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2B Daily News – Thursday, June 16, 2011 NFL players react to progress CUP NEW YORK (AP) — Negotia- tions completed for the day and like- ly the week, NFL owners are setting sights on their upcoming meeting in Chicago. Many players are looking beyond then — with optimism — toward getting back to work. NFL Commissioner Roger Good- ell and several owners completed two days of talks Wednesday with NFL Players Association chief DeMaurice Smith and a group of players in Maryland. A person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press that the two sides have been making progress at several such meetings in the last three weeks. The person, who spoke anony- mously because details of the dis- cussions aren’t supposed to be made public, also said a new collective bargaining agreement is not immi- nent. Nonetheless, several players expressed confidence that a deal will get done soon and training camps will open on time late in July. ‘‘I know that we’ve been talking pretty extensively over the last few weeks,’’ said New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, one of 10 players whose names are on an antitrust lawsuit against the league. ‘‘It seems like things are moving in the right direction, which is very positive. It’s what we always hoped for as players because obviously we’re getting to crunch time here.’’ Close enough to it. Although no deadlines have been set for the opening of camps, the 32 teams soon must decide whether to delay them, particularly those clubs that stage a portion of camp out of town. Settling early in July almost certainly would provide for full training camps at previously planned locations, although the Minnesota Vikings have said they could delay until July 18 an announcement on whether they will train at their usual site in Mankato. ‘‘I think everyone kind of has that feeling, that this thing’s starting to end,’’ said Bengals tackle Andrew Whitworth, the team’s player repre- sentative. ‘‘I feel like that’s the atti- tude that everybody has, and you can see everybody preparing that way. ‘‘When you look at the timeline for both sides, it starts to get real serious around this time.’’ The lockout is in its fourth month. During that time, there have been mediation sessions, court actions in Minnesota and Missouri, and clan- destine meetings between Goodell and Smith, a handful of owners and players. Some of those talks have included lawyers on both sides, some haven’t. Such sessions have been critical in past NFL negotiations, dating to the 1980s. Brees said to be wary of reports that specific portions of a framework for a new CBA are completed. ‘‘Little steps is good. ... I think the gap is being narrowed in a lot of different areas,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s hard to give any kind of prediction at this point, so any percentages that are thrown out there by unknown sources is something that, you can’t necessarily believe everything you hear. But there is progress and that’s a good thing.’’ Movement toward an agreement is in both sides’ best interest after a federal appeals court judge warned the owners and players they might not like the upcoming decisions in legal actions sparked by the lockout. Indeed, the court could delay any rulings if a new CBA appears to be near. If a deal were struck, a free agency period would follow soon after, along with the signing of undrafted rookies. Teams would hold minicamps, which have been put off by the lockout that began March 12. The labor impasse also has cost the league and some teams advertis- ing and sponsorship money, and some players have not collected workout bonuses. At least seven teams have instituted pay cuts or fur- loughs of employees who are not players. The economic pain may not be over. The dealmaking could all come crashing down if one side decides compromise is not in its interest. ‘‘Much can still go wrong — every negotiating session is unique to itself,’’ said Don Yee, who repre- sents Tom Brady and is an adjunct law professor at USC. ‘‘Just because one day was good doesn’t mean the next day will be, too.’’ That the lockout has lasted this long is frustrating to at least one player. ‘‘In all honesty, being a profes- sional now in an industry that’s as big as the NFL is, it’s kind of embar- rassing that we’re even in a lock- out,’’ said Bengals running back Cedric Benson, who will be a free agent once a new CBA is in place. ‘‘And having to go through these things and having to come to (the University of Cincinnati) campus and work out and not having a train- er. It’s slightly embarrassing, but it is what it is and I have no control over those type of things. ‘‘But it is comforting to hear those guys coming up with a solu- tion.’’ Bonds asks for acquittal or new trial SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Barry Bonds’ attorneys filed a motion Wednesday asking a judge to change Bonds’ obstruction of justice conviction to an acquit- tal or schedule a new trial. Bonds was convicted of obstructing a grand jury’s steroids investiga- tion by giving an evasive answer during question- ing in 2003. The trial ended in April with a hung jury on three per- jury counts along with CAL (Continued from page 1B) for an answer in terms of competing and we weren’t going to take no for an answer in terms of reinstate- ment,’’ said former Cal and major league pitcher Doug Nickle, who was heavily involved in the group Save Cal Baseball. ‘‘To see both reached was almost surreal. The pure joy was like a release.’’ The players celebrated the super regional victory with a dog pile on the infield, expressing as much joy as they had disappointment and anger just a few months ear- lier. But the Cal team is now bigger than the 36 players and four coaches on the ros- ter. More than 1,000 support- ers — including former major leaguers like Jeff Kent, parents and former Cal play- ers — donated money to the cause and are an integral part of the program. ‘‘They’re the reason we are still here,’’ Pac-10 player of the year Tony Renda said. ‘‘I’m forever grateful for them pledging all their money to save us. ... We have our team on the field, but they’re on our team too. WNBA WESTERN CONFERENCE WL Pct GB San Antonio 3 0 1.000 — Minnesota 3 1 .750 .5 Los Angeles 2 1 .667 1 Seattle Phoenix 0 2 .000 2.5 Tulsa 1 1 .500 1.5 0 5 .000 4 EASTERN CONFERENCE WL Pct GB Indiana 3 1 .750 — Chicago 2 1 .667 .5 Connecticut 2 1 .667 .5 New York 2 2 .500 1 Washington 1 2 .333 1.5 Atlanta 1 3 .250 2 ————————————————— Today’s game Connecticut at Washington, 4 p.m. the conviction on the single obstruction count. The home run king’s lawyers argue he was unfairly convicted of ‘‘unauthorized ram- bling’’ in discussing being a celebrity child when asked whether his trainer ever injected him with a syringe. The lawyers insist that Bonds answered the question directly during further questioning. ‘‘Unauthorized ram- bling is not a federal crime,’’ Bonds’ lawyers They’re Cal baseball like we are. They mean a lot to us.’’ There are quite a few peo- ple on the Cal bandwagon these days, from the season- ticket holders at Oregon State who gave coach David Esquer a check to help the program, to the boosters at rival Stanford who helped raise money to the legions of fans who have attached themselves to this feel-good story. And then there are the former Cal players in the majors, who contributed money to the cause and are now admirers of the current Bears. ‘‘They’ve had a 50-pound weight on their backs all sea- son with the cards they were dealt,’’ Oakland Athletics outfielder Conor Jackson said. ‘‘This is definitely a movie script. I hope the peo- ple who were involved in making that decision have their heads between their legs now.’’ The trip to the World Series has been a difficult one. Three players trans- ferred after the bad news in the fall, but the core of the team stayed together for one last run behind a strong NAL Northern Division WL Pct. GB Lake County 13 6 .684 — Edmonton 9 7 .563 2.5 Maui 9 8 .529 3 Calgary 10 9 .526 3 OUTLAWS 610 .375 5.5 Southern Division WL Pct. GB R. G.Valley 12 9 .571 — San Angelo 11 9 .550 .5 McAllen 11 10 .524 1 Edinburg 7 13 .350 4.5 Yuma 5 12 .294 5 ————————————————— Wednesday’s results Chico at Edmonton, late Lake County 8, Calgary 7 McAllen 9, Rio Grande Valley 3 Edinburg at San Angelo, late Maui at Yuma, late Today’s games Chico at Edmonton, 6:05 p.m. Edinburg at San Angelo, 5:05 p.m. Rio Grande Valley at McAllen, 5:05 p.m. Lake County at Calgary, 5:30 p.m. wrote in their brief. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston scheduled a hearing for July 1 on their request. She has already scheduled a hearing for June 24 to set a sentencing date for the conviction and she may combine the two dates into one court ses- sion. Bonds is not expected to receive a prison sen- tence, based on similar convictions and sentenc- ing of two other figures charged with lying about pitching staff led by Erik Johnson, Justin Jones and Kyle Porter. While preparing for the season, the Bears also had to prepare for their futures. Assistant coach Dan Hubbs asked every player with eli- gibility remaining for a list of three schools they’d like to transfer to in case the rein- statement bid failed and called the coaches at those schools on the players’ behalf. ‘‘If you can imagine run- ning your program, saving your program and disman- tling your program all at the same time, it’s all day, every day,’’ Esquer said. ‘‘There’s not one piece of that that doesn’t stop. It was difficult, but my assistant coaches played a big role in doing all those things at once.’’ The Bears started the sea- son off well, using the anger over their slated elimination to fuel a 19-7 start. Then came the good news in April that the program had been saved, but Cal stumbled MLS WESTERN CONFERENCE WL T Pts GF GA Galaxy FC Dallas 7 4 4 25 18 16 Seattle 8 2 7 31 22 14 5 4 7 22 18 15 Colorado 5 3 7 22 17 14 Salt Lake 6 3 3 21 14 7 QUAKES 54 4 19 20 16 Chivas USA 4 5 5 17 17 16 Portland 5 6 2 17 15 19 Vancouver 1 6 8 11 16 22 EASTERN CONFERENCE WL T Pts GF GA Philadelphia 6 3 4 22 16 11 New York 5 2 7 22 21 13 Houston 4 5 6 18 19 18 Columbus 4 4 6 18 14 16 D.C. 4 5 4 16 18 24 Toronto FC 2 5 9 15 15 25 Chicago 2 4 8 14 16 19 N. England 3 7 5 14 11 18 Kansas City 2 6 4 10 16 20 NOTE: Three points for victory, one point for tie. ————————————————— Wednesday’s result New England 0, Toronto FC 0, tie Friday’s game San Jose at Kansas City, 5:30 p.m. Mexico steroids. Federal prosecutors are also expected to tell the judge whether they intend to retry Bonds on the three perjury charges. The jury dead- locked 11-1 in favor of guilt on the charge that Bonds lied when he said no one but his doctor ever injected him with anything. A majority of jurors voted to acquit Bonds on charges he lied when he denied know- ingly using steroids and human growth hormone. down the stretch, going 12- 13 the rest of the regular sea- son before getting an at-large bid to the NCAA tourna- ment. The Bears lost the first game of their regional to Baylor before following it up with victories over Alcorn State and No. 8 seed Rice to set up a rematch with Baylor. Cal won the first game 8-0 and then overcame a 7-1 deficit in the finale, scoring four runs in the bottom of the ninth to win 9-8 on Devon Rodriguez’s two-run single. That was followed by the two straight wins last week- end over Dallas Baptist that sent the Bears to Omaha. ‘‘We feel like there’s no obstacle that can get in our way,’’ outfielder Austin Booker said. ‘‘We have the opportunity to beat any team we play against because of the way we battle and the way we keep fighting. No matter the situation we feel like we can go out and win.’’ GOLD CUP FIRST ROUND Top two in each group and two best third- place teams advance to quarterfinals GROUP A WD L GFGA Pts 3 0 0 14 1 9 Costa Rica 1 1 1 7 5 4 El Salvador 1 1 1 7 7 4 Cuba 0 0 2 1 16 0 GROUP B WD L GFGA Pts Jamaica 3 0 0 7 0 9 Honduras 1 1 1 7 2 4 Guatemala 1 1 1 4 2 4 Grenada 0 0 3 1 15 0 GROUP C Panama 2 1 0 6 4 7 USA WD L GFGA Pts 20 1 4 2 6 Canada 1 1 1 2 3 4 Guadeloupe 0 0 3 2 5 0 QUARTERFINALS Saturday’s games At East Rutherford, N.J. Costa Rica vs.Honduras, 2 p.m. Mexico vs. Guatemala, 5 p.m. Sunday’s games At Washington Jamaica vs. United States, Noon Panama vs. El Salvador, 3 p.m. (Continued from page 1B) But Luongo wasn’t alone in deserving Vancouver’s blame: The Sedin twins are the NHL’s last two scoring champions, but they capped a disastrous finals by being on the ice for all four of Boston’s goals. Captain Henrik Sedin, last season’s MVP, scored just one goal in