A. “You’re either stupid or bitter if you think otherwise.”\nMorgan, the doctor who performed the experimental procedure, said the accusation was “hard to fathom.”\n“Obviously, we put sutures in Curt Schilling’s ankle right before he went out to pitch in a professional-level baseball game,” Morgan said in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press. “Sutures will pull with movement, and we completely expected a certain amount of blood to ooze from the wound. Socks are like sponges, and even a small amount of blood can soak a sock.”\nLos Angeles Angels shortstop Orlando Cabrera, who played on Boston’s World Series team, also came to his ex-teammate’s defense.\n“I was actually in the training room when he was getting the sutures, so I don’t see no reason why he would have to paint blood on his sock,” Cabrera said before Thursday’s game against Tampa Bay. “I don’t know why people want to believe that it wasn’t blood.\n“He was really injured, and you could see when he was throwing.”\nSchilling has said the sock from the Yankees game got tossed in the laundry. The one from the World Series is at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.\n“We have no reason to doubt Curt, who has a profound respect for the history of the game and is cognizant of his role as a history maker,” said Hall spokesman Jeff Idelson. “The stain on the sock is now brown, which is what happens to blood over time.”
(12/06/06 4:09am)
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- The steroid scandal that tainted Mark McGwire's Hall of Fame chances is also threatening to tarnish Cal Ripken Jr.'s induction.\nA two-time MVP who played in 2,632 consecutive games to break Lou Gehrig's record streak, Ripken is considered a certain first-ballot inductee next year. Tony Gwynn also is eligible for the first time and is expected to be a lock for Cooperstown when the votes are counted in early January.\nSo was McGwire, back when he hit 70 homers in 1998 to break Roger Maris' single-season record. The former Oakland and St. Louis first baseman finished with 583 home runs, seventh on the career list, but his refusal to answer questions about steroid use during a congressional hearing last year has stained his career and his candidacy.\nNow, it's also taking attention away from Ripken and Gwynn as they wait to be enshrined.\n"The Hall of Fame run, it should be a celebration of the player's career," Ripken said Tuesday at baseball's winter meetings. "I hope, if that happens with me, that it would be a celebration."\nAn AP survey last month of 125 baseball writers who are eligible to vote -- about 20 percent of the total -- showed that only one in four who gave an opinion planned to vote for McGwire.\n"He had the greatness of a Hall of Famer," said Tony La Russa, McGwire's former manager, who also speculated that McGwire would consider taking a job in baseball when his sons get older.\nRipken spoke Tuesday on behalf of an artificial turf manufacturer before the questions turned to next month's Hall of Fame balloting. Asked if he would object to sharing the stage with McGwire, Ripken said, "Couldn't get past that question, could we?"\n"I'm curious, but I don't feel that I'm in a position to judge," he said. "History will judge us all in some way. And if you're content with the truth coming out, then whether your judgment day is now or 50 years from now doesn't matter."\nWhile saying he wasn't sure how well steroids worked, he also acknowledged that he had some suspicions when he was playing. Ripken said he built a gym in his house and worked hard to get stronger, but he couldn't match the gains he saw in others.\n"A smarter person will have suspicions when you look around and see people coming back a lot bigger than they were," he said. "I realize that steroids were an issue in other sports. But no way did I know it was as big as it's starting to show it was."\nRipken also said that while it's impossible to determine what effect steroids have on statistics, "if all your numbers are produced by those sorts of means, then I'd say, yeah, they're artificial numbers."\nBut he also stressed that McGwire was not the only suspect.\n"If you start to look at that one, then you need to start looking at everybody else," Ripken said.\nRipken retired as one of only seven players with 400 homers and 3,000 hits and was selected to play in 19 All-Star games. He also revolutionized the shortstop position, setting the stage for superstars such as Alex Rodriguez by adding power to a job typically manned by the quick and the slick.\nBut Ripken's most celebrated Hall of Fame credential is his consecutive games streak. When the Baltimore Orioles star broke Gehrig's record in 1995, the heartwarming moment was credited with bringing baseball back from a strike that forced the cancellation of the '94 World Series.\nThree years later, McGwire's pursuit of Maris' record of 61 home runs energized the sport anew; Barry Bonds topped McGwire with 73 homers in 2001. But that mark, once one of the most hallowed in sports, is now derided as a steroid-enhanced fraud.\n"I think we all were very disappointed that steroids came flying out into the game of baseball. The integrity of the game was in question," Ripken said. "It's sad that a cloud is over baseball. Maybe the whole story has not been told yet. I believe the story will come out in time"
