MLB: Red Sox reportedly sign Lackey

By Craig Filazzola, WSOE Sports Director

According to ESPN and other sources, starting pitcher John Lackey has signed with the Boston Red Sox.  This is a 5-year, $85-million deal for the 31-year-old right-hander.  Lackey took a physical for the Red Sox on Monday.   

Red Sox fan Eli Kaufman and Yankees fan Christian Binder discuss the move.

Eli Kaufman – It’s a good indication that Theo Epstein and the owners aren’t just going to sit back and not make any moves this offseason

Christian Binder -  I don’t know why they’d want to sign Lackey. Your staff is good enough already. How about filling the holes in your outfield or figuring out who’s playing the infield corners? If Mike Lowell is going away, you can only play Kevin Youkilis at one position and forget about David Ortiz playing first. You could play Victor Martinez at first, but do you really want Jason Varitek playing every day? Bigger problems than Lackey.

Eli Kaufman - Good pitching beats good hitting. The fact that we are looking at Lackey might mean we are shopping Clay Buchholz, so we might end up getting a third or first baseman.

Christian Binder – Nobody’s trading corner infielders, but you might sign Adrian Beltre (yippee). I mean, you don’t lose anything by signing Lackey, but if I were Theo, I’d try to sign Matt Holliday before Lackey or Beltre, because you know Jason Bay is as good as gone. Unless you want Josh Reddick playing left. Plus, Ellsbury is a sub-par centerfielder who is more suited in left, so in reality, you need a centerfielder.Eli Kaufman – 1. Jacoby is not subpar!!!! 2. We are going to get a corner infielder, whether its Beltre, who hit 25 homers the year before last, Adrian Gonzalez, Miguel Carbrera, or anyone. You never know with Theo. He always makes these crazy random trades

Eli Kaufman - 1. Jacoby is not subpar!!!! 2. We are going to get a corner infielder, whether its Beltre, who hit 25 homers the year before last, Adrian Gonzalez, Miguel Carbrera, or anyone. You never know with Theo. He always makes these crazy random trades

Christian Binder – 1. Yes. He’s a below-average defensive centerfielder.  2) Beltre was awful this year. Adrian Gonzalez isn’t going anywhere, and you’re crazy to think that the Tigers would even entertain the notion of trading away their best player after they traded away Edwin Jackson and Curtis Granderson.

Eli Kaufman – 1. Agree to disagree. Watch a highlight tape.  2. Beltre was injured this year. He didn’t play a full season. The monster will help him out a lot. He’ll be like a younger Mike Lowell, and that’s the thing, the Tigers know they need to rebuild. Although both teams claim they won’t trade certain players, we both know that they get traded all the time. 3. The Sox have to pick and choose which players they feel they can get with the money they have. We don’t have Yankee type cash. Maybe Holliday doesn’t want to come to Boston. Who knows?

Christian Binder – Haha. I’ll agree to disagree, but of course a highlight tape is going to show all the good plays! Fair enough on the rest of your points. Touché. 

Eli Kaufman - Well played sir. Well played. The Sox are so unpredictable it’s tough to really know what’s going to happen in beantown.

Contact Information:
Craig Filazzola
WSOE Sports Director
cfilazzola@elon.edu

Eli Kaufman
WSOE Sports
ekaufman@elon.edu

Christian Binder
WSOE Sports
cbinder@elon.edu

PGA: Tiger Woods Taking Indefinite Leave From Golf

By Christian Binder, WSOE Sports

It is a dark day in sports when perhaps one of the most upstanding figures in the world of sports has been brought down. Tiger Woods made an announcement on his website that he will be taking an indefinite leave of absence from the PGA Tour to “focus [his] attention on being a better husband, father, and person…” For the first time, Woods used the term “infidelity” in reference to his “transgressions” that were revealed after his car accident on the morning of November 27.

