kimblr.com

It’s almost the end. Here are the results from Friday’s Rounds 39-44 of Major League Baseball’s first-year player draft.
In Round 39: Charles Hinojosa, catcher from Don Lugo High, was taken 1,184th by the New York Mets, and Kyle Hendricks, right-handed pitcher from Capistrano Valley High, was selected by the Angels with pick No. 1,189.
In Round 40: Kirk Singer, shortstop from Los Alamitos High, was selected 1,196th by the Baltimore Orioles.
In Round 41: Peter Bidwell, right-handed pitcher from Riverside College who’s from Spokane, was chosen 1,226th by the Baltimore Orioles, and Mason Radeke, a right-handed pitcher from Santa Barbara High, was selected by the Chicago White Sox with pick No. 1,230.
Tony McClendon, outfielder from Damien High, was taken by the Houston Astros with pick No. 1,232.
In Round 42: Marc Oslund, right-handed pitcher from West Torrance High, was drafted 1255th by the Kansas City Royals. Randy Molina, first baseman from Stanford by way of South Gate, 1272nd by the Seattle Marines.
In Round 43: Robert Ross, left-handed pitcher from Saddleback College by way of Northwood High, was taken 1283rd by the Tampa Bay Ray. Zach Thornton, right-handed pitcher from Ventura College by way of Oak Park High, 1287th by the San Francisco Giants. Gregory Zebrack, outfielder from Capmbell Hall, 1297th by the Los Angeles Dodgers.
In Round 44: Patrick Johnson, outfielder from Colony High, was selected 1315th by the Kansas City Royals. Aaron Lowenstein, catcher from UC Irvine by way of Calabasas High, 1317th by the San Francisco Giants.
If I’ve missed any of our local players who have been drafted out of college, let me know!

latimesblogs.latimes.com

It’s May 20th and I’m sitting in New Jersey with representatives from each of the 14 lottery teams. From up close I can tell that Pat Riley has indeed had botox. Brandon Roy seems to be a really nice guy, and I chat Kevin McHale up about coming to Sacramento to work with Spencer Hawes and Shelden Williams on their low post games, though McHale gets confused, thinks that I am tryintg to trade him Hawes and Williams and responds by offering Al Jefferson, Al Roker and Al Yankovic.
We are all seated behind our podiums. Michael Heisley is spinning around and around in his chair and yelling “wheee!!!” Chris Mullin has been shooting wads of paper into a trash can and has made 37 in a row. Elgin Baylor has dozed off and is snoring lightly, his head resting peacefully on Donnie Walsh’s shoulder. Clay Bennett keeps trying to relocate his seat.
The ceremony begins. Golden State gets drawn first, followed by Portland. Indiana gets pulled next, meaning that we’ve jumped into the top three! The rest of the teams get pulled in order until we get to the Knicks, who have also jumped into the top three. Miami winds up with the 3rd pick…the Knicks get the 2nd pick…and we win the #1 pick!!!
Jim Gray asks me who I think we should take with the pick. While giggling like a school girl I manage to blurt out “Joe Kleine!” Then I compose myself and state, “Hey, I’ve done my part. Now it’s up to the Maloof’s, Geoff Petrie and the coaching staff to decide. I do like Michael Beasley and Derrick Rose , though.”
So the pick is ours! Who do you like, and why?

