Filed under: Bellator Ed West , Zach Makovsky and Ulysses Gomez all won decisions Thursday night at Bellator 27 to advance to the semifinals of the Bellator Fighting Championships bantamweight tournament. In the first fight of the televised card, West beat Bryan Goldsby by unanimous decision in a bout that will be remembered mostly for the fact that the fans at home couldn’t watch it: For most of the fight the Fox Sports Net broadcast lost its video feed, and viewers saw only a graphic saying “Bellator 27 technical difficulties.” The Fox Sports Net audio was still working, but the announcers didn’t seem to realize that the viewers at home couldn’t see the action, and therefore weren’t as descriptive as they should have been.

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Filed under: UFC , FanHouse Exclusive Chances are you’ve witnessed this scene before. A victorious fighter, flush with adrenaline, steps up to the mic for a post-fight interview. His face is lit up like a full moon and, at least in that triumphant moment, anything seems possible. He’s just cold-clocked a qualified competitor on national TV. He feels like a giant among ants. He’s Julius Caesar. He’s Alexander the Great. Conqueror of kingdoms and destroyer of worlds. So is it any surprise what he says when asked who he’d like to face next? ‘I’ll fight anybody they put in front of me.’ Really? Anybody? Because – and don’t take this the wrong way, guy with only two or three UFC fights under his belt – ‘anybody’ covers a lot of territory. A lot of very, very dangerous territory. And yet, to hear the fighters tell it, they’ve never turned down a fight. Not ever. Merely suggesting otherwise is enough to make you their enemy for life. But the thinking fan has to wonder, aren’t there times when it’s smart to turn down a fight? Isn’t it sometimes better to know your own limitations, particularly early in your career?

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Filed under: Chargers , AFC West With many San Diego starters sitting out Thursday night’s preseason finale at San Francisco, wide receiver Jeremy Williams was among the young Chargers ‘ players trying to take advantage of the extended playing time to win a roster spot. All NFL teams must reduce their rosters to the season-opening limit of 53 by Saturday. Williams, an undrafted free agent, returned a punt 93 yards for a touchdown and caught four passes in San Diego’s 17-14 loss to the 49ers . One of the receptions by Williams, a 29-yarder, set up the Chargers’ only other touchdown, on a 2-yard run by Curtis Brinkley . However, Williams also fumbled at the end of another catch. Still, Williams feels like he left it all out on the field in his bid to earn a roster spot. “I felt like I needed to have a good game today to show that I can come back and that I am progressing gradually,” Williams told Chargers.com . “After I came off the field, I looked up and I was like, ‘You know, I put everything I could into it. Whatever happens, happens.’ As of right now, it’s out of my control.’” Coach Norv Turner said he and his staff have some tough decisions ahead of them as they shape the final roster. “It was good for our young players to play as much as they did,” Turner said. “The biggest thing for us is we have some decisions to make at the bottom of our roster. We got a good look at a lot of our young players.” ? Permalink ?|? Email this ?|? Linking?Blogs ?|? Comments

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Filed under: Marlins , Nationals The Nationals have 28 games remaining this season. Nyjer Morgan will be ineligible for more than half of them if all the suspensions he has accumulated the last couple of weeks stand up. Major League Baseball on Friday suspended Morgan for eight games in the wake of three separate incidents in the past week. That’s in addition to the seven-game ban he drew last week after throwing a ball into the stands in Philadelphia, which hasn’t been served yet because Morgan filed an appeal. “What did I do? I feel I haven’t done anything,” Morgan told MLB.com . “They are blowing this way out of proportion because I’m a hard-nosed player — because I knocked over a catcher. They throw the ball at me. Come on, what am I supposed to do?” It’s been a busy week for the Nationals outfielder, who was disciplined by MLB for “unnecessarily” running into Cardinals catcher Bryan Anderson last Saturday; directing “inappropriate comments” toward fans in Florida during Tuesday’s game and charging the mound Wednesday night to incite a bench-clearing brawl with the Marlins . That wide-ranging fracas also led to numerous disciplinary measures against Nationals and Marlins personnel, which were also announced Friday. ? Permalink ?|? Email this ?|? Linking?Blogs ?|? Comments

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Filed under: Texans , AFC South The Houston Texans did more than cut ties with a veteran kicker Friday morning. They cut ties with their roots, too. Kicker Kris Brown , the last remaining player on the roster from the Texans ‘ 2002 inaugural season, was released Friday morning, a day after the team’s preseason finale. The team opted instead to keep free agent kicker Neil Rackers , brought in this past offseason to compete with Brown. Brown told John McClain of the Houston Chronicle he was disappointed but not surprised . “I did everything that I could do, and they had a difficult decision to make,” Brown said Friday morning after being informed of the decision. “I’m disappointed, but I can’t say it caught me off guard. I’ve said from Day 1 that I would focus on what I could control – competing and kicking.” ? Permalink ?|? Email this ?|? Linking?Blogs ?|? Comments