At this point in time, the details of Woods’ affair(s) are unknown, but one woman has publicly claimed that she had a 31-month affair with Woods. Tiger’s wife, Elin Nordegren, has said that she does not wish to divorce him and that she would prefer to work things out. The two have a two-year-old daughter and a ten-month-old son together and Woods plans to take time to repair the relationships that have been damaged by his actions.

What does this mean for the world’s number-one golfer? His image certainly has been tarnished. When people think of Tiger Woods, they think of him hugging his father after he won a tournament, all of the fist pumps after the big shots, and beating Rocco Mediate on a bum knee. Now, on top of all of that, is his infidelity. It truly is saddening that one of the greatest role models in sports has taken a fall. Only time will tell if his reputation will be repaired. As for now, don’t expect to see Tiger driving the ball for quite some time.

Contact Information:
Christian Binder
WSOE Sports
cbinder@elon.edu

College Football: Who gets this year’s Heisman?

By Craig Filazzola, WSOE Sports Director

Unlike most years, this year’s Heisman Trophy is up for grabs.  Five finalists are going to New York for the presentation, and they all have a chance to get college football’s biggest prize.

Here are my picks and predictions.

My Picks

1.) Toby Gerhart, RB, Stanford
1,736 rushing yards (most in nation), 5.6 rushing yards per attempt, 26 rushing touchdowns (most in nation)
He may not get that much attention playing for an 8-4 team in the west coast, but he has had an outstanding season.  The 6′1″, 235-pound senior runs with great power and speed. 
In November – against Oregon, USC, California and Notre Dame:
742 rushing yards, 6.4 rushing yards per attempt, 13 rushing touchdowns (at least 3 in each game)

2.) Mark Ingram, RB, Alabama
1,542 rushing yards (5th most in nation), 6.2 rushing yards per attempt, 15 rushing touchdowns
He is one of the most exciting players to watch with lightning speed.  The sophomore had a great SEC Championship game.  He is the number one player on the number one team, but he is not the number one running back in the country. 

3.) Ndamukong Suh, DT, Nebraska
12 sacks (tied for 3rd most in nation), 82 tackles (most in nation for a DT)
He is undoubtedly the best defensive tackle and probably the best defensive player in the nation.  The 6′4″, 300-pound senior was a big reason why Nebraska almost pulled off the upset against Texas in the Big 12 Championship with his 4.5 sacks.  With that said, he has not done enough to convince me that he should get the Heisman.

4.) Colt McCoy, QB, Texas
3,512 passing yards, 27 passing touchdowns, 12 interceptions
He is a big-time quarterback, who has a strong arm, good accuracy, and can run when needed. Unfortunately, his numbers are not as good as they were last year when he came up to taking the Heisman as a finalist.  If he had a better Big 12 Championship game, I would have picked him to win the Heisman, and I think the committee would have done so, too. 

5.) Tim Tebow, QB, Florida
2,413 passing yards, 18 passing touchdowns, 5 interceptions, 859 rushing yards, 13 rushing touchdowns
He is the most versatile player in college football.  However, not only was this a down year for the senior’s standards, but he also played mediocre in the SEC Championship loss to Alabama.  He probably loses his second straight Heisman, but at least he won the award in 2007.

My Predictions

1.) Mark Ingram, RB, Alabama
2.) Toby Gerhart, RB, Stanford
3.) Ndamukong Suh, DT, Nebraska
4.) Colt McCoy, QB, Texas
5.) Tim Tebow, QB, Florida

The Heisman Trophy presentation begins at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday on ESPN. The winner is not expected to be named until after 8:50 p.m. 

Contact Information:
Craig Filazzola
WSOE Sports
cfilazzola@elon.edu

No Sports Shows This Week

Due to final exams week, there will be no sports talk shows.  The shows will resume for winter term, starting with Sports Time at 4:10 p.m. on Tuesday, January 5.

Keep it here for more updates and blogs!

