PLAYERS - The Salt Lake Tribune

Kragthorpe: SLCC softball keeps coming close

Fri, 24 May 2013 09:26:02 MDT

Kragthorpe: SLCC softball keeps coming close

By kurt kragthorpe Tribune Columnist

Updated May 24, 2013 09:26AM MDT

Nobody’s sure how to greet Mary Kay Amicone these days, after her Salt Lake Community College softball team finished second in the NJCAA tournament for the third year in a row. Congratulations? Condolences? Consolation? She’ll accept any combination of those expressions. Amicone realizes how difficult it is to reach the finals every year, with a revolving group of sophomores bouncing back and doing whatever it took to get there again. But losing hurts, obviously. The pain extends through a suppo...

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Favors, Hayward get USA invites

Thu, 23 May 2013 21:35:58 MDT

Favors, Hayward get USA invites

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 23, 2013 09:35PM MDT

Derrick Favors and Gordon Hayward will both participate in a Team USA minicamp this summer in Las Vegas, according to their agents. Both third-year players were members of the USA Men’s Basketball Select Team, which practiced against the Team USA before the London Olympics. Among other players known to be attending the camp, July 22-25, are Wizards guard Bradley Beal, Rockets forward Chandler Parsons, Bulls forward Taj Gibson and Bucks center Larry Sanders. The roster has not been announced by...

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Jazz announce Orlando Summer League schedule

Thu, 23 May 2013 15:20:09 MDT

Jazz announce Orlando Summer League schedule

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 23, 2013 03:20PM MDT

The Jazz announced their schedule for the Orlando Pro Summer League, with games to be played July 7-12 at Amway Center. The annual event expanded to 10 team this summer, with a new format that will determine a champion on July 12. From the release: Under the new format, each team will play five games over the six-day event, with a championship day being played on the final day of the league. A point system will establish the standings leading up to the final day, with seven points awarded each ...

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Al Jefferson receives All-NBA first team vote

Thu, 23 May 2013 14:07:19 MDT

Al Jefferson receives All-NBA first team vote

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 23, 2013 02:07PM MDT

All-NBA teams were announced Thursday and it played out about how you expected: Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Chris Paul, and so on. No Jazz players listed until you get down to the Other Players Receiving Votes category. Utah Jazz center Al Jefferson received 20 points in the voting formula. Jefferson received the ninth most points among players not selected to an All-NBA team, which are voted on by media members covering each. For transparency, here again is my ballot from April. Despite finishi...

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Monson: Sergio Garcia’s ‘fried chicken’ dig at Tiger is pathetic

Thu, 23 May 2013 23:56:27 MDT

Monson: Sergio Garcia’s ‘fried chicken’ dig at Tiger is pathetic

By Gordon Monson Tribune Columnist

Updated May 23, 2013 11:56PM MDT

Fried chicken? Really, Sergio? You dig deep and bring the thunder and laughs with that? You’re asked jokingly at a golf gala whether you’re going to have Tiger Woods, with whom you’ve been feuding for … well, ever since he started kicking your tail in on every golf course on the planet for the past decade or two, over for dinner during the U.S. Open, you think the question is funny and want to keep the tone light and the comedy flowing, so you respond with a real chuckler. … “We will have him ’...

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Salt Lake Bees: On Kids' Day, a foul ball is priceless

Wed, 22 May 2013 17:26:49 MDT

Salt Lake Bees: On Kids' Day, a foul ball is priceless

By Kyle Goon The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 22, 2013 05:26PM MDT

On Kids’ Day at Spring Mobile Ballpark, the nearly 11,000 elementary school fans flooding the seats and spilling onto the concourse were seeking a great number of souvenirs. It was easy to tell what had value to the preteen spectators. Hundreds, if not thousands were ambling around with miniature pink baseball bats, or floppy yellow fingers. Bumble, the team’s mascot, couldn’t walk a foot without stepping into a horde of autograph-seeking children. Dippin Dots has never been so popular at the b...

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NBA Draft may lack stars, but isn’t short on “impact” players

Wed, 22 May 2013 23:35:19 MDT

NBA Draft may lack stars, but isn’t short on “impact” players

By Jon Krawczynski The Associated Press

Updated May 22, 2013 11:35PM MDT

The Cleveland Cavaliers are on top of the NBA draft yet again, only this time there is no LeBron James waiting to save them. There may not even be a Kyrie Irving. The first big NBA draft question was answered Tuesday night when the Cavaliers won the lottery for the second time in three years. But there are still plenty of questions left with a draft that many talent evaluators believe lacks the star power of previous years. And they start right at the top. There is no consensus No. 1 selection....

