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Friday Boys Hoops — Anderson at Corning, 7:30 p.m. Boys Hoops — Enterprise at Red Bluff, 7:30 p.m. Boys Hoops — Quincy at Los Molinos, 7:30 p.m. Girls Hoops — Corning at Anderson, 7:30 p.m. Girls Hoops — Quincy at Los Molinos, 6 p.m. PGA‚ Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, Noon, TGC Sports 1B Friday February 11, 2011 Thanks, Christina Suns rout Warriors I got to say, I was thrilled when Christina Aguilera fum- bled the lyrics to the national anthem at the Super Bowl as if she had just been hit by Clay Matthews. See, I was already deter- mined to work the Star-Span- gled Banner into this week’s column in some fashion and bless Christina if she didn’t give leave the perfect seque. Why did I want to talk about the national anthem? Well, a student at Red Bluff Union High School pretty much forced me too. Warriors88 Phoenix 112 Rich Greene About a week ago the school’s sound system went out during the freshmen girl’s basketball game. That meant no music during timeouts and warmups, but even worse it meant whatever student was up to sing the national anthem before the var- sity game would be in a difficult situation. That didn’t phase Ashiah Scharaga. The senior was presented with the challenge of walking to midcourt and belting out those passion- ate lyrics with no microphone and the hope every- one in attendance would be quiet enough for the plan to actually work. There was still murmuring as Scharaga let out the first O, but by the end of the first line everyone realized what was going on, quieted down and stared straight at the flag. They were in for a treat as Scharaga delivered a beautiful rendition, technology be damned. To me it was every bit as good of a performance as a player going for 20 points. Here on the sports page we often overlook a lot of people that make our games and matches such a special treat. From a student sitting at the door collecting money to the teachers who spend their night show- ing support by just showing up — all of it adds into the experience. If it wasn’t for a lot of the non-athletes out there, the players might as well just be playing in some- one’s driveway. While that would still be fun, it wouldn’t leave such great memories in place. ******************** Another group of people who deserve more credit than they currently receive in these pages are our local alumni who head off to college and excel at the next level. If you want to blame some kooky sports editor for that — go for it. But if you would like to help a one-person sports desk with limited time and resources, here are our some ways the community can help get more alum- ni update features in the newspaper. First, it would be nice to create a list of where all our alumni are playing, sort of like the military list that runs in the Daily News when there’s space. The way the military list is put together is read- ers call or e-mail with the names of family mem- bers and friends who are serving. Creating a sports alumni list could be done just as easily and go a long way to help keeping track of players and getting on the right mailing lists from colleges for updates on our local stars. Second, a lot of parents and the student-athletes themselves can be a bit humble at times. For instance the update on Ben Redfield that ran in the paper this past week came as a surprise to Ben’s father, Andy. Andy told me his son had mentioned he was honored for something, but gave few details about what it was. So when Andy opened up Tuesday’s Daily News he found out what a big deal it was along with every other reader. Thankfully, a few people had sent over a note to the Daily News informing the paper that Ben had been selected for an ESPN the Magazine academic honor. The Redfields’ story got me to thinking that I bet a lot of accomplishments go unpublished because the family doesn’t want to seem like it’s trying to grab attention. Well trust me, people want to know. If you’re from Tehama County, readers are inter- ested in what great things your children are doing. So if you’re a friend, a distant relative or just happened to over hear something at the super mar- ket, feel free to ring up the Daily News or send an e-mail so I can check it out. If you can write a short summary yourself — that’s even better. We can’t and shouldn’t always count on the par- ents letting us know themselves. ******************** On Tuesday, the Red Bluff Lady Spartans fresh- men, junior