Contact Information:
Craig Filazzola
WSOE Sports
cfilazzola@elon.edu

Tom Waterman named next Sports Director

By Craig Filazzola, WSOE Sports Director

Junior Tom Waterman will be the next WSOE sports director, effective January 1, 2010.  He emerged as a leader on the Phoenix Football Tailgate Show.  He has made significant contributions with our website and will continue to improve it.

The competition for the position was great.  Sophomore Brian Dudiak and Freshman Matt Curry were two very qualified candidates who made this decision difficult.  They are expected to still play important roles to our productions.

FUN FACT – On December 4, 2006, I was named the next WSOE sports director.  I took over on January 1, 2007 and have had the position since then.

Again, congratulations to Tom!

Contact Information:
Craig Filazzola
WSOE Sports Director
cfilazzola@elon.edu

NFL: Predictions This Week

By Matt Curry, WSOE Sports

With one of the most exciting weekends of football in the near past, I have been thinking about what will be coming up in the last few weeks of the regular season. If you think about it, this is the first season for a lot of things. We have two undefeated teams after eleven games, Johnson has had three rushes of over 85 yards for touchdowns, and we have such a huge gap from the good to bad teams unlike any year in recent memory. To top it all off, we watched the destruction of a Bill Belichick team unlike any other before.

Lets begin with the last Monday night game between the Patriots and the undefeated Saints. This is probably one of the most impressive victories I have seen in quite a long time, mostly because it was a trouncing of the almighty Patriots. The defense of the pats could not stop the Saint’s offense led by the greatest quarterback, statistically of course, over the last few years. With another 300+ passing game in the books for Brees, it looks like the Saints will continue to dominate until possibly the game against Dallas late in the season. For now though, it will be interesting to see what happens to the Patriots, because they are 0-4 on the road, which is you’re wondering, doesn’t normally spell out a championship caliber team.          

One more team’s performance really stuck out to me over the weekend, and that was the Colts. We all know that the Colts should not have won that game against the Patriots, but they pulled yet another improbable win out of nowhere by defeating the Texans after being down seventeen points. I also give credit to the ever-patronized Peyton Manning, who might be the greatest clutch quarterback of all time. I think the Colts will struggle this weekend though at the Titans, who under the leadership of Vince Young have won their last five. I look for the Titans to continue this streak and maybe win seven or eight in a row before they lose. Why do I make so a bold prediction? When you have Johnson as your running back, who can bet against you? He has given us many highlights this year and almost single handedly kept his team in the game against the cardinals so Vince Young could win it on the last play of the game.

How about them chargers? Well they have looked great over the last few weeks, and look for it to continue for at least one more as they face yet another mediocre division team. I do think that the Chargers will continue to play strong and maybe have only one more loss by the end of the season, which will mean they win their division and get into the playoffs. Look for Tomlinson to maybe make a late push to try and get himself ready for the playoffs. On the other hand, the Broncos started out on fire, and have cooled down quite a bit. The win over the Giants on Thanksgiving doesn’t mean a thing because they are not the same team as the last few years. The Broncos will most likely fail to make the playoffs, which is no big deal because they are overachieving at this point.

UPSET ALERT!  Look for the Giants to make one final stand for their season against the Cowboys this weekend. I think they will beat the Cowboys, but it will be a one-week thing, as they will continue to struggle and not make the playoffs. The Cowboys will bounce back, and probably lose in the first round of the playoffs, as they seem to do every year.

Anyways here are some final predictions for the rest of the season. The saints will win the rest of their games and go undefeated into the playoffs. The Vikings will not lose either and have the greatest season that a team did not secure home field advantage. Look for the Bengals and Titans to finish out the season strong, and look for a final week clinch by the Patriots as they will struggle for the remainder of the season. Indy will do their thing until the playoffs, and look for the Chargers to have a major push before the playoffs. Well that’s enough for now, I’ll be back in a couple weeks with some final playoff predictions along with my superbowl champion.

Contact Information:
Matt Curry
WSOE Sports
mcurry3@elon.edu

SPORTS TIME: 12/1/09 Recap

Segment 1

Russell, Craig, and Eli           

The boys sang the praises of Drew Brees and the Saints. They added their comments on the Tiger Woods story.