(11/30/06 4:26am)
BOSTON -- The Red Sox aren't waiting until they get to Florida next week to start plugging the holes in their roster.\n"We might have something done before the winter meetings with one free agent," General Manager Theo Epstein said.\nAlthough Epstein declined to identify the player, the Red Sox are known to be pursuing former Dodgers outfielder J.D. Drew. Drew's agent, Scott Boras, said he expects to wrap up negotiations for a deal by the end of the week.\nBoston again is expected to be one of the more active teams when the meetings start Monday in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. The Red Sox are shopping outfielder Manny Ramirez, and they are also negotiating with Boras for Japanese star Daisuke Matsuzaka; Boston already bid $51,111,111 for the right to negotiate with Matsuzaka.\n"We have made an offer. I don't want to go too much more into it," Epstein said. "It is important to maintain a quiet and calm environment, if possible. That's to the benefit of both parties."\nEpstein also sidestepped questions about Ramirez, but the GM did say the team's biggest hole as he approached the meetings was the bullpen. Jonathan Papelbon, who saved 35 games last season before shutting down with shoulder problems, will move to the rotation in an effort to stay healthy.\nThat leaves Boston looking for a closer.\n"We've had a lot of talks about trades for a closer," Epstein said during a conference call. "We've dabbled in free agency but haven't gotten anything done yet. Our bullpen will look a lot different on opening day than it does now."\nThe GM relayed reports from Papelbon that the pitcher's recovery is going well.\n"All the reports from him are that his shoulder feels terrific," Epstein said. "He feels strong and is speaking in superlatives about his shoulder."\nEpstein missed last year's meetings during his six-week hiatus from the Boston front office. He's back now and looking forward to the trip.\n"Being a general manager isn't always about sitting back and being able to find players to make up your team," he said. "It's almost refreshing when you get to a venue where you know you can get things done. It's an exciting time, something we work all year in anticipation of."\nThe Red Sox also announced Wednesday that David Ortiz won his third consecutive Thomas A. Yawkey Award as the team's Most Valuable Player, as voted on by the Boston chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Ortiz is to receive his award Jan. 11 at the 68th Boston BBWAA Awards Dinner.\nOrtiz led the AL with 54 home runs, breaking Jimmie Foxx's franchise record, and 137 RBIs. Mo Vaughn (1993-96) and Roger Clemens (1990-92) were also Red Sox MVPs for three or more straight seasons.\nAlso Wednesday, the Red Sox announced that former second baseman Luis Alicea will be the first base coach. Alicea, 40, managed in the Class A level of Boston's minor league system for three seasons and worked in the Arizona Fall League this year.\nAlicea played 13 seasons in the majors with St. Louis, Boston, Anaheim, Texas and Kansas City, batting .260 with 47 homers and 422 RBIs.\n"He's really developed himself as a staff member during his three years," Epstein said. "He's an ideal fit with what we were looking for with a first-base and infield coach"
(04/05/06 5:24am)
BOSTON -- Overtime belongs to Maryland. So does the NCAA Championship.\nKristi Toliver hit a 3-pointer at the end of regulation to cap a 13-point comeback, then the freshman made two free throws with 35 seconds left in overtime Tuesday night to give the Terrapins their first NCAA women's basketball title.\nMaryland is 6-0 in overtime games this season -- the first five on the road and the last in the championship game to complete the second-largest comeback in a women's title game. It was the women's first overtime game since Tennessee beat Virginia in 1991.\nJessica Foley made two free throws with 18 seconds left in regulation to give Duke a 70-67 lead, then Maryland coach Brenda Frese called timeout to set up a play.\nToliver, who had 12 turnovers in the semifinal victory over North Carolina, brought the ball down and veered over to the left side before putting through the 3 with 6.1 seconds left. Duke opted not to call a timeout; Lindsey Harding brought the ball down the court and put up a desperation leaner from the right baseline that went off the rim.\nAfter that, Frese gave up the animated exhortations that got her team that far and just let her Terrapins take over.\n"I didn't have to say a word," Frese said. "They just know that overtime is their time."\nDuke took a 75-74 overtime lead before Toliver sank two free throws to put Maryland ahead for good.\nMarissa Coleman, who bounced back from Frese's furious first-half tongue-lashing to finish with 10 points and 14 rebounds, hit the last two free throws for Maryland with 13.4 seconds left. Foley was forced to take a well-covered, off-balance three at the buzzer that barely nicked the rim.
