NEW YORK (AP)—Derek Jeter(notes) posed in his crisp pinstripe uniform, resting a shiny black bat on his shoulder, while a photographer lying on the ground near the entrance to a Bronx subway station snapped pictures of the New York Yankees shortstop from a low angle.
Photographing the Yankees captain from below to make him look more regal seemed beside the point. Jeter already has an image that is larger than life.
Jeter was back at Yankee Stadium a couple of weeks after winning his fifth World Series title, capping a stellar season with a photo shoot for his latest achievement: Sports Illustrated’s sportsman of the year.
The magazine made the announcement Monday.
“It’s unbelievable. It was completely unexpected. It came out of the blue,” Jeter told The Associated Press during a break in the photo shoot. “When I heard it, what can you say? It’s one of the greatest honors you can achieve in sports.”
The 35-year-old Jeter is the first Bronx Bomber to be tapped for the award that has been given out since 1954. Swimmer Michael Phelps was last year’s recipient.
“That’s even harder considering all the great Yankee players that have played for this organization,” said Jeter, standing under the banners depicting Yankees greats that hang in the Great Hall of the new stadium. “So I hope I’ve done them proud.”
Sports Illustrated Group editor Terry McDonell certainly thinks he has.
“This verifies my idea that he is on the level of Ruth and Gehrig,” McDonell said. “He’s the greatest shortstop in the history of the game.”
Some other baseball players to win the award are Sandy Koufax (1965), Tom Seaver (1969), Cal Ripken Jr. (1995); and the recent nemeses of Jeter’s teams, Randy Johnson(notes) and Curt Schilling(notes) (2001), and the Boston Red Sox (2004).
All business between the lines, Jeter has become one of the untarnished ambassadors in the steroids era of baseball through steady play and quiet leadership on and off the field.
“He’s so classy,” McDonell said. “He brings a dignity and elegance to the game.”
Jeter’s 2009 season was remarkable.
He batted .334 with 18 homers and 66 RBIs with 30 steals to help lead the Yankees to their first World Series title in nine years—a frustrating drought for the player who won four championships in his first five seasons.
And as calls swelled for Jeter to switch positions after his contract expires in 2010, the 10-time All-Star went out and had one of his best defensive seasons: He made a career-low eight errors in winning his fourth Gold Glove.
He also passed Yankees icon Lou Gehrig’s club record for hits, won the Hank Aaron Award as the AL’s top hitter, and was given the Roberto Clemente Award for excellence on and off the field.
The World Series victory might have been Jeter’s most cherished accomplishment this year, but what clinched the sportsman award for him was his philanthropic work. Jeter’s Turn 2 Foundation has doled out over $10 million in grants since 1996 to organizations that help keep young people away from alcohol and drugs.
“It’s about the manner of the striving and the quality of the effort, too,” McDonell said. “Off the field he has grown so much as a member of the community.”
Coming 15 seasons into a career full of honors, the award could be seen as a lifetime achievement, but both McDonell and Jeter dismissed the idea.
McDonell was impressed by Jeter’s leadership, how he “stepped in and molded a team” this spring with the arrival of three expensive free agents, and Alex Rodriguez’s(notes) admission to using steroids from 2001-03 and then having hip surgery that kept him out until May.
For Jeter, who only looks as far ahead as the next game, he’s nowhere near the end of an illustrious career that could culminate with 4,000 hits.
“I’ll take it one hit at a time. That’s a long way in the future,” said Jeter, who has 2,747 hits. “I’m going to play as long as I’m having fun. Right now I’m having a blast.”
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NEW YORK (AP)—NFL commissioner Roger Goodell reportedly will expand restrictions on returning to games for players who sustain head trauma.
Fox Sports reported Sunday that Goodell will issue a memo this week to all 32 teams expanding grounds for the removal of a player with a head injury or concussion.
Currently, a player can return to the game after being diagnosed with a concussion if he is asymptomatic at rest and under exertion, and is cleared by the team doctor. The lone exception is if the medical staff determines the player lost consciousness, in which case he is ruled out for the remainder of the game.
