In mid-December, D.C. United?s Academy faces some of the biggest names in world football at the 2010 Future Champions Tournament in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. A Black-and-Red U-17 side will compete against youth teams from FC Barcelona, Corinthians, Boca Juniors, Paris Saint-Germain, Club America, Cruzeiro, and others. This unique tournament will take place from December 12 through December 19 in downtown Belo Horizonte – one of the host cities for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. 

Source: http://www.dcunited.com/news/2010/11/united-academy-in-2010-future-champions-tourney

Pittsburgh Steelers
 Green Bay Packers Alabama Crimson Tide

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There are less cookies these days for Steve Nash to not eat.

It’s a tradition on the Phoenix Suns that, whenever they win a road game, players all eat cookies. Well, everyone on the team except Nash.

“He won’t even eat a cookie. He’s that committed,” teammate Jared Dudley said about the point guard, whose disciplined diet includes not eating sugar.

Still, Nash, being the ultimate team player, would love to see his teammates gobbling down lots of post-game treats this season. But it’s not looking good.

After an embarrassing 138-133 loss Monday at Denver, where no cookies and only frowns were served up in the Suns‘ locker room, they dropped to 8-9. Consider that this is a team that averaged 55 wins a season in the six years after Nash signed as a free agent in the summer of 2004.

“It’s disappointing, obviously, the losses,” Nash said in an interview with FanHouse about how this season has begun. “We made so much change from a team that was close to the Finals last year. But, considering all the changes, it’s not an awful situation. It’s just not what we’re used to.”

Source: http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/11/30/steve-nash-not-worried-about-trade-talk-just-wants-to-win/

Green Bay Packers Alabama Crimson Tide
 Texas Longhorns

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Vincent JacksonSAN DIEGO, Calif. — One of these days, Pro Bowl receiver Vincent Jackson may actually catch a pass for the Chargers.

This year, all he’s caught is flak.

The latest brouhaha came Sunday night, when Jackson’s season debut ended after only three plays.

The Chargers announced that Jackson suffered a right calf injury. Skeptics on the Internet and San Diego’s radio stations, meanwhile, questioned whether Jackson was actually hurt.

Call it fallout from a lengthy salary squabble between the player’s agent and the club.

Monday afternoon brought another twist courtesy of Chargers running back Mike Tolbert, who told reporters that Jackson had suffered a left calf injury leading up to Sunday night’s 36-14 rout of the Colts in Indianapolis.

“I saw him when he did it in practice a couple of days ago, and it didn’t look good,” Tolbert said. “But he was still out there trying to fight through it. And actually some of the coaches had to tell him to calm down.”

Pouring ice water on talk that Jackson wasn’t hurt, coach Norv Turner said Jackson had an MRI exam on Monday.

“There is considerable swelling in his calf,” Turner said, after noting that he seldom discloses when a player has an MRI exam, let alone the results. “There is a lot of soreness. I would think it would be hard for him to play this week.”

More: Jackson Likely to Miss Chargers’ Next Game

Source: http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2010/11/29/chargers-come-to-vincent-jacksons-defense-after-wrs-latest-inj/

LSU
 Auburn
 Florida State

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The Heat aren’t looking so hot these days. After Saturday’s loss in Dallas — which featured LeBron James and Erik Spoelstra bumping into each other, along with an extended players-only meeting afterward — Miami appears to be a very long way from its goal of a championship.

In our first edition of the podcast this season, Chris Tomasson, Tim Povtak and Sam Amick joined me to discuss the Heat’s woes, and whether or not they’ll eventually evolve into a title contender. We also look ahead at LeBron’s looming trip to Cleveland later this week and break down the improved Chicago Bulls, who have good reason to be excited about their prospects, even before Carlos Boozer makes it back into the lineup.

Our conversation can be heard in the audio clip below, or you can download it here for your future listening pleasure.

 

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Source: http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/11/28/podcast-heat-struggling-bulls-rising/

San Francisco Giants
 New Orleans Saints
 New England Patriots

Gil McDougald, the infielder who played on eight pennant-winning and five World Championship teams with the Yankees, died of prostate cancer Sunday at 82.

“Gil was a great guy, well-liked by the team and a helluva ballplayer,” Whitey Ford said. “He was a good fielder and was always a fierce competitor.”

McDougald spent his entire career with the Yankees from 1951-60, going to five All-Star games. He became the first Yankee to win Rookie of the Year, batting .306 with 14 home runs in 1951. He achieved another first that year — the first rookie to hit a grand slam in the World Series. He was also for his versatility, playing every position in the infield except for first base.

McDougald is survived by his wife, seven children, and 14 grandchildren.