(01/25/06 5:36am)
BOSTON -- Theo Epstein's new job is the same as his old one: general manager of the Boston Red Sox.\nThe Red Sox announced Tuesday that Epstein would resume his old duties -- nothing more and nothing less than when he left on Halloween.\n"While Theo was contemplating returning to the organization in an advisory role," Red Sox president Larry Lucchino said in a statement, "he and I talked and agreed it was best for the organization if he returned as general manager -- a title more appropriate for him because it accurately reflects the role he will play.\n"Theo returns as general manager to an organization that is different from the one he left Oct. 31, 2005. The 14-year relationship between Theo and me, and the passage of time over the last three months, have helped to put behind us the friction that developed during last year's negotiations."\nOnce the youngest general manager in baseball history and still the only one to win a World Series in Boston, Epstein walked away from his dream job on Halloween after a never-explained internal squabble convinced him he could no longer put his whole heart into the job.\nBut even after leaving -- fleeing Fenway in a gorilla suit to avoid the encamped media -- Epstein remained in touch with his former colleagues.\nAfter a halfhearted search to replace him, the Red Sox announced Dec. 12 that Jed Hoyer and Ben Cherington, two of Epstein's former lieutenants, would serve as co-GMs. Last week, the team said Epstein would return to baseball operations full-time, in a capacity to be determined.\nEpstein's return as GM -- his other title is being move up a notch from senior vice president to executive vice president -- was first reported by the Boston Herald on its Web site. Neither last week's statement nor the one released Tuesday specified what led to the friction, though Lucchino alluded to an improved relationship between the business and baseball sides of the organization.\n"Walls have crumbled, perceptions of one another have changed, and appreciation of one another has grown," Lucchino said. "As an enhanced sense of 'team' has emerged, we have rediscovered that, whatever our differences may have been, baseball is at the center of our operations and our lives, and working toward the success of the Red Sox is a commitment which all of us share."\nEpstein said in his statement that there were "fundamental disagreements among members of upper management" about organizational priorities.\n"This lack of a shared vision, plus the stress of a far-too-public negotiation, strained some relationships, including mine with Larry Lucchino," he said.\n"Gradually, with the benefit of time and greater perspective, we tackled not only our personal conflicts but also the differences regarding our thoughts for the organization. We emerged, 10 weeks and many spirited conversations later, with the \ncomfort of a shared vision for the future of the organization."\nHoyer's new job will be assistant general manager, and Cherington was given the title of vice president of player personnel. Bill Lajoie stays on as a special adviser for baseball operations and Craig Shipley was named vice president for international scouting and special assistant to the general manager.\nHoyer and Cherington acknowledged that they knew when they took the GM job that Epstein was expected to return. They were told then what their roles would be, Red Sox owner John Henry said.\n"So this is hardly a demotion," he said. "It is a fact that Red Sox baseball operations have been and will continue to be a collaborative process that its members enjoy."\nMuch of the media coverage of Epstein's departure focused on a power struggle between him and Lucchino, his longtime mentor. Henry said those reports were untrue.\n"It was simply mythology," he said. "I can assure you as we move forward that Larry's role has not changed at all, and no general manager in baseball could ask for more autonomy than Theo has."\nLast week's confirmation of Epstein's long-anticipated return was hailed by those who credit him for assembling the team that won it all in 2004, ending Boston's 86-year title drought.\n"Theo's back. That's all I care about," pitcher Curt Schilling said Tuesday morning in a radio interview transcribed on www.boston.com. "That's all any of the players care about. I would like to think that he's in more of a situation that he wanted when he left.\n"The way I look at it is, there were a lot of issues that were unresolved that he felt he wasn't going to compromise some things and be here, and those things changed over the last 10 weeks. And they changed, and he came back"
(12/08/05 4:29am)
DALLAS -- The Florida Marlins likely finished their salary purge on Wednesday, sending center fielder Juan Pierre to the Chicago Cubs for right-hander Sergio Mitre and Double-A pitchers Ricky Nolasco and Renyel Pinto.\nThe only high-priced players remaining on the Marlins roster are 22-game winner Dontrelle Willis and slugger Miguel Cabrera. Pierre is eligible for salary arbitration and expected to make $5 million to $6 million in 2006.\nThe 28-year-old Pierre batted .276 with 181 hits, 96 runs and 57 stolen bases last season. He gives the Cubs the leadoff hitter they lacked in 2005, when they finished fourth, 21 games behind the Cardinals, with a 79-83 record that was their first losing season in three years.\n"He puts pressure on the opposition," Cubs manager Dusty Baker said. "He brings a different dimension to our lineup so we can play small ball and set up the guys behind him to play long ball as well."\nWith his speed and left-handed bat, the Cubs had hoped Corey Patterson would develop into a leadoff hitter. But the third overall pick in the 1998 amateur draft was a bust at the top of the order, and was even sent back to Triple-A Iowa for more seasoning.\nHe hit just .215 last year with 118 strikeouts, and his on-base percentage was only .254. He didn't have much luck bunting, either.\n"It was a priority," general manager Jim Hendry said. "There's a lot of clubs just lacking that bona fide leadoff hitter. We knew the competition was very tough.