The report said that if a player is “woozy, has general dementia or memory loss,” Goodell wants him barred from returning to a game.
“We are continuing to review all aspects of our guidelines on concussion management and treatment,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said.
The league would not comment on the Fox report.
The Steelers made Ben Roethlisberger(notes) their third quarterback for Sunday night’s game in Baltimore after he sustained his fourth concussion since 2006 in a loss at Kansas City last weekend. Roethlisberger practiced this week, but began experiencing headaches resulting from the concussion. He was examined Saturday by an independent neurologist, a practice the Steelers have used for years in dealing with head injuries, before the team decided to bench him.
The Associated Press this month conducted a survey of 160 NFL players— about 10 percent of the league—and 30 replied that they have hidden or played down the effects of a concussion.
The NFL says its data show an average of one reported concussion every other game—about 120 to 130 concussions per regular season. Of the 160 players interviewed by the AP, half said they’ve had at least one concussion playing football; 61 said they missed playing time because of the injury.
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BOULDER, Colo. (AP)—What does University of Colorado athletic director Mike Bohn have to say to doubters and detractors who contend he’s sticking with football coach Dan Hawkins only because he couldn’t come up with the $3.1 million buyout and the millions more it would take to replace him?
Twelve seconds of silence.
“Yeah,” Bohn responds when asked if he’s still there. “I’m thinking about what I want to say.”
Another 18 seconds of silence.
“Our financial, uh … Can you ask me the question again so I can get a little excited? I slept in my clothes last night. I’m a little slow,” asks Bohn, who flew back into Denver early Thursday after accompanying the men’s basketball team to the Maui Invitational in Hawaii.
So, what does he have to say to those critics who will insist that money and not merit guided his decision to keep a coach who is 16-32 with a 2-20 road record and a 10-21 mark in the Big 12?
“Well, money is always a consideration in big-time college football,” Bohn said. “It wasn’t THE determining factor. The bottom line was Dan Hawkins is the right coach for CU at this time.”
Hawkins has cleaned up a program tarnished by scandal under Gary Barnett, but he’s been unable to find success on the field and has endured four straight losing seasons, which usually lead to moving trucks, not reiterations of support.
The Buffaloes (3-8, 2-5) wrap up their season Friday against Big 12 North champion Nebraska (8-3, 5-2) at Folsom Field in a game that many thought would be Hawkins’ farewell.
Chancellor Philip DiStefano and Bohn informed the team after its walkthrough on Thanksgiving Day of their coach’s status to quell doubts about his future.
“It was really important for me to look these kids in the eye and Dan in the eye rather than being out in Maui” and doing it by phone, Bohn said.
DiStefano said he supports Bohn’s decision to honor Hawkins’ contract, which runs through 2012.
“Dan represents the university’s values on and off the field, and his team has been competitive this year,” DiStefano said. “He has done all that we have asked him to do, and although we all desire more victories, we also recognize starting over with a new coach right now takes us away from, not closer to, our goals for CU football.”
Of the Buffs’ eight losses this season, three have been by a touchdown or less and two others, at West Virginia and Texas, were competitive before fourth-quarter flameouts.
Hawkins signed a five-year contract in 2006 after leaving Boise State, where he was 53-11, and was given an extension 13 months ago before injuries unraveled the Buffs, who finished 5-7 last year.
Hawkins declared “10 wins, no excuses” as his mantra for this season, but the Buffs quickly rendered that goal laughable, leading to widespread dissatisfaction with Hawkins, who became increasingly defensive.
Bohn asked that Buffs supporters now rally around the program and its players, if not Hawkins.
“The program is bigger than any one individual and the institution is bigger than any member of the leadership team or anybody associated with this outstanding university,” Bohn said. “And I recognize that there’s a schism among the fan base. We’re going to work hard to close that.”
Bohn said he expects some backlash.
“I’m certainly aware that people on both sides of this issue are passionate,” he said. “And that’s why I believe one of my biggest challenges will be trying to collectively put that passion together because when we are unified, Folsom Field and our football program can compete with anybody in the nation.”