 

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Source: http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2010/11/30/gil-mcdougald-former-yankee-dead-at-82/

Alabama Crimson Tide
 Texas Longhorns
 Florida Gators

WASHINGON ? After a long season, D.C. United?s to-do list this winter is substantial. But there?s only one way to go for MLS? most decorated franchise, and there?s certainly hope for the future. But DC brass must hit the ground running to rebuild the team into a winner. Here?s United?s offseason checklist.

Find a head coach

Source: http://www.dcunited.com/news/2010/11/2010-in-review-dc-united-offseason-checklist

Ole Miss
 Arkansas Razorbacks
 Kentucky Wildcats

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Southern Miss, which finished second in Conference USA’s East Division, has been invited to the Beef “O” Brady’s St. Petersburg Bowl, while East Carolina is headed to the Military Bowl, industry sources told FanHouse Monday.

Southern Miss (8-4) will be making its first appearance in the Beef “O’ Brady’s St. Petersburg Bowl. The Golden Eagles will face an opponent from the Big East, still to be determined.

This will be the ninth consecutive bowl appearance and 13th in the past 14 years by the Golden Eagles, who have played in the New Orleans Bowl in four of the past six seasons.

Southern Miss started the season 4-1, including an upset of Kansas, but lost three of its final seven games. The three losses were by a total of eight points — one-point losses each to East Carolina and UAB and a six-point loss to Tulsa.

 

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Source: http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2010/11/29/southern-miss-east-carolina-bowl-destinations-set/

Tennessee Titans
 Philadelphia Phillies
 Chicago Cubs

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HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Kevin Harvick and his team owner, Richard Childress, were diplomatic in the moments following Sunday’s Ford 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Diplomatic, but not satisfied. Harvick was not happy.

Harvick, who entered the final race in third place in the championship — 46 points behind Denny Hamlin — had positioned himself to make a heroic, if unlikely run at his first title, dethroning four-time champ Jimmie Johnson and capitalizing on Hamlin’s Sunday afternoon of misfortune.

After racing near the front all day, Harvick exited the pits in first place for a restart on lap 188 of the 267-lap race — only to be penalized for speeding on pit road (right).

NASCAR said his No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet was too fast entering the pits and he was sent to rear of the lead-lap cars, dropping him back to 29th place. Harvick was understandably livid on the team radio when he received the news and still maintained after the race that he was directly behind a car — on its bumper — and therefore couldn’t have been speeding.

“I don’t think that penalty will ever settle in my stomach,” Harvick said in a post-race press conference. “When you read me off of my pit road times of 49.6, 49.4 50.8 and then 49.6; and there’s only a handful people that get to see them, I won’t ever settle for that.

“I don’t know how you can be speeding when you’re on the bumper in front of you and if the other guy is not speeding. So that’s about it. ”

 

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Source: http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2010/11/21/speeding-penalty-derails-kevin-harvicks-nascar-title-run/

Auburn
 Florida State
 Miami Hurricane

Kevin Payne, President & CEO: “As we spent more and more time talking with Ben, I think it became more apparent that Ben has already grown substantially.”

Payne: “Congratulations to Ben, I’m confident that he will do a great job as our Head Coach.”

Dave Kasper, General Manager: “Ben just gets it… I know we’ve made the right decision.”

Ben Olsen, Head Coach: “Personally a lot has happened in a year for me…. I am very, very confident at this point that I can lead this team.”

Source: http://www.dcunited.com/news/2010/11/selected-quotes-from-press-conference

Alabama Crimson Tide
 Texas Longhorns
 Florida Gators

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The Pittsburgh Steelers (8-3) were not expected to be a serious threat to compete for the AFC North title because of the improvements by the Baltimore Ravens (8-3) and the Cincinnati Bengals, along with the four-game suspension of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for violating the league’s personal conduct policy.

After this season, the expectations of a champion, such as the Steelers, should never be overlooked unless there have many significant changes or injuries.

The Bengals (2-9) ended up as a team that wasn’t ready for the bigtime, while the Ravens — backed by good coaching and a great organization — have lived up to preseason talk despite not putting up massive numbers with their newly acquired offensive weapons. For the Steelers to keep pace with their true rival, Charm City’s finest, and after dealing with a suspended player and injuries, they deserve major credit for sticking to their roots. The Steelers had to learn some lessons throughout the season that could have been costly and they are pleased with their results. However, if the Steelers were asked about their performance thus far, no one would be jumping for joy.

“We’re not playing good football, our best football, but what we had to overcome and go through, we can learn from it,” said Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward after escaping with a 19-16 win against the Bills on the road Sunday. “I like the direction this team’s headed, especially in the month of December.”

 

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Source: http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2010/11/29/steelers-striving-for-much-more-even-though-theyre-in-prime-pos/

Auburn
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