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2B Daily News – Wednesday, September 11, 2013 49ERS AMERICA'S CUP Smith off to fast start Kiwis win America's Cup Race 5 SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Quarterback Colin Kaepernick and linebacker Patrick Willis engaged in a friendly game of one-on-one with a miniature basketball at one end of the San Francisco 49ers' locker room Across the room, Aldon Smith leaned back on a stool and waved off a suggestion this week's game against Seattle is any more important than the others on the schedule. Five days before the 49ers play the Seahawks in a matchup between division rivals, the defending NFC champions couldn't be more relaxed. Smith, especially, seems very calm. After setting the franchise single-season record for sacks a year ago, San Francisco's first-round pick in 2011 is off to another fast start. He's also increased his workload and split time on both the right and left side of the 49ers defense in Sunday's win over Green Bay. ''It was just giving me a chance to move around a little bit,'' Smith said Tuesday. ''It gives (opponents) something to game plan for. We all know each other's strengths and weaknesses. Being able to move around just helps out.'' Smith stayed almost exclusively at right outside linebacker in 2012 when he broke Fred Dean's 28-year-old team record with 19 1/2 sacks and was voted to the Pro Bowl. Those numbers, however, are slightly misleading. After defensive end Justin Smith went out with triceps and elbow injuries which forced him to miss the final two regular season games, Aldon Smith's production decreased significantly. He was held without a sack over the final three games, then was shut out in San Francisco's two playoff games and in the Super Bowl. Both Smiths looked fine in last week's season-opening 34-28 win over Green Bay. Justin Smith had three tackles, while Aldon Smith had six, including 1 1/2 sacks. He also forced four hurries by Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson is a completely different challenge than Rodgers. ''We just have to make sure we're on top of our stuff, defending the run, defending the option, then stopping the pass,'' Smith said. ''We'll make sure we focus on those things so when game time comes we're ready.'' When asked if it was good that the two NFC West powerhouses, San Francisco and Seattle, were meeting so early in the season, Smith seemed not interested. ''Uh, what about it?'' he asked. ''Just another game.'' The rest of the 49ers aren't so certain. Rookie quarterback B.J. Daniels is almost certain to take on the biggest role of his young career so far. Daniels, a seventh-round draft pick, is expected to do his best impression of Wilson while running the scout team offense against San Francisco's defense in practice this week. Daniels spent the previous week impersonating Rodgers. This time it's a role he's more suited for, as both he and Wilson were accomplished running quarterbacks in college. ''There are a lot of guys around the league ... that I've watched and studied them on film and feel like I have similar attributes to, and he is one of them,'' Daniels said. Notes: Tight end/defensive tackle Demarcus Dobbs was removed from the reserve/suspended list and added to the 49ers active roster. Fullback Will Tukuafu was waived to make room for Dobbs. mates getting similar handouts. Former defensive tackle Brad Girtman said he saw some star players get ''monster payments,'' while he once received $500 from a member of the football staff. Girtman said the rates were told to him by Joe DeForest, who ran special teams and the secondary under Miles and then was an associate head coach under Gundy, the current head coach, from 2005-11. Girtman also said he recalled DeForest handing him a debit card in 2003 with $5,000 on it and that it was periodically refilled. DeForest and assistant Larry Porter, the running backs coach from 2002-04, also made payments directly to players, SI reported. DeForest is now an assistant at West Virginia, which has launched an internal review. ''While our assistant football coach has denied the allegations, it is the right thing to do to look into the matter and review practices here,'' athletic director Oliver Luck said. Texas men's athletics director DeLoss Dodds said Porter was questioned and ''we do not have any issues with