Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/105349
2B Daily News – Thursday, January 24, 2013 SEAU (Continued from page 1B) MCT file photo USA's Sloane Stephens returns a ball in during a tournament in Connecticut last year. OPEN (Continued from page 1B) Before the match, Stephens said she had about 17,000 followers on Twitter. A few hours after reaching her first Grand Slam semifinal, she had more than 40,000. And she sounded like an excited schoolgirl as she gushed about receiving a congratulatory tweet from American singer John Legend. ''I want John Legend to sing at my wedding!'' she said. ''I was like, 'Oh my God. He tweeted me. What can I do?''' She re-tweeted the sentiments from Legend: ''Just found out her dad is John Stephens from the Pats. (that's my real name) I had his football card when I was a kid. I was so proud, ha ha.'' Stephens' father, former New England Patriots player, died in 2009. Retired basketball star Shaquille O'Neal sent a message that read: ''When u defeat a legend you become a legend.'' The Dallas Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki wrote, ''Wow. What a win for 49ERS (Continued from page 1B) Hendry, figured they should give it a shot and hope Kaepernick might reconsider. Hughes tried for two weeks to convince Kaepernick, who had made it all but clear he would not sign. He was surprised anybody drafted him at all given he had been so upfront about sticking with football. But Chicago's NFL sources — Hughes said three different teams — figured Kaepernick would be a late-round pick or even someone who might have to go the route of the Canadian Football League. That seems so laughable now. The Niners picked Kaepernick in the second round of the 2011 draft, made him the starter midseason this year and now will ask him to carry them all the way to the franchise's sixth championship in what will be just his 10th career NFL start. ''I was looking at this tall, kind of gangly at the time quarterback that was super athletic and had this really long throwing motion,'' Hughes said. ''I was talking to some of my buddies at Reno and said, 'Boy, I wonder if this kid's ever played baseball, he's got an arm stroke like a pitcher.''' That sent Hughes on a research project. Kaepernick regularly threw 90 mph in high school, but was now some 40 pounds heavier as a college football player. He certainly would throw harder. ''So, I was definitely intrigued, bigger, stronger, more athletic,'' Hughes said. ''Colin had Sloane. Some amazing defense. She gets every ball back.'' Stephens checked her phone during her post-match news conference and said there were 213 text messages waiting for her. Like many a teenager, her first concern was about how high her phone bill might be. ''I thought it was free to receive text messages, but someone told me otherwise,'' she said. Her mother ''is going to be like, 'The money you were going to buy yourself something nice with, you're going to pay your phone bill.''' She's set for her biggest payday, regardless of the result in Thursday's semifinal against defending champion Victoria Azarenka, who beat two-time major winner Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-5, 61 in the previous match in Rod Laver Arena. The semifinal losers earn $525,000, double what the quarterfinal losers receive. For Williams, there's a further $1,500 deduction after she was fined for racket abuse. Stephens had practiced with Williams for the Fed Cup, but had played her only once, a straight sets loss at the Brisbane International earlier this month. ''Brisbane helped me because I got the first time we played out of the way,'' she said. ''First time is always tough. Definitely I was glad that I got it there ... it helped me raise my level.'' She'll need to maintain that level within 24 hours to play the top-ranked Azarenka on Thursday. That will follow the semifinal between No. 2-ranked Maria Sharapova and No. 6 Li Na, the 2011 French Open champion. The makeup of the men's semifinals was as expected, although all but one of the four players had some difficulties getting there. Top-ranked Novak Djokovic will continue his bid for a third consecutive Australian title Thursday when he takes on No. 4 David Ferrer. No. 2 Roger Federer and No. 3 Andy Murray will meet Friday. Djokovic had to get through a five-hour five-setter against No. 15 Stanislas Wawrinka in the fourth round. Ferrer had trouble in his quarterfinal against fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro, who served for the match in the third and fourth sets before losing in five. Federer, a 17-time Grand Slam champion, hadn't dropped serve in the tournament until the first set against 2008 finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Wednesday. He ended up with a struggle on his hands before advancing to his 10th consecutive Australian Open semifinal with a 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-3 win in 3 hours, 34 minutes. ''I thought he played very aggressive,'' Federer said. ''I love those four-set or five-set thrillers, and I