sactownroyalty.com

Bob Ryan of The Boston Globe: ‘”The Truth’ may be a reach, but he sure lived up to his Captain’s title yesterday. Paul Pierce brought his certified ‘A’ game to a deciding seventh game against the Cavaliers. He stood tall in the Cousy-Russell-Havlicek-Bird sense, picking the most propitious moment to play his best game of the 2008 playoffs. ‘He just willed his team to victory,’ said Cleveland’s LeBron James. ‘I know that was the breakout game he was waiting for.’”
Monique Walker of The Boston Globe: “In the first-round win over the Hawks, [Ray] Allen averaged 16.1 points and shot 40 percent from the 3-point line (18 of 45). But against the Cavaliers, Allen has struggled. He was held scoreless in Game 1 and managed 9 points in Game 6. Rivers said he is not concerned with Allen’s slump. ‘I told Ray before the game, ‘What happens if you don’t take another shot in the entire playoffs and we win the world championship because they’re going to double you? You’re so valuable if that’s what they’re going to do because it’s going to open the floor for everybody else,’ ‘ Rivers said. ‘I thought Ray had no problem with it. He’s going to be better.’”
Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald: “It is said that experience is important in the playoffs, but the Celtics clearly were pushing that envelope to its limit yesterday. In their hour of need, they wrote their own basketball bible. And an elderly man shall lead them. P.J. Brown — 38 years, 7 months and 4 days old — was the largest of their big men in the last quarter, going for six points and five rebounds in the quarter to guide the Celts to a 97-92 win over Cleveland. Brown didn’t miss a shot on the day, hitting all four from the floor and two from the line on the way to 10 points. We’re still awaiting official word, but he would appear to be a lock for AARP Player of the Week.”

myespn.go.com

Whatever caused it, former Oklahoma wide receiver Malcolm Kelly didn’t go as high as he had hoped Saturday in the NFL Draft, falling to the Washington Redskins with the No. 51 pick in the second round.
Kelly, along with linebacker Curtis Lofton who was taken with the 37th pick in the second round by the Atlanta Falcons, were the only two Sooners selected in the opening two rounds.
It was the first time in seven years that a Sooner wasn’t taken in the first round of the draft, though perhaps it shouldn’t have come as a surprise.
Despite any hype coming from the analysts, both Kelly and Lofton received second-round grades from the NFL when they were mulling over their decisions about whether to skip their senior seasons and enter the draft.
The remaining five rounds will conclude today, during which former OU defensive back Reggie Smith among other ex-Sooners are expected to be taken.
For Kelly, hearing his name called concluded what has been a tumultuous last six months.
First, he had to recover from a partially torn quadriceps, which kept him from playing in the Fiesta Bowl and later participating in the NFL Scouting Combine.
Then, rumors were spread throughout the league that Kelly had chronic knee problems, prompting his agent, Chad Speck, to send a letter to every NFL team calling the rumors “untrue” and “irresponsible,” and enclosed a doctor’s note stating that Kelly was “100 percent healthy.”
Finally on his pro day, Kelly ran the 40-yard dash in a disappointing 4.68 seconds before criticizing the OU strength staff for moving the location of the testing to FieldTurf and accusing the OU training staff of initially misdiagnosing his quadriceps tear.
A day later, Kelly publicly apologized for his remarks.
“Malcolm knows he didn’t handle that with the maturity he should have,” Speck told The Washington Post. “He was frustrated and said some things he knows he shouldn’t have, and some people tried to paint him as a bad-attitude guy, which isn’t the case. He never had any problems like that before. It’s not who he is.”

newsok.com

North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough, collegiate player of the year, said Friday that he will return for his senior year to try to win a national championship.
Sophomores Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington plan to declare for the NBA draft, although they won’t hire agents - leaving open the possibility of their return.
Stanford tied for its best showing in history by finishing third in the NCAA women’s gymnastics championships in Athens, Ga. Georgia won its fourth consecutive title, followed by Utah.
• Stanford’s Russell Brown took the lead at the start of the 1,600-meter final leg, but couldn’t hold off Texas’ Leonel Manzano as the Longhorns won the distance medley relay at the Penn Relays. The Cardinal was second.
• Santa Clara steeplechaser Michael Delaurenti became the first runner in school history to qualify for the NCAA West regional championships when he ran 9:06.84 at the Brutus Hamilton Invitational at Cal.
• San Jose State’s longest win streak since 2002 ended at seven games with an 8-3 loss to Washington State in a non-conference baseball game.
• Catcher Rosey Neill drew a a 10th inning walk with the bases loaded as Stanford edged Washington 2-1 in a Pac-10 softball game at Stanford.
• Jacquelyn Gauthier had three goals as No. 2 Stanford edged No. 7 Cal 8-6 to advance to the semifinals of
the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation women’s water polo tournament.
Scott Speed earned his first ARCA RE/MAX Series victory in a race at Kansas Speedway. Speed overcome a problem with his window net on the 16th lap, passing Jesse Smith with six laps left to win the Kansas Lottery $150 Grand.
• Roger Federer’s struggles continued as he had to rally to defeat David Nalbandian 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 to advance to the semifinals of the Monte Carlo Masters. Three-time defending champion Rafael Nadal advanced over No. 5 David Ferrer 6-1, 7-5.

