| £5m pledged for top-class coaches in Scottish sport
A £5m coaching initiative in Scotland, announced in Glasgow yesterday, will increase medal prospects in major championships. Half of the money will go towards employing performance managers or coaches in several sports in order to prepare, competitors up to Great Britain level. The remainder will target more than 8500 volunteer coaches in 21 sports. The aim is to help them gain the UK Coaching Certificate (UKCC). New and existing coaches will be able to undertake these nationally certified courses, with sportscotland subsidising up to 75% of the fees. The lottery-funded project was unveiled at sportscotland's partners' meeting in Glasgow by Julia Bracewell, who chairs the organisation. .
On Second Thought: Bowl Championship Series Champions
The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) might be the worst idea since naming bowl games after their sponsors. How proud would you be to play in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl? That's its real name - no joke. Instead of letting the teams decide who will win the championship on the field, college football takes the votes of biased sportswriters and coaches in the Associated Press and Coaches' polls, then combines them with some computerized rankings to decide which two teams get to play in the championship game.
Sometimes they get it right, but there have been a couple of instances where undefeated teams got left out, or the computers just flat-out mess the whole thing up. This year, that's not going to happen because this season has made about as much sense as wearing a parka to the beach.
US fans were misled about Beckham - Pele
Soccer legend Pele believes American fans were misled about what David Beckham could bring to Major League Soccer. Amid great fanfare, the former England captain was presented by the Los Angeles Galaxy in July, but his greatest impact has been on ticket sales and merchandise. Pele believes Beckham's introduction was "very, very bad" as it raised expectations about what the former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder could produce on the pitch. "They announced him as a scorer of goals," Pele said. "He isn't a goal scorer. That was a mistake." After playing an exhibition match in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Wednesday night, Beckham said "everybody in the world knows I'm not a goal scorer. "The Galaxy wouldn't have come out and said that," Beckham said. "Like I said, everyone has got their own opinions.
FootballGenerals.com Debuts Weekly Pro Football Head Coach Rankings - Belichick, Dungy, Phillips at Top After Week 12
Statistically, the New England Patriots' Bill Belichick has been the best coach in professional football this year, according to the website FootballGenerals.com. Launched today, FootballGenerals provides the only statistical, weekly rankings of NFL head coaches, along with coach-related news. .
On the schedule today
As you check out the sports page today, make sure to notice our dual (not duel) chats. First, at noon, NBA editor Brian Styers holds forth on "thee association." Even if you don't want to spend your lunch break with Brian -- but who wouldn't? -- you can send in your questions ahead of time and check in later for his pithy replies. Just as you've collected all the NBA nuggets that were possible, Nate Davis checks in at 2 p.m. with NFL fantasy tips and more. You can send in your queries ahead of time, of course. If you're reading this, make sure to ask him what to do for self-punishment if you benched Jason Hanson of Detroit in favor of Jeff Reed just before Thanksgiving. Hanson had a huge game, scoring close to 20 points in leagues that reward long-distance kicks and Reed made the game winner on Monday Night but missed a kick earlier resulting in a fantasy score of one point.
College mens hockey: Speer pitches another shutout for UWSP
STEVENS POINT -- Thomas Speer figures he has the easy part. The guys playing in front of him for the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point men's hockey team are doing all the hard work. Speer posted his second straight shutout, stopping all 16 shots he faced as the Pointers blanked Concordia (Wis.) 9-0 in a nonconference matchup at K.B. Willett Arena on Saturday night. "Any goalie could have two shutouts the way the guys are playing in front of me. They have definitely been making it really easy," Speer said. "My goal is to give out team the best opportunity to win." The back-to-back shutouts are the first for the Pointers since the 1997-98 season when UW-Stout failed to find the back of the net in a two-game series. Since surrendering five goals to St.
Sandeep Yadav stars for VPPN
HYDERABAD: Striker Sandeep Yadav did the star turn for Vignan Prabodananda Prashanti Niketan (VPPN) in its emphatic 6-1 win over Wesley High School in the fourth inter-school hockey tournament for the V. Purushotham Memorial Trophy on Wednesday. Sandeep scored four goals including a hat-trick striking in the 20th, 24th, 40th and 44th minutes while Jaswanth and Mohan scored one goal apiece to complete the tally for the winner. In another match, Moulana Azad Memorial School defeated CRPF (Hakimpet) 6-0. Khaleel Hussain struck a brace in the first-half while Subhan Bin Osman netted one to give MAZHA a comfortable 3-0 lead at the break. On resumption, MAZMS slammed in three more goals through Mohd. Shanawaz (2) and Wajeed Khan (1). Match drawn State Bank of Hyderabad and South Central Railway were locked in a goalless draw in the SAAP Premier League prize money football championship here.
Smith Speaks on Black Male Athletes
Whether you are a student-athlete or just an uninterested spectator, it doesn't take much for one to realize that sports is an important aspect of Colgate life. So when guest speaker Professor Earl Smith of Wake Forest University was invited to give a special lecture titled "The Overrepresentation of African American Student-Athletes in Division I-A Sport Programs," its message was bound to have a strong impact on campus.
As a sociology professor, Smith's observations and research have led him to believe that the arena of professional sports has produced a system of inequality for African American athletes. Whereas, in sports such as football and basketball, African American athletes make up the majority of players, in other competitive sports such as tennis, soccer and swimming, hardly any players are African American.
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