him at this time.'' Miles has said he didn't know of any improprieties while he was the Oklahoma State coach. ''I can tell you this: We have always done things right,'' he said after LSU's game Saturday night in Baton Rouge, La. Energy tycoon T. Boone Pickens, the biggest booster of his alma mater, said he was disappointed the expose focused on Oklahoma State ''a decade ago.'' ''There have been wholesale changes at the school in recent years in leadership and facilities,'' he said. ''During that time, I have given more than $500 million to OSU, for athletics and academics. Have I gotten my money's worth? You bet. We have a football program that has a commitment to principled sportsmanship.'' Several former players under Miles told SI that boosters were highly visible — in the locker room, on team flights and bus trips. After the Cowboys knocked off archrival Oklahoma in 2001, boosters approached key players and slipped cash into their hands, said former player Fath' Carter. ''We are talking about $500 handshakes,'' he told SI, which also detailed several examples of alleged sham jobs in which players were paid hundreds of dollars for little or no work by boosters. William Bell, a defensive end in 2004, said he and a teammate were directed by a member of the coaching staff to a booster's home to do a job. When they arrived, they were told their ''job'' for ''a couple hundred dollars'' was to fish for catfish at a nearby pond ''And we got to keep all the fish we caught,'' Bell told SI. Gov. Mary Fallin said Tuesday that the allegations against her alma mater were ''disturbing and disappointing'' and that she is confident the school's administration will investigate the charges thoroughly. Oklahoma State athletic director Mike Holder said the school has notified the NCAA ''and they're going to assign an investigator.'' ''We'll reach out and get someone to stand with that investigator and go through the facts and at the end of the day, we'll come to some conclusions and we'll deal with those, prop ourselves back up, polish off that OSU brand and move on down the road,'' he said. Gundy, who is preparing the No. 13 Cowboys for their home opener on Saturday against Lamar, said he was confident the proper steps would be taken. The team said Tuesday no players will be made available to comment until after the game. ''I'm going to guess that once we get all the information and we see what's out there, then our administration, our people inside, will look at it and we'll see where we made mistakes,'' Gundy said. ''And we'll try to make ourselves better and we'll correct it and then we'll move forward.'' SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Defending America's Cup champion Oracle Team USA could be in deep trouble against scrappy Emirates Team New Zealand. The American powerhouse was so soundly beaten by the Kiwis in Race 5 Tuesday that Larry Ellison's syndicate had to call timeout. Ellison, the software billionaire who runs Oracle Corp., has made crew changes before, and some could be coming after a major blunder by his team let Team New Zealand speed off to a resounding victory of 1 minute, 5 seconds on San Francisco Bay on Tuesday. Not long before the scheduled start of Race 6, Oracle Team USA radioed in to the race committee that it was playing its one postponement card of the regatta, meaning the race was scrubbed until Thursday. The Kiwis crushed the momentum Oracle gained with its heart-stopping win in Race 4 on Sunday. Team New Zealand leads 4 to minus-1 and needs five more wins to claim the oldest trophy in international sports for the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. Oracle was docked two points by an international jury and wing sail trimmer Dirk de Ridder was booted from the regatta in the biggest cheating scandal in the 162-year history of the America's Cup. It needs 10 wins to keep the Auld Mug. Skipper Jimmy Spithill said Oracle Team USA needs to regroup and make some changes. Whether they're to the 72-foot catamaran, the crew or tactics — or all three — remains to be seen. Oracle has made numerous errors this regatta and Team New Zealand continues to make strong gains sailing upwind. Either way, it was a stunning move for the wellfunded, deep sailing team that won the America's Cup in 2010. After Oracle announced it was playing its card, Spithill hopped onto a chase