(01/24/05 5:27am)
PITTSBURGH -- Bill Belichick is one victory away from the Vince Lombardi trophy -- and one of Lombardi's most impressive records, too.\nThe New England Patriots coach stymied the Steelers on Sunday night, guiding New England to a 41-27 victory over Pittsburgh to reach the Super Bowl for the third time in four years. A victory there and Belichick will hoist the trophy named for Lombardi while passing him for the best playoff coaching record in NFL history.\nA week after embarrassing NFL MVP Peyton Manning, the Patriots defense did the same with rookie of the year Ben Roethlisberger, jumping to an early lead on a frigid Pittsburgh night in a stadium full of Terrible Towel-waving fans.\nNew England picked Roethlisberger off three times -- the first on his very first pass of the game and the second for an 87-yard touchdown return by Rodney Harrison that gave New England a 24-3 lead. Eugene Wilson grabbed his second interception of the game when Roethlisberger overthrew his receiver with 7:29 remaining and the Steelers running out of chances.\nBelichick improved to 9-1 in the postseason over his career, and will pass Lombardi atop the NFL's all-time list with a victory over Philadelphia in the Super Bowl Feb. 6 in Jacksonville, Fla. Belichick has never lost a playoff game with a conference or NFL title on the line.\nUnder the guidance of Belichick and defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel, who is expected to be hired as Cleveland's head coach after the Super Bowl, a depleted Patriots' defense held Roethlisberger to 224 yards passing. Jerome Bettis carried 17 times for 64 yards but was stopped on a first-quarter fourth-and-1 and a fourth-quarter third-and-goal from the 3 that forced the Steelers to settle for a field goal.\nIn last week's playoff game against Indianapolis, the Patriots held Manning without a touchdown -- or even a pass longer than 18 yards -- to beat the Colts 20-3. Roethlisberger, who had not lost as a starter coming into the game, struggled last week against the New York Jets with two interceptions. But Pittsburgh was still awash in signs praising him as he tried to become the first rookie quarterback to lead his team to the Super Bowl.\nThings didn't start well for Big Ben.\nOn the third play of the game, his pass went off Antwaan Randle El's hands, off each hand of Patriots cornerback Asante Samuel and into Wilson's. New England drove to the Pittsburgh 30 before Adam Vinatieri's field goal made it 3-0.\nSteelers coach Bill Cowher went for it on a fourth-and-1 from the Patriots 39 but Rosevelt Colvin forced Bettis to fumble and Mike Vrabel recovered it. On the next play, Tom Brady hit Deion Branch on a 60-yard touchdown pass -- the Patriots' longest pass play of the season -- to make it 10-0.\nNew England was playing without starting cornerbacks Ty Law and Tyrone Poole, who have been out most of the season, and lineman Richard Seymour, who has missed the last three games with a left knee injury.
(09/07/04 5:30am)
NORTON, Mass. -- Vijay Singh won a head-to-head matchup with Tiger Woods to end his record reign atop golf's ultimate leaderboard.\nSingh shot a 69 to beat Woods and Adam Scott by three strokes in the Deutsche Bank Championship Monday, clinching the No. 1 ranking in the world with his sixth victory of the year. Woods had been first for more than five years -- a record 264 consecutive weeks.\nSingh took a three-stroke lead into the final round, but he and Woods were tied at 13-under after Singh bogeyed No. 13 at the par-71, 7,415-yard Tournament Players Club of Boston. Woods bogeyed the next hole and Singh birdied 15 to pull ahead by two strokes before adding birdies on the final two holes to finish 16-under and win the $900,000 first prize.\n"It feels great," said Singh, who has won the last eight times he took a lead into the final round. "I can't wait to celebrate."\nScott, the defending champion, started the day seven strokes behind Singh before making the turn with four consecutive birdies to get into contention. He birdied the 18th hole to finish 13-under, and Woods matched him; John Rollins and Daniel Chopra were another two strokes back at minus-10.\nSingh is the top winner on the tour this year with six victories, including the PGA Championship, and $7,889,566 in earnings. He needed only to finish ahead of Woods to take over the No. 1 ranking that he has been closing in on all year.\nThe computer rankings factor in performance over the past two years, taking the strength of field into account; Woods held a 12.09-11.91 lead heading into this week. The new numbers were expected to be released later Monday, but Singh's will be the first player other than Woods to hold the No. 1 ranking since Aug. 8, 1999.\n"That's not too bad, is it?" Woods asked. "I've had a good run."\nSingh improved to 15-under with a birdie on the first hole; Woods left a 15-footer on the rim of the cup.\nOn the second hole, a par-5, 553-yard dogleg right, both players got into trouble. Singh couldn't find his ball and took a drop, hit to 14 feet of the pin and then two-putted for bogey; Woods found his among the rocks in front of the green, but when he swung at the ball he hit a rock instead, jamming his wrist, breaking his club and costing himself a stroke.\nShaking off the pain, he punched his way up the hill, chipped onto the green and two-putted from 18 feet for a bogey.\n"It hurt all day," Woods said.\nSingh birdied No. 10 to move back to minus 14 and then Woods moved back within a stroke with a birdie on No. 12, chipping in from 64 feet. But by this time, Scott had moved just one stroke behind Woods with four consecutive birdies, making putts of 16, 20, 12 and 8 feet to get to minus 12.\nSingh hit his second shot over the green on the par-4 13th, then two-putted from 7 feet for bogey to fall to 13 under, tied with Woods. But Woods missed a 9-footer for par on 14, three-putting for a bogey, and Singh knocked his second shot within 4 feet on 15 for birdie; Woods missed a 20-footer to keep pace.
