Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/20128
Monday NFL — Broncos at Chargers, 5:30 p.m., ESPN NBA — Kings at Jazz, 6 p.m., CSNC NBA — Nuggets at Warriors, 7:30 p.m., CSNB NCAAB — Oklahoma vs. Kentucky, 2 p.m., ESPN2 NCAAB — Duke vs. Marquette, 4:30 p.m., ESPN2 NCAAB —Kansas St. vs. Gonzaga, 6:30 p.m., ESPN2 Sports 1B Monday November 22, 2010 Give him five NASCAR Sprint Cup HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) — Jim- mie Johnson wasn’t the best all year. Not even close. When it mattered, though, he could- n’t be beat. For the fifth consecutive year. Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick took the champion all the way to the edge this season, waging the most seri- ous threats yet to Johnson’s reign atop NASCAR. Only the outcome didn’t change, and Johnson maintained his ironclad hold on the Sprint Cup. Johnson became the first driver in the seven-year history of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship to over- come a points deficit in the season finale, finishing second Sunday to race winner Carl Edwards while winning his record fifth consecutive title. He became only the third driver to overcome a points deficit in the sea- son’s final race and win the champi- onship since 1975. The final margin was 39 points over Hamlin, and 41 over Harvick, who finished third in the race. So despite all the wins — 53 of them over nine seasons — and all the celebrations, this one at Homestead- Miami Speedway was obviously very different. Usually so calm and work- manlike behind the wheel, Johnson was exuberant as he crossed the finish line, pumping his fists in the car while screaming ‘‘this is unbelievable!’’ over and over. ‘‘I’ve always told you the first championship, the first win, that stuff has meant the most to me. This one, I think this takes the lead,’’ Johnson said. ‘‘It’s not that the other Chases weren’t competitive. We were stronger in the previous two Chases, at least, but this one, I am just so proud.’’ Maybe because for the first time since his reign began in 2006, Johnson and the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team seemed vulnerable. Harvick was the most consistent driver of the 26- race ‘‘regular season,’’ and Hamlin, with a series-best eight wins this year, was the popular pick to dethrone John- son. Hamlin carried a 15-point lead into the finale, but struggled the entire race and turned Sunday into a battle of which driver would make the fewest mistakes. It ultimately was Johnson, who overcame a few slow pit stops by a team that’s been in the spotlight since crew chief Chad Knaus benched his team in the middle of a race at Texas three weeks ago. The next day, the crews for Johnson and teammate Jeff Gordon were swapped for the final two races of the year. The No. 48 team rose above all the drama, even after a mid-race stop cost Johnson five spots. ‘‘I think this year we showed what this team is made of,’’ he said. ‘‘At times this season we didn’t have the most speed, but we had the most heart.’’ Hamlin and his Joe Gibbs Racing team felt otherwise, especially as they outperformed Johnson during the Chase. But poor fuel mileage last week in Phoenix kept it tight headed into Sunday, and he had a terrible race when he needed only a clean run. Contact with Greg Biffle very early in the race sent Hamlin into a spin and damaged the front of his car. He dropped to 37th by the restart and had to work all day to finish 14th. MCT photo Jimmy Johnson celebrates his fifth Sprint Cup. ‘‘We had a great year, we won the most races that we ever won, we con- tended like we’ve never contended before and just circumstances took us out of this one,’’ Hamlin said. Harvick, meanwhile, took the lead on a round of pit stops with 80 laps to go, but was flagged for speeding as he entered pit road. It dropped him to 29th, and he was still upset with the call after the race. ‘‘I don’t think that penalty will ever settle in my stomach,’’ Harvick said, insisting that ‘‘only a handful of peo- ple’’ get to see the pit road speeds. ‘‘I won’t ever settle for that.’’ But he wasn’t devastated by the defeat, pointing to all the gains made this year by Richard Childress Racing. A year after failing to put any cars into the Chase, RCR had three in the field and Harvick, winner of two races, led the points for most of the regular sea- son. ‘‘It’s a 180 for us,’’ Harvick said. While Harvick could find the bright spots, Hamlin, sitting next to him at the podium, had a harder time finding much to be happy about. With a vacant look and muffled answers, he vowed to be back stronger next season. ‘‘My job is to work in the offseason to do everything I can to be better and, you know, I know every year that I am in the Cup series, I’m going to be bet- ter than I was the previous year,’’ Ham- lin said. ‘‘We’re going to keep working and go get them next year.’’ As both drivers discussed their day, Johnson’s championship celebration was shown on the multiple televisions hanging around the room and both dri- vers watched portions of the presenta- tion. Who could blame them? Harrison and Steelers defense rout Raiders Raiders 3 Pittsburgh 35 PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Raiders haven’t seen a Steelers defense like this since the Steel Curtain of the 1970s. James Harrison caused two turnovers that Ben Roethlis- berger turned into touchdown passes and the Pittsburgh Steelers went on to rout the Oakland Raiders 35-3 on Sun- day. Roethlisberger threw touchdown passes of 52 yards to Mike Wallace, 22 yards to rookie Emmanuel Sanders and 16 yards to Isaac Redman and scrambled 16 yards for a touch- down as the Steelers (7-3) bounced back in a big way after being rolled over by New England 39-26 at Heinz Field the week before. Roethlisberger was 18 of 29 for 275 yards and also had 55 yards rushing. Wallace had his fifth 100-yard receiving game with 116 yards, and Rashard Mendenhall’s 15-yard TD run put Pittsburgh ahead to stay 7-3 in the second quar- ter. Pittsburgh remained tied for the AFC North lead with Baltimore (7-3). Oakland (5-5) fell out of a tie for the AFC West lead when the Chiefs beat Arizona. Harrison, the former AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year, had five tackles, two sacks, an interception and a forced fumble, plus a penalty for slamming Campbell to the turf as the quarterback was throwing a pass. Harrison, still unhappy with the 27-24 upset loss to Oak- land in Pittsburgh last season that effectively ruined the Steelers’ season, played his best game since drawing his $75,000 fine for hitting Browns wide receiver Mohamed Massaquoi that caused him to briefly weigh retiring. The Raiders haven’t been so dominated defensively by the Steelers since that Steel Curtain carried Pittsburgh to AFC championship game victories of 24-13 in Oakland dur- ing the 1974 season and 16-10 in Pittsburgh a season later. Campbell had led Oakland to three consecutive victories, but was pulled for Bruce Gradkowski late in the third quar- ter after going 7 of 19 for 70 yards and an interception. Campbell never had a chance against a Steelers defense that forced Oakland into becoming one-dimensional by lim- iting Darren McFadden to 14 yards on 10 carries. McFadden was averaging a league-leading 108 yards per game, only to be shut down by a league-best rushing defense that has allowed only one 100-yard rusher in 44 games. Gradkowski, who threw three touchdown passes during the final 8 1/2 minutes of Oakland’s stunning win in Pitts- burgh last season, was intercepted by Troy Polamalu on his first series, and the Steelers turned that into Wallace’s touch- down. The Steelers had 163 yards in penalties, including six per- sonal fouls to break the club record of 154 yards set against Cincinnati in 1989. But the Steelers also had six sacks. The Harrison penalty so upset the crowd of 64,987 that it booed for the ensuing three plays, and fans began a derisive cheer aimed at referee Tony Corrente. No that all those penalty yards mattered. Oakland aver- aged 458 yards and 38.6 points during its three-game win- ning streak, but had only 52 yards — 11 rushing — as the Steelers opened a 21-3 halftime lead. Pittsburgh took that lead after Louis Murphy’s fumble led to Roethlisberger’s scoring throw to Sanders with 1:26 left before halftime. As Roethlisberger celebrated, he apparently said something to defensive end Richard Seymour, who turned and struck him in the jaw with an open hand and was ejected. That penalty summed up the Raiders’ frustration on a day they hoped to win in Pittsburgh in successive seasons for the first time in club history and extend their winning streak to four games, their longest since 2002. Rapids win MLS Cup in OT Colorado 2 FCDallas 1 OT TORONTO (AP) — FC Dallas defender George John deflected a shot into his own net in overtime and the