boat and conferred with syndicate CEO Russell Coutts, who won the first two of his four America's Cups as skipper of Team New Zealand in 1995 and 2000. Spithill declined to recap that conversation. ''Oh, we were just talking about rugby, weather,'' Spithill cracked. ''No, I can't, actually. I'd love to tell you, I really would. But no.'' Asked how safe he feels, the Australian said: ''You can be a rooster one day and a feather duster the next, mate.'' It's unlikely Spithill would get the boot. Early speculation was that tactician John Kostecki, a San Francisco native, could get subbed out. Spithill was asked if Kostecki would be on the boat Thursday, when Races 6 and 7 are scheduled. ''I can't guarantee anything,'' he said. ''I probably can't guarantee I'll be on there. It's too early to make neath me,'' Newman said. ''To have that manipulated, and after the race, I didn't put two-and-two together, I didn't immediately think it was on purpose. Obviously, Clint has a lot of remorse now.'' Newman, however, feels awful for good friend Truex. When it was Truex who ended up advancing into the Chase, Newman said he found his friend after the race and told him, ''Now go do something with it.'' Having now swapped places with his buddy because of an unprecedented NASCAR sanctions to correct a bizarre race- fixing attempt, Newman said Truex has given him the same advice. ''I feel bad for Martin, and I feel he didn't know anything about it and he had the carpet ripped out from underneath him and I know exactly how that feels,'' Newman said. ''I know that it's tough for him because of his team situation. I want to go out and do the best I can in the Chase and do the best I can for my team, but at the same time, I'm disappointed my buddy isn't part of it and I'm disappointed at what he's going through right now.'' CYCLING Judge sides with Armstrong in lawsuit AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A federal judge in California sided with Lance Armstrong and the publishers of his autobiographies on Tuesday, rejecting claims in a lawsuit that lies about not using performance-enhancing drugs amounted to fraud and false advertising. A group of readers who bought Armstrong's ''It's Not About The Bike'' and ''Every Second Counts'' sued in Sacramento federal court seeking class-action status and more than $5 million in damages. They said they were duped into believing the books were inspirational true accounts and should have been labeled fiction. U.S. District Judge Morrison England's 39-page rule sided with Armstrong's attorneys, who argued the REPORT (Continued from page 1B) work for players and professors gave passing grades for little or no work. — The program's drug policy was selectively enforced, allowing some players to go unpunished for repeated positive tests. — Some members of a hostess program used by the football coaching staff had sex with recruits. NCAA rules bar boosters from providing cash or other benefits based on athletic performance. NCAA spokeswoman Emily Potter declined comment when asked about Oklahoma State, citing the organization's longstanding policy. SI reported that eight former Cowboys told the magazine they had received cash payments and 29 others were named by teammates as having also taken money. Former player Calvin Mickens said he was handed cash in the locker room by a stranger after Oklahoma State's 2005 season-opening victory, a game in which he played well. ''I was like, Wow, this is the life!'' Mickens told SI. ''I'm 18, playing football and I just got $200.'' He said he got money at other times, including $800 later that season after the game at Texas A&M, and saw team- BOWYER (Continued from page 1B) berth. He lost the race and the final spot in the Chase. ''That no doubt was the toughest thing in my career, having the carpet pulled out from under- books are free speech protected by the First Amendment. ''Lance Armstrong has a right to exercise his First Amendment right to free speech,'' Armstrong attorney Zia Modabber said. By law, the plaintiffs have 21 days to refile their lawsuit under the guidelines of Tuesday's ruling, but Modabber predicted the ruling would close the door on the case. The ruling likely eliminates one of several legal hurdles facing Armstrong. The federal government is seeking to recover more than $30 million the U.S. Postal Service paid to