(04/20/04 5:09am)
BOSTON -- Weakened by the heat and a mile-long sprint to the finish, Catherine Ndereba had to receive her winner's medal and olive wreath in a wheelchair.\nAs for the traditional bowl of beef stew, she took a pass.\nIt was much too hot for that.\nNdereba won the Boston Marathon for the third time Monday, running together with Elfenesh Alemu for 10 miles before sprinting away in Kenmore Square to finish in 2 hours, 24 minutes, 27 seconds. The 16-second margin of victory matched the closest in the history of the women's event.\n"Toward the finish, I felt like I was dead," said Ndereba, who collapsed to the pavement at the finish line, where it was 85 degrees. "All of the sudden, I had all those cramps and I could not stand. ... The heat was too tough. So I was going out there knowing I had to run very smart."\nTimothy Cherigat won the men's race in 2:10:37 to complete a Kenyan sweep. He broke away from Robert Cheboror right before Heartbreak Hill to win by 1:12 as Kenyan men took the first four spots and six of the first seven.\nA Kenyan man has won 13 of the last 14 Boston Marathons, and the country is so deep at the distance that Cherigat is not on the Olympic team despite winning the world's oldest and most prestigious annual marathon.\n"It is sad because the team has already been chosen," he said. "I will wait for my time, and it will come."\nFor the women's field, the time came Monday.\nFour decades after a race official tried to run Kathrine Switzer off the course, the women were put in front of the race and given their own start. Leaving Hopkinton 29 minutes before the men and 20,000 recreational runners, Ndereba and Alemu didn't have to confront the clutter of men who glom onto the women's winners for pacing or TV exposure.\n"It is so great, and we have all the room," said Ndereba, the reigning world champion who won the marathon in 2000-01. "We have all the road to run wherever you feel like."\nThe two ran side-by-side and alone for about 10 miles before reaching Kenmore Square -- one mile to go -- where Ndereba sprinted into the lead. Alemu, suffering from back pains and cramping, did not have the energy to respond.\n"Catherine sped up, but I slowed down because of the pain in my back," Alemu said. "I wanted to improve my time, but the heat and the wind wouldn't allow me to do that."\nNdereba's time -- the 11th-best for a woman at Boston -- was fast for a tough course and one of the hottest races in the event's 108-year history. But it was temperate compared to the 96 degrees reached in the 1976 "Run for the Hoses."\nOnce again, spectators who live along the course tried to cool the runners by spraying their garden hoses onto the street. Others offered water that was eagerly accepted by the competitors.\n"It slowed us down a lot," Cherigat said. "I kept pouring water over my head to keep cool."\nIt was 83 degrees in Hopkinton when the female contenders began at 11:31 a.m., leaving the traditional noon start for the men and the recreational field. By the midpoint in Wellesley, the temperature was 85 -- far above the average high of 57 for April 19 in Boston.\nRace officials prepared for the heat with extra water at every mile marker and additional medical personnel throughout the course.\nThe Red Cross had double the usual amount of ice -- 80 pounds at each of 26 spots along the route, said Bruce Kahn, station supervisor at the starting line.\n"We've got lots of ambulances standing by," he said. "If they don't cool off, it can be life-threatening."\nChristopher Zieman of Santa Cruz, Calif., was the top American man, finishing 13th in 2:25:45. Julie Spencer of Baraboo, Wisc., was the top U.S. woman, placing 16th in 2:56:39.\nErnst Van Dyk of South Africa won the men's wheelchair division with the fastest marathon in history, finishing in 1:18:27 to win for the fourth straight year. Van Dyk is tied with Franz Nietlispach (1997-00) for the most consecutive victories in the men's wheelchair and needs one more win to match Nietlispach for most wins overall.\nCheri Blauwet of Menlo Park, Calif., won the women's wheelchair race in 1:39:53. Defending champion Christina Ripp dropped out at the 12-mile mark.