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Filed under: Penguins , NHL Free Agency The Pittsburgh Penguins’ quest to find forwards over the past couple of seasons has been well documented. Since they have so much cap space invested in their top three centers (Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal) they’ve been forced to use a revolving door of reclamation projects, bargain bin free agent signings and trade deadline rentals to play on their wings: Petr Sykora, Bill Guerin, Miroslav Satan, Ruslan Fedotenko. With two Stanley Cup Final appearances in three years, they’ve had a bit of success with this approach. And you can now add another name to the list: Mike Comrie. The 29-year-old forward inked a one-year contract with the Penguins on Friday. The deal is for the league minimum ($500,000) according to the release on the Penguins website . Comrie’s agent, Ritch Winter, said on Team 1260 in Edmonton (which originally reported the signing) that Comrie has already spoken to Crosby, who is looking forward to having him skate on his left wing this season. ? Permalink ?|? Email this ?|? Linking?Blogs ?|? Comments

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Filed under: Yankees , Sports Business and Media NEW YORK — Alex Rodriguez on Friday confirmed his split with agent Scott Boras . “Scott and I had a good run,” Rodriguez said before the Yankees faced the Blue Jays . “Nothing drastic happened. … Some of the things I needed 20 years ago I really don’t need now.” Multiple outlets this week reported that Rodriguez had fired Boras, who had negotiated A-Rod’s two record contracts. But with Rodriguez presumably on his last deal — he will be 42 when the current one expires after the 2017 season — he may not need a true baseball agent ever again. And Boras will still collect the commission on this contract, which is worth at least $275 million. ? Permalink ?|? Email this ?|? Linking?Blogs ?|? Comments

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Filed under: MLS , English Premier League , US Soccer , U.S. Men’s National Team , Chicago Fire , Columbus Crew He’s arguably the most significant American soccer player ever. He was the first draft pick in MLS history, the first American to score in two World Cups, and he was a legend and former captain at an English Premier League club that thought so highly of him it named a stadium pub in his honor . On Friday, Brian McBride , 38, announced that he will retire at the conclusion of the MLS season. The news gives teams and fans around the country time to recognize and congratulate a once-in-a-generation player who genuinely deserves it. “Brian is one of the cornerstones of American soccer,” Fire technical director and former U.S. national team forward Frank Klopas said. “He is a consummate professional and embodies everything that is good in the game. His leadership, everlasting commitment and work ethic on the field are parallel to his impact off of it.” Born outside Chicago, McBride was a true product of the American game. He won a state championship in high school, was an All-American at Saint Louis University (from which he also graduated) and then spent the 1994 season with a minor league team in Milwaukee. After giving German soccer a shot, he returned home to cast his lot with MLS and was drafted first overall by the Columbus Crew. He spent eight seasons with the Crew and helped them win the U.S. Open Cup in 2002. That year, of course, was more significant for what he accomplished with the national team. McBride had scored the Americans’ only goal at the 1998 World Cup, but tallied twice (both game-winners) in South Korea as the U.S. advanced to the quarterfinals. McBride scored four goals during an impressive loan spell at Everton in 2003 and transferred to Fulham the following year, where he scored 40, was twice named the club’s most outstanding player and wore the captain’s armband. He returned to MLS in 2008 to play for his hometown Chicago Fire. McBride played 96 times for the U.S., appeared in three World Cups, won the 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup and scored 30 goals, good for third all-time behind Landon Donovan and Eric Wynalda. In addition to those accomplishments and honors, McBride has been highly regarded for his commitment and selflessness on the field. A target forward who’s lethal in the air but who possesses outstanding control and savvy in the penalty area, McBride was always willing to endure punishment for the cause. He suffered several significant injuries during his career (his head and knees seemed to be in the news constantly), and the iconic image of McBride may be the bloody face he suffered during the first half against Italy at the 2006 World Cup. He stayed in the game, naturally. He’s a player worth celebrating. Here are a couple of videos to get you started: Follow Brian Straus on Twitter Follow FH Soccer on Twitter ? Permalink ?|? Email this ?|? Linking?Blogs ?|? Comments