Greg update

Russell discusses his beloved Panthers. Could the Thanksgiving games change? Will there be more games? The Giants defense isn’t very good anymore. Joe Girardi is teaching Mark Sanchez how to slide. Browns outscored the Panthers, Russell not happy about it.

Phoenix Time

Talked about the Football game, discussed about how the team lost at the end.  They then talked about the basketball team and how even though they aren’t playing well right now, they have shown signs of good things to come. The women’s team is off to a good start. Terrell Hudgins is going to get drafted.

Break

Matt and Greg join Russell

All the guys agree that Notre Dame was right to fire Charlie Weis. The rest of the coaching carousel is discussed from Bowden to Paterno, to who will replace Charlie Weis. Boys pick

Picks

Matt   ORE-CIN-GT-TEX-FLA              NYG-MIN-TEN

Greg  ORE-CIN-GT-TEX-FLA               DAL-MIN-IND

Russell  ORE-CIN-GT-TEX-ALA           DAL-MIN-TEN

Craig   ORE-CIN-GT-TEX-FLA              DAL-MIN-IND

Contact Information:
David Aneser
WSOE Sports
daneser@elon.edu

No Sports Time and 4th and 15 this week

Due to Thanksgiving Break, there will not be Sports Time on Tuesday and 4th and 15 on Thursday.  Next week will be the last week of the weekly sports talk shows for this fall.  Shows will resume for winter term.

Sports Time – last show on Tuesday, December 1 from 4:10-6:00pm

4th and 15 – last show on Thursday, December 3 from 4:15-5:00pm

Smacktalk Sports- last show on Sunday, December 6 from 8:00-10:00pm

Contact Information:
Craig Filazzola
WSOE Sports Director
cfilazzola@elon.edu

Women’s Basketball: Elon Phoenix v. St. Andrew’s Lady Knights

Women’s Basketball: Elon Phoenix vs. St. Andrews Knights

On November 20, 2009, the 1-1 Elon Women’s basketball team welcomed the 0-1 St. Andrews Lady Knights to Alumni Gym for their third game of the regular season.

The starting lineups for the two teams are as follows:

For the Lady Knights:

Guard, Jaquese Smith, Sr

Guard Brittany Roberts, So

Forward, Natia Gasque, Fr

Foward, SylveeUbiera, Fr

Center, Kayla McBath, Fr

For the Phoenix:

Guard, Kallie Hovatter, So

Guard, Ali Ford, Fr

Forward, Lei Lei Hairston

Forward, Urysla Cotton

Forward, Kelsey Evans, Fr

5:04 PM- Tip off, goes to St. Andrews

19:34 First points of game come off steal by Lei Lei Hairston and a fast break layup for Elon, 2-0 Phoenix.

17:32- Elon can’t start out hotter in this game. Getting points off the fast break and from three, they have a 9-0 lead. Lots of quick ball movement is helping the team find open looks both outside and inside.

15:42- Amedia timeout comes at a great time for the Lady Knights as they now trail 16-2. Only points have come off a pair of free throws by Jaquese Smith. Their team is struggling and showing it on their faces.

11:40- Elon is up 22-6. One of the reasons Elon is playing so well is their trap defense. Their guards are rushing the Lady Knights point guard when she is crossing half court and they are smothering every player when they get the ball, forcing St. Andrews to make poor decisions, resulting in turnovers that have proven to be costly.

9:46- 30 second timeout by St. Andrews, score at 22-7. The Lady Knights have done a better job limiting Elon’s fast paced offense, forcing them to slow it down into a half court mode.

6:22- After a long break in action when the power went out in Alumni Gym, Elon has now has 26-9 lead. They are pressuring St. Andrews on defense and getting a lot of steals as a team. The Lady Knights offense is flustered as they have yet to reach double digits in point total and are struggling to find any good looks on offense.