Colorado Rapids beat FC Dallas 2-1 on Sunday night to win their first MLS Cup. League MVP David Ferreira scored for Dallas in the first half before Colorado’s Conor Casey tied it in the second. In the second half of overtime, Colorado sub- stitute Macoumba Kandji took a long pass from Casey inside the box and stabbed the ball across the face of the Dallas goal. His shot spun off John’s left thigh and over the head of goalie Kevin Hartman. John was charged with an own goal. Kandji, Colorado’s third and final substitute, injured his left leg on the play and had to limp off, leaving the Rapids one player short for the final 12 minutes. The Rapids are the fourth different MLS champion in the past four years. Freeman leads Bucs past sluggish 49ers Tampa Bay 21 49ers 0 SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — All it took for Tampa Bay to finally win again at Candlestick Park was a methodical, mistake- free day of football. Josh Freeman threw for 136 yards and two touch- down passes and the Bucca- neers beat the stagnant San Francisco 49ers 21-0 on Sunday for their first win in this stadium since 1980 and only second ever in 13 tries. Nothing fancy needed for the Bucs (7-3) to end an eight-game losing streak in San Francisco. They were the underdog, no less. Ronde Barber made his 40th career interception in the fourth quarter, most in Tampa Bay franchise histo- ry, to help clinch it. He also became the first player in NFL history to record 40 interceptions and 25 sacks in a career. LeGarrette Blount ran for 82 yards and 305- pound left tackle Donald Penn made a late 1-yard touchdown catch. 49ers quarterback Troy Smith lost for the first time in three starts — leaving coach Mike Singletary to ponder whether to return to former starter Alex Smith next week for San Francisco (3-7). The Niners were shut out at home for the first time since a 7-0 loss to Atlanta on Oct. 9, 1977. This was yet another sur- prising performance by the NFL’s youngest team, a dominant day one week after the Bucs’ 31-16 win over Carolina. Blount, who nearly joined the 49ers then changed his mind and briefly went to Tennessee before the Bucs picked him up off waivers in September, easily broke one tackle and hurdled safety Reggie Smith for a 16-yard gain late in the third quarter. That set up Freeman’s 8-yard touch- down pass to Mike Williams two plays later. The rookie played two days after his arrest on a DUI charge early Friday. Tampa Bay’s other Williams — running back Carnell — scored on a 6- yard TD run in the second quarter. Freeman’s numbers weren’t necessarily that impressive, but he kept sev- eral drives going with his feet, heads-up decisions and key third-down comple- tions. Tampa Bay’s stingy defense did its part, too. San Francisco managed only 189 total yards and 11 first downs — never reaching the red zone. And two of those first downs came via penal- ty. San Francisco had the ball for only 23 minutes, 36 seconds, to Tampa Bay’s 36:24 in time of possession. The 49ers punted from the Tampa Bay 33 and 38 on their two deepest drives into Bucs’ territory. San Francis- co ran only 21 offensive plays in the first half, with Smith getting sacked on two of those. That made for a lot of extra stress on the defense. Singletary went with Smith again even though Alex Smith is healthy from a separated non-throwing left shoulder he hurt at Carolina on Oct. 24. Singletary has said he would name his starting quarterback each week — though this debacle was hardly all Troy Smith’s fault. A win here would have put the Niners right back in the chase in the mediocre NFC West, a division they were picked to win before the season. Now they hit the road for games at Arizona and Green Bay. San Francisco was try- ing for a third straight victo- ry and fourth in five follow- ing an 0-5 start. Still, team president Jed York declared to ESPN after the awful start that the franchise would fight back to capture the division and reach the play- offs — which would mean ending a seven-year postsea- son drought. It could have been worse. San Francisco caught a break when Con- nor Barth hooked a 41-yard field-goal attempt wide left with 5:11 remaining in the third quarter. Smith was 16 for 31 passes for 148 yards and was sacked six times after throwing for 552 yards on 29 of 47 passing in his first two starts, including rallying the Niners to a 23-20 over- time victory against St. Louis last Sunday.