varsity and varsity teams are doing something special with their games against Pleas- ant Valley. They’ll be holding a Pink Out to raise awareness and a few bucks to fight cancer. I have a hunch they’ll be a bit more about this event in the Daily News in the coming days, but just a heads up you might want to save some time Tuesday evening to show your support. Send your alumni updates and questions to Daily News Sports Editor Rich Greene at sports@redbluffdailynews.com or call them in to 527-2151, ext. 109. PHOENIX (AP) — Three days after his 37th birthday, Steve Nash had 18 points and 11 assists, then sat out the fourth quarter on Thursday night and watched Phoenix complete a 112-88 rout of the Golden State Warriors, the Suns’ most one-sided win this season. Channing Frye added 17 points and nine rebounds as the Suns beat the Warriors for the second time in four nights to climb to .500 (25-25) for the first time since Dec. 19. Ekpe Udoh and Brandan Wright scored 16 apiece for the Warriors. Monta Ellis, the fourth-leading scorer in the NBA at 25.4 points per game, managed just eight on 4 of 13 shooting. The Suns made it a blowout with a 20-0 run, the last 14 points of the first half and first six of the second, to go up 71-42, Phoenix’s biggest lead against anyone this season — up to that point. The Warriors missed 13 shots during that stretch. Phoenix led by as many as 33 in the fourth quarter. Jared Dudley scored 13 points and Robin Lopez had 12 for Phoenix. Rookie Zabian Dowdell, signed to fill in for injured Goran Dragic, scored 10 — six more than he’d ever had in an NBA game. Phoenix, winner of five of its past six overall, won its 28th straight at home against a Pacific Division foe not named the Los Angeles Lakers. Golden State had won four of five overall, most recently 116-114 over Denver on Wednesday night. Both losses in its past six came against the Suns. The Warriors — coming off an eight-game home stand — scored the first two points Thursday night, then never led again. The 14-0 surge to fin- ish the half was part of a 17-3 overall outburst that put Phoenix ahead 65-42 at the break. The Suns shot 60 percent for the half, with Nash leading the way with 14 points and eight assists. Frye made a jumper, then Vince Carter scored twice to start the third quarter. The 20-point run finally ended when Ellis hit a 14-footer with 8:38 left in the third quarter. Golden State is 0-3 against Phoenix this season. Sloan steps down as Jazz coach Utah Jazz SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — After 23 seasons, Hall of Fame coach Jerry Sloan had only one bit of advice for successor Ty Corbin. ‘‘Be yourself,’’ Sloan said Thursday after announcing he was stepping down after 1,127 wins the Jazz because he didn’t have the energy any more. Corbin, a former Jazz player, already began meeting with players and will coach his first game Friday night against the Phoenix Suns. Around the league, the shock remained. ‘‘I’m too shocked to have a reac- tion,’’ Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. ‘‘It caught us all off guard. ... He’s been there like this rock and all of a sudden the rock is gone. It’s like your franchise moved or something. I don’t know. It’s just strange.’’ Miami Heat star LeBron James had a similar reaction. ‘‘Man it’s gonna be crazy and weird seeing anyone besides Jerry Sloan walking the sidelines for the Utah Jazz!’’ James tweeted. ‘‘Jerry Sloan is the Utah Jazz. Wow.’’ Sloan was the longest tenured coach in any of the four major sports. His res- ignation came just two weeks after the second-longest tenured professional coach, Jeff Fisher, parted ways with the Tennessee Titans after a 6-10 season. ‘‘I had a feeling this time was the time to move on,’’ an emotional Sloan said during a Thursday afternoon news conference. ‘‘(That’s) a long time to be in one organization. Again, I’ve been blessed. Today is a new day. When I get this over with, I’ll feel better. My time is up and it’s time to move on.’’ Longtime assistant Phil Johnson also resigned, surprising even Sloan during their postgame chat Wednesday night with general manager Kevin O’Connor. ‘‘I came with him and I’ll leave with NFL MCT file photo Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan stepped down after 23 seasons. him,’’ the 69-year-old Johnson said Thursday. The two men agreed to sleep on their decisions Wednesday night at the request of team owners and O’Connor, who said he ‘‘begged’’ Sloan not to resign. Nothing changed in the morn- — Negotiations to prevent an NFL lockout took a grim turn Thursday with the can- cellation of the second day of a planned two-day bar- gaining session. ‘‘We wish we were negotiating today,’’ NFL Players Association spokesman George Atallah said. ‘‘That’s all I can say.’’ There are just three weeks to go before the col- lective bargaining agree- ment expires on March 3. The NFL confirmed that Commissioner Roger Goodell has canceled an owners’ meeting scheduled for next Tuesday in Philadelphia, where labor was expected to be a topic. ‘‘Despite the inaccurate characterizations of (Wednesday’s) meeting, out of respect to the collective bargaining process and our negotiating partner, we are going to continue to conduct negotiations with the union in private,’’ league spokesman Greg Aiello told The Associated Press via e- mail, ‘‘and not engage in a point-counterpoint on the specifics of either side’s pro- posals or the meeting process. Instead, we will work as hard as possible to reach a fair agreement by March 4. We are fully focused on that goal.’’ The collapse of the talks came as a surprise. The two sides got together Wednes- day for the second time in five days, the previous nego- tiations taking place in Dal- las on Saturday before the Super Bowl. Neither Atal- lah nor NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith would comment on why Thursday’s session was called off. ing and Sloan reported sleeping better than he has in six weeks. Asked what he’ll do now, he didn’t know, and said he expected to be a ‘‘dizzy duck’’ for a while. See SLOAN, page 2B NFL, players’ union cancel 2nd day of talks WASHINGTON (AP) nate individual negotiation of rookie contracts. Owners opted out of the current CBA in 2008 and are seeking a bigger cut of the league’s revenues, which are roughly $9 bil- lion, as well as the rookie wage scale. They also want to increase the regular sea- son by two games to 18, while dropping two presea- son games. The players are happy with the status quo. The union sent a memo Thursday to player agents updating the status of dis- cussions on a rookie wage scale. A union proposal to decrease the maximum length of rookie contracts to four years for players select- ed in the first three rounds, and three years for players chosen after that, also included a limit on financial incentives and salary escala- tors that could be included in rookie deals. Those limits would, the NFLPA claims, provide the cost certainty the league is seeking for its rookie salary pool. According to the memo seen by The Associated Press, the NFL’s response was a five-year wage scale with base salary escalators. That would virtually elimi- The NFL has had labor peace since a 1987 players’ strike that led to three games with replacement players, but some sort of labor stop- page appears a genuine pos- sibility this year because of the slow pace of negotia- tions. The talks at the Super Bowl were the first formal discussions since Novem- ber. Meanwhile, the NFLPA continued to present its side of the argument to the pub- lic. The union was a guest of American Rights at Work, which brought in a beer vendor from Ford Field in Detroit as part of a news conference in the nation’s capital aimed at demonstrat- ing the effects a lockout would have on the econo- my. ‘‘Football and other major sporting events are some of the only things that bring people to downtown Detroit after 5 p.m.,’’ said John Marler, who has worked at the stadium since 2007. Kimberly Freeman Brown, executive director of American Rights at Work, said the NFL and union are fussing over many of the same issues faced by many workers: pay cuts, longer working hours, workplace safety and health care. She said a lockout would have an impact on 150,000 jobs and cause more than $160 million in lost revenue in every city with an NFL team. She called a potential work stoppage ‘‘something that could potentially have devastating consequences on our quality of life and our mental health.’’ ‘‘For many fans, football is just that deep to us,’’ Brown said. Atallah defended the union’s public relations tac- tics. ‘‘It is important for us to stand with the people who are here on this panel, not for any publicity issue or publicity stunt,’’ Atallah said. ‘‘This is real life for us. This is a reality that these people face.’’ Smith arrived during the news conference, but stayed in the back of the room and did not answer questions.