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Kragthorpe: Coming together: Emery bonds in 2A baseball title

Wed, 22 May 2013 23:40:56 MDT

Kragthorpe: Coming together: Emery bonds in 2A baseball title

By kurt Kragthorpe Tribune Columnist

Updated May 22, 2013 11:40PM MDT

Castle Dale When he walked away from the team’s postgame gathering in right field, having told his Emery High School baseball players to stay there and solve their problems, coach Steven Gordon could not have seen this coming. There’s a story behind every state championship, and this is Emery’s: How a team with six sophomores and one senior in the lineup, led by a coach/assistant principal who once banked in a half-court shot to win a state basketball title for the Spartans, saved its season a...

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Golf adopts rule to ban anchored putting stroke

Tue, 21 May 2013 23:54:32 MDT

Golf adopts rule to ban anchored putting stroke

By Doug Ferguson The Associated Press

Updated May 21, 2013 11:54PM MDT

Golf’s governing bodies approved a rule Tuesday that outlaws the putting stroke used by four of the last six major champions, a move opposed by two major golf organizations that contend long putters are not hurting the game. The Royal & Ancient Golf Club and U.S. Golf Association said Rule 14-1b will take effect in 2016. “We recognize this has been a divisive issue, but after thorough consideration, we remain convinced that this is the right decision for golf,” R&A chief executive Peter Daws...

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

NBA: Watch Memphis head coach forget name of one of his players

Mon, 20 May 2013 09:55:39 MDT

NBA: Watch Memphis head coach forget name of one of his players

By Bobby Bonett Digital First Media

Updated May 20, 2013 09:55AM MDT

Just because you played in 80 games during the regular season doesn’t mean your head coach will remember your name. <freeform><script data-hide-title=”true” data-hide-byline=”true” data-hide-footnotes=”true” type=”text/javascript” src=”http://cdn.spundge.com/embed/stories/3636/”></script><noscript><h1>Watch NBA head coach forget name of one of his players</h1><h2>Memphis Grizzlies guard Jerryd Bayless played in 80 games during the regular season, logging...

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USA Football survey shows few youth concussions

Mon, 20 May 2013 09:26:51 MDT

USA Football survey shows few youth concussions

The Associated Press

Updated May 20, 2013 09:26AM MDT

Boston • Fewer than 4 percent of youth players surveyed in a USA Football-sanctioned study suffered concussions in the 10 leagues examined. Most injuries among nearly 2,000 players on more than 100 teams in six states were minor, with the youngsters returning to play the same day. More than 90 percent of the players did not suffer any injuries, and of those who did, the most common were contusions (35 percent) and ligament sprains (15 percent). No catastrophic head, neck or heat-related inju...

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Bees’ Oeltjen proud of Australian roots

Mon, 20 May 2013 08:52:32 MDT

Bees’ Oeltjen proud of Australian roots

By kyle goon The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 20, 2013 08:52AM MDT

He was a novelty in his home country growing up. As teens around him whiled away time with cricket or rugby, Trent Oeltjen, the son of an American, was finding his way in baseball. Over a decade later, he’s still a novelty: an Australian in baseball. The 30-year-old has long dealt with the same questions about growing up Down Under, and his home country still is warming up to the American pastime. “Even people back home would probably say, ‘Pick a real sport,’ ” the outfielder said. “My friends ...

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Monson: On the sideline coaching is where Jerry Sloan belongs

Sun, 19 May 2013 00:08:15 MDT

Monson: On the sideline coaching is where Jerry Sloan belongs

By Gordon Monson Tribune columnist

Updated May 19, 2013 12:08AM MDT

Having interviewed the man hundreds of times and gone to his hometown in southern Illinois to trek down the dirt roads he walked as a kid, to talk with the people he’s known there for 60-plus years, to visit the rotting foundation of his boyhood home, to rummage through, among other old haunts, Don’s Liquor Hut on Route 242 into McLeansboro, I’ve come to this conclusion: Nobody can read Jerry Sloan’s mind. And yet, that’s what I’m going to do here. He’d just as soon whittle a block of wood on t...