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Filed under: MLS , US Soccer , Portland Timbers , Vancouver Whitecaps FC Major League Soccer will welcome the Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps into the fold next season, increasing membership to 18 clubs and creating a scheduling quandary — with 30 regular season games on the docket, it would be impossible for each team to play every other team home and away. The solution? Add four games to the schedule. A 34-game season would maintain the balanced, home-and-away format that leagues around the world employ and would ensure that fans in each city get the chance to see every other club. FanHouse understands that the expanded schedule is not a definite, but that there is a very good chance that it’ll happen. Do fans want more regular season games? Wouldn’t it make more sense to use that time for a fun friendly or two? Perhaps more leeway in scheduling CONCACAF Champions League matches or a more sensible U.S. Open Cup structure? Yes to that also, according to commissioner Don Garber. Speaking to Examiner.com at this week’s SuperLiga final in Foxborough, Garber said MLS is looking into tweaking its calendar in order to help those involved in other competitions. His full quote: “We’ve got to reassess the calendar quite a bit and we’ve been spending a lot of time doing that. I’m up here today actually, with our competitive guys doing some planning, just talking about how could we do a couple things — capitalize on the excitement that took place during the World Cup, that clearly proved that Americans loved this game, and how do we build on that? Do we need to look at different formats? Do we need to look at our schedule again? How do we ensure that our teams are at full strength while we’re playing in very, very crowded schedules? We’re spending a lot of time planning and I want to be sure that we do well in all these tournaments. The first priority is our league tournament (MLS Cup playoffs), but certainly, so is the (CONCACAF) Champions League and again, I’d like to see the U.S. Open Cup be a bit more important to all of us. “We’ve got to be sure that we can continue to do well in all these other competitions and not be disadvantaged. The schedule disadvantages us a little bit. In Champions League we’re playing at the key time in our preseason, but at the same time we just have so many games and right now probably need to take a look at how we can be competitive in all those different tournaments.” All of that, plus four additional regular season games? It’s just not going to happen. Something has to give. It can’t be the Champions League, it better not be the Open Cup, and while many wouldn’t mind seeing SuperLiga bite the dust, there really should be a place for a secondary international competition (like in Europe and South America) that gives more teams, players and fans the opportunity to enjoy some cross-border rivalries. It’s good for the development of the game in the U.S. (For those who argue that SuperLiga is just a “money grab,” so what? Don’t the people who’ve invested millions in MLS and in growing the game in this country deserve a little return on their investment? It’s not like they’re robbing people.) The truth is, there’s nowhere really for those four extra MLS regular season games to go, especially in the cold-weather cities, and the 34-game schedule will be moot anyway once Montreal enters the league in 2012 and the 20th team ( perhaps New York? ) comes aboard soon thereafter. Garber cannot have it both ways. There is no room for the expanded schedule, relief for Champions League clubs and the Open Cup without adding a 13th month to the calendar. Our hope is that Garber’s comment about the MLS Cup playoffs being the “first priority” was genuine. The abbreviated four-game tournament, which uses a two-game first round that offers no home-field advantage for the higher seed, is the worst thing about MLS. It’s too short, far too random and often fails to produce a deserving and worthy champion. It’s like telling marathoners that only the last 100 yards of the race count. If Garber can find some give in the schedule, he should do something about the playoffs. Expand them, and make them a true test for the teams involved. We don’t need four additional regular season games. Follow Brian Straus on Twitter Follow FH Soccer on Twitter ? Permalink ?|? Email this ?|? Linking?Blogs ?|? Comments

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Filed under: WNBA , FIBA , USA Basketball , Thunder , FIBA World Championship In The Works today: a report from the WNBA ‘s super-heavyweight Storm-Mercury bout; the World Championship in maps; and readers teach us more about Ramadan. But first , who is the real Kevin Durant , and why do we care so much? The Man Who Wasn’t There : Dateline, this week on the Internet. Tommy Craggs, writing for that hotbed of skepticism Slate , asked whether we’ve gone too far with the whole Kevin Durant, Goodness and Light, thing. Nate Jones , social media expert for the Goodwins — Durant’s representation — weighed in the next day, via Twitter , with his thoughts on the article . The first leg of disclosure: I am a big fan of Craggs, especially his writing for Slate; I think Jones is one of the best at what he does, and frequently consult him when social media issues invade the NBA news cycle. The rest of it: I consider both of them friends, or at least web-pals. Tommy and I get together when I’m in New York, and Nate and I have been on-and-off colleagues for years. I finally met him in person the other night. Then I accidentally knocked over a table on press row at Key Arena. It was the table’s fault. So yeah, it goes without saying that I have to give my two cents about this one. ? Permalink ?|? Email this ?|? Linking?Blogs ?|? Comments

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