sponsor his former team in a case that could include total penalties of more than $100 million. Armstrong also has been sued in Texas by two companies seeking to recover $15 million in bonuses paid to Armstrong and his teams for winning the Tour de France and other races. The books lawsuit was filed in California under that state's consumer protections laws. The lawsuit accused Armstrong and publishers Random House and Penguin Group of committing fraud, false advertising and other wrongdoing for publishing the cyclist's vehement denials that he wasn't a cheat. They also claimed the books should have been labeled as fiction instead of non-fiction. ''The fact Lance didn't tell the truth about whether or not he doped, does not make the entire story of his life fiction,'' Modabber said. a decision right now. It's really part of the reason why we played the card. We need time to assess our program and the boat. We need to get it heading in the other direction. We've got time, fortunately. There are a lot of races left.'' Kostecki usually attends post-race news conference with Spithill. On Tuesday, rising star Tom Slingsby, a gold medalist for Australia at the London Olympics and a strategist and grinder for Oracle, accompanied the skipper. Spithill said he was just rotating things around and it was too early to say whether Kostecki would be replaced. Coutts said in a text to The Associated Press that he didn't think replacing Kostecki was an option. ''But we might look at other options,'' Coutts said. Kiwi skipper Dean Barker seemed a bit stunned when Team New Zealand was told Oracle was playing its card. ''Oracle just pulled the pin, boys,'' he told his crew. ''Is that 100 percent?'' It was. It was an intriguing development, considering that Oracle Team USA practiced its upwind sailing and tacking on Monday, an off day, while the Kiwis chose to stay ashore. Wednesday is an off day. Oracle plans to go out and practice. The Kiwis plan to stay ashore, work on the boat and use their simulators to try to improve their starts, the one area where they're weak. Spithill said Oracle's boat is fine, which makes playing the postponement card now that much riskier, in case there is a breakdown later in the regatta. NFL NATIONAL West W 1 1 1 0 L 0 0 0 1 T 0 0 0 0 Pct PF 1.000 27 1.000 34 1.000 12 .000 24 PA 24 28 7 27 W 1 1 0 0 L 0 0 1 1 T 0 0 0 0 Pct PF 1.000 33 1.000 36 .000 27 .000 31 PA 27 31 33 36 W New Orleans1 Tampa Bay 0 Carolina 0 Atlanta 0 North W Detroit 1 Chicago 1 Green Bay 0 Minnesota 0 L 0 1 1 1 T 0 0 0 0 Pct PF 1.000 23 .000 17 .000 7 .000 17 PA 17 18 12 23 L 0 0 1 1 T 0 0 0 0 Pct PF 1.000 34 1.000 24 .000 28 .000 24 PA 24 21 34 34 St. Louis 49ERS Seattle Arizona East Philadelphia Dallas Washington N.Y. Giants South AMERICAN West Kansas City Denver San Diego Oakland East Patriots Miami N.Y. Jets Buffalo South Indianapolis Houston Tennessee Jacksonville North W 1 1 0 0 L 0 0 1 1 T 0 0 0 0 Pct PF 1.000 28 1.000 49 .000 28 .000 17 PA 2 27 31 21 W 1 1 1 0 L 0 0 0 1 T 0 0 0 0 Pct PF 1.000 23 1.000 23 1.000 18 .000 21 PA 21 10 17 23 W 1 1 1 0 L 0 0 0 1 T 0 0 0 0 Pct PF 1.000 21 1.000 31 1.000 16 .000 2 PA 17 28 9 28 W L T Pct PF PA Cincinnati 0 1 0 .000 21 24 Pittsburgh 0 1 0 .000 9 16 Baltimore 0 1 0 .000 27 49 Cleveland 0 1 0 .000 10 23 ------------------------------------------------------Thursday's Result Denver 49, Baltimore 27 Sunday's Results New Orleans 23, Atlanta 17 Chicago 24, Cincinnati 21 New England 23, Buffalo 21 Tennessee 16, Pittsburgh 9 N.Y. Jets 18, Tampa Bay 17 Kansas City 28, Jacksonville 2 Seattle 12, Carolina 7 Miami 23, Cleveland 10 Detroit 34, Minnesota 24 Indianapolis 21, Oakland 17 San Francisco 34, Green Bay 28 St. Louis 27, Arizona 24 Dallas 36, N.Y. Giants 31 Monday's Results Philadelphia 33, Washington 27 Houston 31, San Diego 28 Thursday's Game N.Y. Jets at New England, 8:25 p.m. Sunday's Games Dallas at Kansas City, 10 a.m. Tennessee at Houston, 10 a.m. Washington at Green Bay, 10 a.m. Minnesota at Chicago, 10 a.m. St. Louis at Atlanta, 10 a.m. San Diego at Philadelphia, 10 a.m. Miami at Indianapolis, 10 a.m. Cleveland at Baltimore, 10 a.m. Carolina at Buffalo, 10 a.m. Detroit at Arizona, 1:05 p.m. New Orleans at Tampa Bay, 1:05 p.m. Jacksonville at Oakland, 1:25 p.m. Denver at N.Y. Giants, 1:25 p.m. San Francisco at Seattle, 5:30 p.m. Monday's Game Pittsburgh at Cincinnati, 5:40 p.m.