(01/30/04 5:43am)
HOUSTON -- Eugene Wilson joined the New England Patriots with the wide-eyed excitement of any rookie. That lasted exactly one game.\nAfter spending all of training camp -- all of his life, really -- learning to become an NFL cornerback, the Patriots switched Wilson to safety just after the season started. From then, it was back to work trying to learn a position he had never played before.\n"They told me the day after the Buffalo game -- my first game," Wilson said. "At first, I thought it was a joke."\nIt wasn't. It was his introduction to life under Bill Belichick, and Wilson gave the exact answer the coach was looking for.\n"I said, 'All right, as long as I'm going to be able to get out there and help us win,'" Wilson recalled this week. "Coming in as a rookie, I was looking forward to playing corner. The thought of safety never crossed my mind. It happened, and I took it for what it was and tried to make the best of the situation. I feel like it turned out pretty well."\nIt sure did.\nThe Patriots are in the Super Bowl with a defense that allowed the fewest points in the NFL this season. Wilson tied for the rookie lead with four interceptions while starting the last 15 games of the season -- all of them at safety.\nIn that sense, Wilson was the picture of stability: only Tedy Bruschi stayed in one place the whole season, and even he has to change positions when the Patriots switch from an alignment with three lineman to one with four.\n"You have to be kind of versatile to play in this system," linebacker Willie McGinest said as the Patriots prepared to play the Carolina Panthers. "That's what makes us a good, sound group. Everybody depends on everybody else to do certain things. When you think we are going to do one thing, we can switch and do something totally different."\nAnd sometimes, no one is more surprised than the Patriots themselves.\n"I had no idea what to expect," said Dan Klecko, a defensive tackle who has played four positions on defense in addition to special teams and a few downs here and there as a fullback. "Coach Belichick, he likes to simplify things. But they did throw linebacker at me, fullback at me and all special teams. So I was a little surprised."\nBelichick is considered a defensive guru, with schemes that rely less on superstar talent than the kind that can be plugged into roles where they're needed. Linebackers Bruschi, McGinest and Mike Vrabel were all lineman at some point in their careers, so they are equally comfortable in the pass rush and pass coverage.\n"We are interchangeable players," Bruschi said. "We all started at college playing defensive end. We all have that on our resume. ... You know that you will play more than one position."\nThe Patriots' coach insists he doesn't fixate on versatility, but it is an advantage to go into games knowing that he has options. It's not as if he decided, 'Well, you know, we've got Mike Vrabel, and here's eight things we're going to do with him,'" he said.\n"He's a very smart and versatile guy. Mike's one of those guys, when you give him something to do, it's like he's been doing it for a while," Belichick said. "You can tell he's comfortable doing a lot of different things, and he enjoys it."\nThat versatility also allows the Patriots to switch their alignment without having to substitute players. Not only does it make it easier for the defense to react to offensive switches, it can also make it difficult for the opponent to figure out what the defense is doing.\n"Everybody looks at Bill Belichick and they see a lot of different stuff with the way he uses personnel, changing up. People wonder what he'll come up with in two weeks of preparation," Panthers receiver Mushin Muhammad said. "That's ... what Bill Belichick can do to confuse teams. He has the track record."\nThe Patriots like to play up the team concept -- they declined individual introductions before the Super Bowl two years ago -- and on defense it's easy to see why.\nNose tackle Ted Washington clogs up the middle to open up space for the other defensive linemen. Cornerbacks Ty Law and Tyrone Poole cover their men so well that the safeties are free to blitz. Everyone else moves around where they're needed.\n"Football is the ultimate team sport. We believe that," player personnel director Scott Pioli said. "Individuals go to Pro Bowls, and teams win \nchampionships"
(01/09/04 6:43am)