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Griner learns skyhook from Abdul-Jabbar

Sat, 18 May 2013 23:43:03 MDT

Griner learns skyhook from Abdul-Jabbar

By JOHN MARSHALL AP Sports Writer

Updated May 18, 2013 11:43PM MDT

AP-BKL--Kareem and Brittney, 1st Ld-Writethru,803 Griner learns skyhook from Abdul-Jabbar Eds: Updates with more details and quotes. With AP Photos. By JOHN MARSHALL AP Sports Writer PHOENIX • Looking up to someone for one of the few times in her basketball life, Brittney Griner leaned into the 7-foot man in front of her, watching and listening as he flipped in one hook shot after another. Once he was done, Griner took a turn, spinning and flipping up a few hooks of her own over outstretched arm...

4A boys’ soccer: East advances to state semis despite slow start

Sat, 18 May 2013 00:02:29 MDT

4A boys’ soccer: East advances to state semis despite slow start

By Bill Oram The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 18, 2013 12:02AM MDT

Rudy Schenk looked at his players and offered one final message before he sent them out for what he hoped would not be their last game. “Remember,” he said, “the pain of last year.” Even for this year’s version of the East Leopards, who replaced 16 seniors after the 2012 team lost in a shootout to Springville in the first round of the Class 4A tournament, the idea was clear. There would be no forgetting. There were constant reminders. The Leopards once again were challenged by a lower-seeded tea...

Semipro football team being formed in Fargo

Sat, 18 May 2013 00:02:31 MDT

Semipro football team being formed in Fargo

The Associated Press

Updated May 18, 2013 12:02AM MDT

Fargo, N.D. • A man who owns a semipro football team in Minnesota that plays games in the spring is starting a team in Fargo-Moorhead that will play in the fall. James Kern owns the Brainerd (Minn.) Lumberjacks, who play in the Midwest Premier Football League. He tells The Forum newspaper that the team he is forming in Fargo-Moorhead will be an extension of the Lumberjacks and will play in the United National Football League. Players have to be at least 18 years old and are responsible for ...

Monson: Kevin O’Connor says good player will be available for Jazz to draft

Thu, 16 May 2013 23:52:09 MDT

Monson: Kevin O’Connor says good player will be available for Jazz to draft

By Gordon Monson Tribune Columnist

Updated May 16, 2013 11:52PM MDT

With the NBA combine underway this week in Chicago, the Utah Jazz are busy studying their options, working through every possibility, tossing them in the air like a dough slapper at Pizano’s. They have two picks in the coming draft, one in the lottery, a likely No. 14 selection, and another at No. 21. There is both skepticism and sunshine as to whether the Jazz can add to their half-vacant roster a player or two who will actually help them improve what is already a young core. There’s been talk...

Women’s Soccer: USU adds 3 more players

Thu, 16 May 2013 23:48:33 MDT

Women’s Soccer: USU adds 3 more players

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 16, 2013 11:48PM MDT

Utah State added a midfielder and a pair of goalkeepers to its 2013 roster, bringing the total of new players to eight. Kelsey Burke, a midfielder from Foster City, Calif., Sara Cobb, a goalkeeper from Freehold, N.J., and Kaitlyn Stratton, a goalkeeper, from Clearfield, join an Aggie team which finished 13-3-6 and were undefeated in the WAC, 6-0-2. Burke, a junior after spending two seasons at Foothill College in Los Altos, Calif., was the Coast Conference Midfielder of the Year in 2012. Stratto...

Prep boys’ tennis: Rowland Hall savors share of state title

Wed, 15 May 2013 23:59:03 MDT

Prep boys’ tennis: Rowland Hall savors share of state title

By Ben Raskin Special to The Tribune

Updated May 15, 2013 11:59PM MDT

It’s always a mistake to underestimate Rowland Hall’s Aaron Friedman. While not overpowering in size or stature, the sophomore has the ability to dominate at the service line and in the volley. Friedman downed Waterford rival, Christian Heath, 6-0, 6-2, by playing bigger-than-himself during last Saturday’s Class 2A state meet at Liberty Park. In earning the No. 3 singles title, Friedman secured a share the 2A state championship for the Winged Lions. Rowland Hall finished with 17 team points to t...

Business Insight: How to hire the right team player

Thu, 16 May 2013 11:13:18 MDT

Business Insight: How to hire the right team player

By Dawn House The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 16, 2013 11:13AM MDT

Bruce Piasecki, author of “Doing More with Teams: The New Way to Winning,” says in a global economy even the most brilliant individual cannot compete with a cohesive, high-functioning team. Why not look for the best performer among applicants? In this swift and severe new world, companies cannot afford bad hires. Owners and captains must select the most workable team possible for efficiency, cost-competitiveness and long-term survival. That means choosing loyal, inventive team players who ...