was part of one tonight.'' Murray beat Jeremy Chardy of France 6-4, 6-1, 62 earlier Wednesday and hasn't dropped a set this tournament. Stephens' previous best run at a major tournament was at last year's French Open, where she was the first American teenager to reach the fourth round since Williams in 2001. She was the youngest player in the year-end top 50 despite missing the last six weeks of the season with an abdominal injury. ''I took a lot of time off just kind of being a normal kid, doing whatever,'' she said. no idea we were even considering drafting him. I kind of caught him off guard when I called him after we drafted him. He kind of got a kick out of it and said his phone was ringing off the hook that he'd been drafted by the Cubs. He had no idea.'' Then-Nevada coach Chris Ault had the challenge of developing Kaepernick's football motion — and that wasn't an easy task with the QB having been a pitcher. ''His first two years he was a thrower from his pitching days. It was all sidearm,'' Ault said. ''That was a habit we had to break. You could see his throwing motion, timing and touch was there. His senior year I saw the whole package. He was a guy ready for the NFL who could do all things they'd like him to do plus run. Now I look at him with the Niners and Jim and those guys are doing a super job. He has all the throws. What I really enjoy watching is he really learned to put the touch on the ball when he has to.'' 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh can appreciate the Cubs' attempt to recruit Kaepernick to baseball. ''He's a man for all seasons,'' Harbaugh said. ''Tremendous football player, basketball player, baseball player, a tremendous athlete with a lot of gifts of God. And a tremendous competitive fire, readiness and willingness to compete, to be able to make cool-headed decisions under fire. Who wouldn't want a player like that in baseball or football?'' Or basketball, for that matter. He was a three-sport star at John H. Pitman High in Turlock, Calif., a couple of hours east in California's Central Valley. At 6-foot-4 and about 180 pounds as a high school senior, he went 112 with a 1.27 ERA with at least one no-hitter — now-retired coach Mick Tate can't remember for sure if there was a second. Kaepernick batted .313 with 17 RBIs and a .407 on-base percentage. In basketball, he averaged 15.4 points. ''The thing we're most proud of, those who coached him in high school, is we want to make them better people,'' Tate said Wednesday. ''We didn't have to work very hard to make him a better person.'' And those close to Kaepernick had a pretty good idea which way he was headed. ''He was a phenomenal basketball player here,'' said Philip Sanchez, Kaepernick's high school guidance counselor and someone who remains a close family friend. ''Don't forget that. People think of it as just baseballfootball, no. He went from football, the very next day he was leading his team in basketball. Then the very next day when basketball ended, now it was time to start pitching. That's rare that you get kids who play three sports these days.'' The Cubs figured they had reason to be somewhat optimistic of swaying Kaepernick. They have had success drafting football players, such as pitcher Jeff Samardzija and outfielder Matt Szczur — a pair of former star college wide receivers who picked baseball. And Kaepernick had tremendous ''upside,'' a common phrase the scouts use to describe potential. The 49ers saw the same upside. Harbaugh made a midseason switch to him as starter over Alex Smith. ''We're not really surprised at his success, because he's always had success,'' Sanchez said. ''I'm just happy that the world has seen the person that we know.'' At Pitman, they sure appreciate him to this day. So do the folks in Reno. During the San Diego State-Nevada basketball game Wednesday night, the plan was for everybody to pose Kaepernick style, flexing the right biceps muscle and kissing it — a new sensation known as ''Kaepernicking.'' Even the Cubs folks are cheering for him. ''I've followed him since the first time I saw him. He's a very entertaining, fun guy to watch, great athlete, great competitor, very good arm strength, good touch, good feel,'' Hughes said. ''After I drafted him, I talked to him and his father, Rick, four or five times each throughout a two-week period trying to convince him to give baseball a shot. I got to know him through several conversations and since then I've shot him a few text messages — in college after they beat Boise State, which was huge, and after he got drafted by the Niners. A credit to him, I talked to him over a two-week stretch and he didn't know me from Adam and he has returned each one of my text messages. That says a lot about the young man.'' recent years. More than 100 of the concussion lawsuits have been brought together before U.S. District Judge Anita B. Brody in Philadelphia. Helmet manufacturer Riddell Inc., also is being sued by the Seaus, who say Riddell was ''negligent in their design, testing, assembly, manufacture, marketing, and