Hawkins will almost certainly have to have a winning season next year to keep his boss’s trust and his job.
“Clearly, I believe the longer a coach or anyone is associated with a program that the scoreboard ultimately becomes an important barometer,” Bohn said.
Hawkins had more votes of confidence than wins this season, but as the losses piled up, more and more calls came for his ouster, and the din heightened when blue chipper Darrell Scott bolted the Buffs at midseason.
Hawkins acknowledged this week that he regretted recruiting his son, Cody, to Boulder to be his quarterback because his kid unfairly became a lightning rod for critics before his benching at midseason.
Some students took to wearing powder blue to games this season instead of gold and black to protest the program’s slide into mediocrity. It was the color the team wore from 1981-84 when they went 10-34 overall during one of the worst stretches in school history.
That stretch is now rivaled by Hawkins era, and the question now is about the color green: Will alumni and boosters open up their wallets with Hawkins given a fifth season instead of a pink slip?
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Chad Knaus believes he and Jimmie Johnson can continue to add to their championship total for years to come.
But the crew chief first needs a new contract.
Knaus on Wednesday denied an ESPN report that he’s agreed to lead Johnson through 2015, the length of Johnson’s new contract extension with Hendrick Motorsports.
Knaus, who has guided Johnson to four straight titles and 47 victories since 2002, is still working under an extension signed in 2006 that runs through next season.
“We’ve only started very light conversations,” Knaus said. “I don’t have a new contract, and we’ve barely had enough conversation for me to agree to anything.”
Although Knaus said it is his intention to stay with Hendrick Motorsports, “you never know what will happen. There are so many what-ifs.”
Knaus began his NASCAR career with Hendrick in 1993 as an original member of Jeff Gordon’s “Rainbow Warriors” crew. He began as an assistant in the body shop, worked his way into the fabrication department and eventually was put in charge of the body development for Gordon’s car. He was also a tire changer on Gordon’s 1995 and 1997 teams.
Knaus left Hendrick after the 1997 season to try to advance his career, working at Dale Earnhardt Inc. as the car chief for Steve Park, then for Ray Evernham when he left Hendrick to start his own race team. He then spent one season as crew chief for Stacy Compton at Melling Racing.
Knaus returned to Hendrick in 2002 when car owner Rick Hendrick formed Johnson’s new team.
The duo charged out of the gates and has contended for the championship every year. Their record-setting string of four consecutive championships began in 2006, and there’s no reason to believe they will let up anytime soon.
Hendrick said Tuesday that he’s working on an extension with Knaus, but “it’s kind of a foregone conclusion between us that he’s going to be here.
“We’ve got to get the paperwork done, but we still have a year and a half left,” Hendrick said. “So it’s something we’re doing. We try to get all our guys in place well ahead of when the contracts are up. So that’s under way. I plan for him to retire here. I think that’s what he tells me he wants to do.”
Knaus joked after Sunday’s title-clinching race that he’s not sure what he’ll do if he’s not a crew chief, throwing out a possible stint on “Dancing with the Stars” or opening a scuba shop in the Caribbean.
“I don’t know, man. I don’t know what I’m going to do when I grow up,” he said. “I hope I never have to grow up. I love my job. But I can’t be a crew chief forever. I’ll be honest, I can’t run at this pace for ten more years. It’s impossible. But I love what I do. I engulf myself in what it is that I do, and there’s nothing I’d rather do.
“I have yet to get out of bed in the morning and not want to go to work, and that’s a fact. In the future, we’re just going to have to wait and see.”
A Sunnyvale man who was set to spend two years in prison for assaulting a woman with intent to commit rape has been connected through DNA evidence to two unsolved South Bay rape cases and is now facing a life sentence, prosecutors said Monday.
Luis Lopez, 32, who pleaded guilty as part of a plea bargain with prosecutors for his assault in August of a woman near a Motel 6 on Mathilda Avenue in Sunnyvale, has been linked to unsolved rapes in San Jose and Sunnyvale, according to Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Ray Mendoza.