2:27- St. Andrews is now in the bonus as Elon has reached their fouls limit due to their aggressive play. After Brittany Roberts makes the first, she misses the second, but Natia Gasque follows it up to get a three point play. It is now 33-16 Phoenix.

At the end of the first half, the score is 33-16 Elon. The Phoenix had jumped out to an early lead and were on point from the get go thanks to great defensive plays by Lei Lei Hairston and some big threes by players like Ali Ford. The high tempo offense Elon was running threw the Lady Knights off guard completely and the Phoenix ability to put pressure on St. Andrews when they had the ball resulted in many turnovers. Hairston has five steals alone and Elon has a total of 12 in the first twenty minutes. Ford leads the team with points at the half with eight, while Hairston and Urysla Cotton each have chipped in seven. For St. Andrews, Natia Gasque and Brittany Roberts each lead their team with five points. The Phoenix have out rebounded the Lady Knights 27-21, have a higher field goal percentage, 31.7% (13-41) to 22.7% (5-22), and have 16 points in the paint to St. Andrews four. The Lady Knights did take advantage of the Phoenix’s foul trouble as they went 6-8 from the line in the first half while Elon only went 3-6.

2^nd half- Elon gets the ball and takes advantage with Cotton getting an easy layup in the paint to increase the lead to 35-16.

15:17- Courtney Medley sinks her second three of the night to put Elon up by a score of 45-19. The Phoenix have been working back in their strategy from the early first half of spreading the ball around, making quick passes, finding the open player, and getting clear shots.

12:47- Julie Taylor hits two threes in a row for Elon as they are now running away with this game. The score is 57-19. Elon is on a 22-1 run. The Phoenix are controlling the game on both sides of the ball and St. Andrews has no answer on how to break Elon’s trap defense or slow down their high tempo offense.

10:24- Ford hits two threes for Elon and Tiara Gause gets another fast break layup to further the Phoenix lead to 66-20.

7:55- Media timeout. Elon leads 71-20. Elon is now on an outstanding 36-1 run. St. Andrews has not scored since just after the 16-minute mark. In worse news for the Lady Knights, Jaquese Smith, their best player in the game is down with an injury and is now out of the game. St. Andrews now only has four players out on the court because they have no reserves available on their bench. Smith enters back in the game though a minute later.

5:53- St. Andrews scores their first points in what seams like forever when Roberts hits a three for the Lady Knights. But Elon responds with couple of scores of their own as they increase their lead to 80-23.

4:52- Yet again Ford hits another three as she increases the lead to 84-23. It seams as though she cannot miss at all from deep in the second half. She is 5-6 from the three point line in the second half.

3:21- A media timeout. Score is 89-25. It looks to be over.

2:19- Elon continues to score at will and make the Lady Knights make mistakes as they now lead, 96-27.

1:17- It’s  now official and the crowd is going wild. Jermile’ Batten drains a 15 footer from the baseline to score Elon’s 100^th point. The Phoenix now lead by 73, 100-27.

FINAL- Elon has an outstanding and amazing performance as the Phoenix defeat the St. Andrews Lady Knights, 104-27. Elon outscored their opponents 71-11 in the second half.

Statistical Leaders:

Points:             Elon- Ali Ford, 23                   St. Andrews- Natia Gasque, 10

Rebounds:       Elon- Urysla Cotton, 7            St. Andrews- Natia Gasque, 11

Assists:            Elon- Ali Ford, 4                     St. Andrews- Kayla McBath, Jaquese Smith 1

Greg Brzozowski

WSOE Sports

 

 

TONIGHT: Women’s Basketball hosts St. Andrews

WSOE Sports will broadcast the women’s basketball game tonight when St. Andrews visits Elon.

On Air – 4:45pm
Game – 5:00pm

Listen to the game on the:
Radio – 89.3 FM
Internet – here by clicking the “Listen Live” page

Contact Information:
Craig Filazzola
WSOE Sports Director
cfilazzola@elon.edu