FOXBORO, Mass. -- If the New England Patriots bother to watch videotape of their regular-season game against Tennessee, they'll see two teams they would rather forget.\n"We're a totally different team now than when we played them the first time," Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said Monday after the team returned from its bye week to prepare for its playoff game against the Titans.\nThe winner Saturday night will play in the AFC title game.\nTennessee, 12-4 in the regular season, made the playoffs as a wild card and beat the Baltimore Ravens 20-17 last Saturday to advance to the second round. The Patriots (14-2) won their last 12 games to finish the regular season with the best record in the NFL and earn a bye for the first round of the playoffs.\nBut the last time these two teams met, they seemed to be heading in different directions.\nOn Oct. 5, the region was feverish for the Red Sox and few were paying any attention to the Patriots. The baseball team was in the process of coming back from the brink of playoff elimination against the Oakland Athletics, and manager Grady Little was hailed for his deft handling of the pitching staff.\nThe Patriots were 2-2 and struggling heading into the Tennessee game, having just lost to the unimpressive Washington Redskins. The Titans were 3-1 and looking strong.\nFor New England, the injuries were mounting: Ted Johnson, Ted Washington, Mike Vrabel, Willie McGinest, Kevin Faulk, Adrian Klemm and Daniel Graham were inactive. Running back Antowain Smith and All-Pro cornerback Ty Law were hurt during the game.\nStill, the Patriots scored 31 second-half points to beat Tennessee 38-30. And then they won the rest of their games; they allowed just 38 points in their other seven home games -- less than a touchdown per outing.\n"It doesn't surprise me," Tennessee defensive end Kevin Carter said. "They don't have a bunch of superstars or big-name players. However, the Patriots as a group do the little things to get the job done and win every week."\nPatriots coach Bill Belichick isn't inclined to put too much stock in the first meeting with Tennessee, and the stats back him up: three of last weekend's four playoff games were rematches, and two of the three regular-season losers won when it counted.\nThe Broncos beat the Colts 31-17 in the second-to-last game of the regular season but were manhandled 41-10 Sunday in the first round of the playoffs. Dallas beat Carolina on Nov. 23 but lost handily Saturday; Green Bay beat Seattle in the regular season but needed overtime Sunday to do it again.\n"Look at Denver and Indianapolis. They are as good as an example as you want to see right there," Belichick said. "I don't think it means anything. It is a new week. It is a new season at this point."\nSo, while tape of the Titans game is "a good starting point" for his exhaustive preparation, Belichick will look more at where the teams have gone since then.\n"I am sure that this game against the Titans will play a lot differently than the last one did, even though the teams are the same and there are a lot of things that are the same," Belichick said. "There will be some things that are different. There always are."\nBelichick doesn't have to look back too far to see trouble. The Titans beat New England 24-7 in Nashville in Week 15 of the 2002 season, a loss that added to Belichick's conviction that he needed to make major changes.\nThe Patriots were among the most active teams in the offseason free-agent market, signing impact players Washington and Rodney Harrison as well as role-playing fullback Larry Centers. Linebacker Rosevelt Colvin was supposed to be the biggest signing of all, but he played only five quarters before a broken hip ended his season.\nAsked if the Tennessee loss was the last straw, Belichick said, "Well, what I think we saw down there last year, we saw in a lot of other games too.\n"That wasn't the only one"
(04/22/03 4:49am)
BOSTON --Will Ferrell arrives on time at a tapas restaurant on trendy Newbury Street, not far from the finish line of the Boston Marathon.\nHe's dressed to run, wearing jogging shoes and ankle socks, a windbreaker and black Lycra tights that show how thin his legs have gotten since he began training for the 26.2-mile distance.\nIt is only the second-most revealing thing Ferrell has been seen running in lately. In his movie "Old School," which grossed $73.9 million in its first eight weeks, there is a scene of him streaking down the street.\n"It might improve my time," he says when asked for assurances that he would not reprise the scene Monday in the oldest and perhaps most prestigious marathon in the world. "But it might upset people along the race course."\nSo the interview goes, with Ferrell weaving back and forth between movie junket jocularity and earnest training talk. He knows that the half-dozen reporters allotted 10 minutes each are there because he is a comedian and movie star -- perhaps the biggest non-sports celebrity to run the race (Michael Dukakis ran in 1951, long before he was governor). But when it comes to his running, Ferrell isn't kidding around.\n"Running a marathon is not a question of whether it will be painful, but when it will be painful," he says. "It does help to have a sense of humor, but I'm also respectful of the race."\nFerrell's wife, Viveca, is from the Boston suburb of Needham. The two started running seriously while on vacation on Martha's Vineyard. They decided since he was in New York for "Saturday Night Live," they should try to run the New York City Marathon.