The District Attorney’s Office has charged Lopez with two counts of rape with special allegations for kidnapping and multiple victims, Mendoza said. If convicted, Lopez could receive a sentence of 25 years to life, Mendoza said.
Lopez is scheduled to be arraigned on the new charges Wednesday. The District Attorney’s Office will likely file a motion to withdraw from the initial plea bargain, which was reached before the DNA evidence returned a match to the two unsolved rapes.
Lopez is being represented by the Santa Clara County Office of the Public Defender, which had no comment Monday because it hadn’t received the latest charges.
In August, Sunnyvale police responded to a report of a woman screaming in the street near the Motel 6 on Mathilda Avenue and Highway 101, saying she had been sexually assaulted. Patrol officers arrived at the scene just as the suspect was running away and police flooded the area with officers and blocked off streets, according to Sunnyvale police Capt. Doug Moretto.
About 7 a.m., employees at a Denny’s restaurant at Mathilda and Ahwanee avenues called police to say a man had been sitting in a booth for several hours, keeping his head down and ordering only coffee.
“They became suspicious and connected” the man with the police search, Moretto said.
Officers went to the Denny’s and recognized Lopez as the person matching the description of the suspect.
In October, Sunnyvale police were informed by the Santa Clara County Crime Lab that DNA taken from Lopez has been connected to an unsolved sexual assault that happened in the same area on Mathilda Avenue on Jan. 28, 2008. The DNA also linked Lopez to a rape in San Jose that happened in the area of Alum Rock Avenue and the Interstate 680 overpass, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Each of the three assaults happened in the early morning hours. In each of the attacks, Lopez approached women who were alone, engaged them in a conversation and then sexually assaulted them, prosecutors say.
“All three appear to be crimes of opportunity,” Mendoza said.
In the unsolved 2008 Sunnyvale case, police received reports of a woman screaming for help in the 500 block of Delrey Avenue. Patrol officers located the woman, who said she had been raped by a man she did not know and provided police a description.
Police had few leads, “other than DNA evidence that was left by the suspect,” Moretto said.
SYDNEY (AFP) – More than 100, and possibly hundreds, of Antarctic icebergs are floating towards New Zealand in a rare event which has prompted a shipping warning, officials said on Monday.
An Australian Antarctic Division glaciologist said the ice chunks, spotted by satellite photography, had passed the Auckland Islands and were heading towards the main South Island, about 450 kilometres (280 miles) northeast.
Scientist Neal Young said more than 100 icebergs — some measuring more than 200 metres (650 feet) across — were seen in just one cluster, indicating there could be hundreds more.
He said they were the remains of a massive ice floe which split from the Antarctic as sea and air temperatures rise due to global warming.
“All of these have come from a larger one that was probably 30 square kilometres (11.6 square miles) in size when it left Antarctica,” Young told AFP.
“It’s done a long circuit around Antarctica and now the bigger parts of it are breaking up and producing smaller ones.”
He said large numbers of icebergs had not floated this close to New Zealand since 2006, when a number came within 25 kilometres of the coastline — the first such sighting since 1931.
“They’re following the same tracks now up towards New Zealand. Whether they make it up to the South Island or not is difficult to tell,” Young said.
New Zealand has already issued coastal navigation warnings for the area in the Southern Ocean where the icebergs have been seen.
“It’s really just a general warning for shipping in that area to be on the alert for icebergs,” said Maritime New Zealand spokesman Ross Henderson.
The icebergs are smaller remnants of the giant chunks seen off Australia’s Macquarie Island this month, including one estimated at two kilometres (1.2 miles) and another twice the size of Beijing’s “Bird’s Nest” Olympic Stadium.
Young earlier told AFP he expected to see more icebergs in the area if the Earth’s temperature continues to increase.
“If the current trends in global warming were to continue I would anticipate seeing more icebergs and the large ice shelves breaking up,” he said.
When icebergs last neared New Zealand in 2006, a sheep was helicoptered out to be shorn on one of the floes in a publicity stunt by the country’s wool industry.