mercurynews.com

Notre Dame’s Charel Allen will catch up on schoolwork today while keeping an eye on what’s going on in Tampa, Fla.
Allen has a chance to be drafted into the WNBA today despite not being one of 20 prospects invited to Tampa for the 2008 draft.
“I expect the worst,” Allen said last week. “If I get drafted, that’s great. That’s my mind-set. I always think for the worst.
“Then you won’t be upset if you don’t get drafted. I just think, like, OK, I’m not going to get drafted. If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. If it does, great, I’ll be so excited.”
Part of Allen’s feelings stem from the strength of her graduating class. Tennessee’s Candace Parker, LSU’s Sylvia Fowles and Stanford’s Candice Wiggins lead potentially the most talented class to enter the WNBA.
Allen is also accomplished. She is a two-time all-Big East first-team selection. The 5-foot-11 guard averaged 15.1 points and 5.6 rebounds her senior year and led Notre Dame to the Sweet 16 after a career-best 35 points in the second round against Oklahoma.
The question with Allen is whether she will be able to handle the more physical WNBA game.
“She has to prove to them she can take a physical beating, and I think she can,” Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said. “She doesn’t look like she can, but she’s a lot tougher than she looks.”
It’s a toughness bred on the playgrounds of Monessen, Pa., and one that carried her through the Big East.
“Being that I was able to compete with the best players helped a lot,” Allen said.
Three different mock drafts on WNBADraft.net had Allen being selected. One projection had Allen as a first-round pick at No. 14 to New York. Another had her at No. 21 to San Antonio and a third picked her at No. 22 to Seattle.

journalgazette.net

As we continue to celebrate the Capitals rise in the NHL and their amazing finish to win the Southeast Division, I think we need to give a lot of credit to the man who built this team. George McPhee. Ted Leonsis has done a good job, not only learning from his early mistakes (listening Dan Snyder?!!), but being patient with his GM during a very painful rebuild.  In order for the Caps to do it the right way, they had to blow the whole team up after the Jaromir Jagr fiasco (by the way, we are off the hook on paying Jagr next year after he fell short of 84 points this season.  That’s over $3 million to spend on other guys.  That is good.)   Anyway, both Leonsis and McPhee knew this would be painful.  They knew it would take some time and a little luck.  But you can see that they were committed no matter what the press or anyone else had to say.
Here’s how McPhee brilliantly got it done.
2004 - The lockout was upon us and the Caps were underachieving (again).  They fired Bruce Cassidy (yes, a McPhee mistake, but I don’t know who could have gotten anything out of that team.), and brought in Glen Hanlon.  They knew they had to start over and it began with a slew of trades.  Take a look at what a great job McPhee did in those trades in the spring of 2004:
January 23rd - Caps unload Jagr to the Rangers for Anson Carter.  Addition by subtraction on this one.  Big time.  I’m still mad over the whole Jagr years.
February 18th - Caps trade Peter Bondra to Ottawa for Brooks Laich.  Didn’t look so great until this year, but Laich has broken out and had a tremendous season.
February 27th - Caps trade Robert Lang to Detroit for Tomas Fleischmann and the Wings first round draft pick which turned out to be Mike Green.  Even though Flash has been inconsistent, advantage Caps, big time!

mvn.com