engineering of the helmets'' used by NFL players. The suit says the helmets were unreasonably dangerous and unsafe. Seau was one of the best linebackers during his 20 seasons in the NFL. He retired in 2009. ''We were saddened to learn that Junior, a loving father and teammate, suffered from CTE,'' the family said in a statement released to the AP. ''While Junior always expected to have aches and pains from his playing days, none of us ever fathomed that he would suffer a debilitating brain disease that would cause him to leave us too soon. ''We know this lawsuit will not bring back Junior. But it will send a message that the NFL needs to care for its former players, acknowledge its decades of deception on the issue of head injuries and player safety, and make the game safer for future generations.'' Plaintiffs are listed as Gina Seau, Junior's exwife; Junior's children Tyler, Sydney, Jake and Hunter, and Bette Hoffman, trustee of Seau's estate. The lawsuit accuses the league of glorifying the violence in pro football, and creating the impression that delivering big hits ''is a badge of courage which does not seriously threaten one's health.'' It singles out NFL Films and some of its videos for promoting the brutality of the game. ''In 1993's 'NFL Rocks,' Junior Seau offered his opinion on the measure of a punishing hit: 'If I can feel some dizziness, I know that guy is feeling double (that),'' the suit says. The NFL consistently has denied allegations similar to those in the lawsuit. ''The NFL, both directly and in partnership with the NIH, Centers for Disease Control and other leading organizations, is committed to supporting a wide range of independent medical and scientific research that will both address CTE and promote the long-term health and safety of athletes at all levels,'' the league told the AP after it was revealed Seau had CTE. The lawsuit claims money was behind the NFL's actions. ''The NFL knew or suspected that any rule changes that sought to recognize that link (to brain disease) and the health risk to NFL players would impose an economic cost that would significantly and adversely change the profit margins enjoyed by the NFL and its teams,'' the Seaus said in the suit. The National Institutes of Health, based in Bethesda, Md., studied three unidentified brains, one of which was Seau's, and said the findings on Seau were similar to autopsies of people ''with exposure to repetitive head injuries.'' ''It was important to us to get to the bottom of this, the truth,'' Gina Seau told the AP then. ''And now that it has been conclusively determined from every expert that he had obviously had CTE, we just hope it is taken more seriously. You can't deny it exists, and it is hard to deny there is a link between head trauma and CTE. There's such strong evidence correlating head trauma and collisions and CTE.'' In the final years of his life, Seau went through wild behavior swings, according to Gina and to 23-year-old son, Tyler. There also were signs of irrationality, forgetfulness, insomnia and depression. ''He emotionally detached himself and would kind of 'go away' for a little bit,'' Tyler Seau said. ''And then the depression and things like that. It started to progressively get worse.'' Tour braces for 'difficult situation' on anchoring SAN DIEGO (AP) — PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem says a proposed rule affecting long putters is likely to be a distraction. Finchem invited USGA executive director Mike Davis to a mandatory player meeting at Torrey Pines to explain the new rule that outlaws anchoring a club to the body. That's the stroke used for belly putters and broom-handle putters. The tour has the right to set its own rules, though Finchem says the tour's objective is to follow the governing bodies. The bigger issue would be whether to enforce the rule, if it's adopted, before 2016. Finchem says it would be prudent to start the new rule sooner than that. He also recognizes some players might need more time. The next step is to come up with an official response for the USGA. Source: Brady fined $10K from AFC title game FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — A person familiar with the decision says the NFL has fined New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady $10,000 for kicking Baltimore Ravens defender Ed Reed during Sunday's AFC championship game. The fine was first announced on NFL.com. An official with knowledge of the penalty confirmed it to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because it had not been announced. On a first-and-goal near the end of the second quarter, Brady was forced out of the pocket to his left. He ran for 3 yards but slid before he could be tackled. In the process, he raised his right leg and kicked Reed in the thigh. Brady reportedly apologized to Reed in a text message. Patriots spokesman Stacey James says he has no information on the fine. A message was left seeking comment from NFL spokesman Michael Signora. The Ravens won 28-13 to advance to the Super Bowl.