\nThey ran New York together in the 2001, finishing in 5 hours, 1 minute, 6 seconds; now, he's gotten faster ("but don't tell her," he whispers) so they run apart. They also ran the Stockholm Marathon last June, where he finished in 4:28:02. In November, he ran a half-marathon in 1:45:02.\n"His goal is to break four hours," says his coach, Gary Kobat.\nMonday's winner will finish in around 2:09, give or take a couple of minutes.\n"As long as the guy in the Gumby costume doesn't pass me, or someone dressed like Elvis, I'll be OK," Ferrell says. "I'm going to try not to cry, or wet my pants."\nWill and Viv Ferrell have bib Nos., 9999 and 9998, respectively. That might be the only way for those on the course to recognize the man who played a dingbatty George W. Bush on SNL. He's lost 25 pounds in the past 2 1/2 years, his hair is curly and he's grown a mustache for a role in a film set in the 1970s called "Anchorman"; in his next movie, "Elf," he plays an overgrown elf in Santa Claus' workshop.\nThose who do see him pass by on the way from Hopkinton to Boston's Back Bay should not expect to see him clowning around, like his SNL predecessor Bill Murray does on the golf course. While running the New York race, Ferrell decided to play a joke on his coach by pretending he was stopping by a friend's apartment to say "Hi."\nThat was in the first mile or so.\n"Then, I'm really playful," Ferrell says, "By the end of the race, I'm like, 'Ohhhhhh....'."\nAs part of his training, Ferrell has also immersed himself in the latest running technology, from the heart-rate monitor on his wrist to the special testing he had done at Pepperdine University to check how his body burns sugars and fats.\n"He's very serious about doing it the right way," says Kobat, whose other acting clients include Jim Carrey and Calista Flockhart. "He's such a student of the craft of running, and he's very coachable. Where a lot of marathoners are just interested in getting faster, he wants to know how it's done."\nKobat runs alongside Ferrell during the races, telling him to speed up or slow down. "Probably speed up," Ferrell corrects himself.\nDespite having a mobile support staff not available to most runners, and a waiver from the qualifying standards as a "special invitee," Ferrell still has to do the hard part.\n"It has been really tough on him at times," says Viveca, who was also running the race. "When he had a 7 a.m. call (for "Old School"), he'd get up at 5. If the call went until 11, he'd be on the treadmill at midnight. But even if he got a little less sleep, it made him feel better."\nDuring Ferrell's seven years on SNL, castmates would go out most nights of the week until early in the morning.\n"I had to skip all that," he says. "People were actually mad at me, that I was doing the show and training for a marathon."\nBut the work has paid off. He is now a thin 195 pounds on a 6-foot-3 frame.\n"It really does improve my energy level. I feel different. I feel better," he says.
(03/23/03 8:13pm)
BOSTON - Pittsburgh's defense put the Panthers in the round of 16 for the second consecutive year and ended Indiana's hopes of back-to-back trips to the NCAA title game.\nJaron Brown scored 20 points, and Brandin Knight added 17 points, seven assists and five steals Sunday as second-seeded Pittsburgh beat Indiana 74-52 to advance to the Midwest Regional semifinals.\nThe Panthers (28-4) will play third-seeded Marquette in Minneapolis.\nIndiana trailed by one late in the first half before Brown hit a 3-pointer and Knight made a pair to give Pitt the last nine points of the half.\nIndiana, a seventh seed, had a similar stumble at a similar time of their opening round game against Alabama before overcoming an 11-point halftime deficit to beat the Crimson Tide 67-62.\nThis time, the deficit was more than a temporary setback for the Hoosiers (21-13), who lost in the championship game to Maryland last year.\nBracey Wright, who scored all of his 17 points in the second half against Alabama, had nine of his 11 in the second against Pitt - not enough. Tom Coverdale, who led Indiana with 23 in the first round, had just six.\nGeorge Leach scored 15, and Wright added eight rebounds for the Hoosiers, but they also turned the ball over 16 times for 18 Pitt points.\nIt was the 11th consecutive victory for Pitt and the sixth time in seven games that the Big East champions held an opponent under 60 points. The only exception was an 87-61 first-round victory over Wagner.\nIndiana trailed just 22-21 when Brown and Knight each hit a 3-pointer to make it a seven-point game. After another Indiana turnover, the Hoosiers called timeout with 3:08 left in the half, but Knight hit another 3 to make it 31-21 at the break.\nIndiana cut it to four in the second when Wright took a long pass for a layup and a foul; he missed the free throw, but got the rebound and scored in the lane to make it 36-32.\nIndiana was within seven when Brown dunked to make it 52-43 with 6:49 left, then Julius Page stole the ball at the other end. He hit a 3-pointer to give the Panthers a 12-point lead, and it was never close again.