the series, while Daniel Sedin had two goals and two assists, scoring in just two of the seven games. Boston overcame more than the Vancouver crowd and the NHL’s highest-scor- ing team to win this Cup. Starting in the first round, when the Bruins rallied past Montreal after losing the series’ first two games at home, this team has showed a resilience and tenacity that hasn’t been seen much in the self-professed Hub of Hockey in four decades. The Bruins failed in their five previous trips to the finals since Bobby Orr led them to championships in 1970 and 1972, losing every time. Remarkable players such as Cam Neely came and went without a Cup, while Ray Bourque had to go to Colorado to get his only ring 10 years ago. Boston declined to schedule a viewing party for the game at TD Garden, worried about logistics and crowd control. Instead, the party will rage in bars and neighborhoods — but it’ll pale in comparison to the party that the Bruins ruined in Vancouver. More than 100,000 Canucks fans packed down- town during Game 5, and even more were expected for the clincher. After the game, the crowd grew unruly. Parked cars were set on fire, others were tipped over, people threw beer bot- tles at giant television screens and bonfires raged. Both teams opened Game 7 at a fantastic pace, forechecking and hitting with boundless energy in both clubs’ 107th game of the season. OPEN (Continued from page 1B) only the second winner to break 280 in 1964 when he was 2-under 278. Ernie Els won at 276 in 1997. What impresses Harring- ton, however, is how those scores are achieved. "Ten years ago, you could have U.S. Opens that were one-dimensional," he said. "You couldn't say that now about this golf course. They now use a combination of difficult elements. They have rough, they have firm greens, they have length, they have tough pin positions. They have tight lies, runoffs. They have a more rounded test of golf." Another famous quote about the U.S. Open came from former executive direc- tor Sandy Tatum. When asked during the 1974 U.S. Open at Winged Foot if USGA officials were trying MLB West Division Texas East Division American League WL Pct GB 36 33.522 — Seattle 34 34 .500 1.5 Angels 33 36 .478 3 A’s 28 40 .412 7.5 WL Pct GB Boston 40 27 .597 — New York 38 28 .576 1.5 Tampa Bay 36 32 .529 4.5 Toronto 34 34 .500 6.5 Baltimore 30 35 .462 9 Central Division WL Pct GB Cleveland 36 30 .545 — Detroit 37 31 .544 — Chicago 33 36 .478 4.5 Kansas City30 37 .448 6.5 Minnesota 27 39 .409 9 ————————————————— Wednesday’s results Kansas City at Oakland, late Boston 3, Tampa Bay 0 Cleveland 6, Detroit 4 Minnesota 4, Chicago 1 New York 12, Texas 4 Toronto 4, Baltimore 1 Los Angeles at Seattle, late Today’s games Kansas City (Francis 3-6) at Oakland (G.Gonzalez 5-5),12:35 p.m. Baltimore (Guthrie 2-8) at Toronto (Z.Stewart 0-0), 9:37 a.m. Cleveland (Talbot 2-3) at Detroit (Scherzer 8-2), 10:05 a.m. Texas (C.Wilson 7-3) at New York (B.Gordon 0-0), 10:05 a.m. Chicago (Buehrle 6-4) at Minnesota (Blackburn 5-4), 10:10 a.m. Boston (C.Buchholz 5-3) at Tampa Bay (Price 7-5), 4:10 p.m. After both teams’ top lines missed decent early scoring chances, Bergeron put the Bruins ahead with a one-timer in the slot on a sharp pass from Marchand, the rookie who has emerged remarkably in the finals. Luongo couldn’t be blamed for his teammates’ soft checking when Bergeron’s shot caught the goalpost and ricocheted home. Bergeron, who won a gold medal with Canada on this same rink last year, had- n’t scored a goal in Boston’s last nine playoff games, including the entire finals. Marchand hit Luongo’s crossbar early in the second period, and he scored from behind the net several min- utes later with ample help from the diving Luongo, who knocked the puck into the net after getting pushed by his scrambling team- mate, Daniel Sedin. Rogers Arena deflated with that score, and the Canucks’ suddenly prob- lematic power play allowed Bergeron essentially to fin- ish them off. He got a loose puck at his blue line and out- skated two Canucks toward Luongo, and the puck skit- tered underneath the goalie while Bergeron went to the ice. Thomas was unflappable in the third period, and Marchand added an empty- net goal with 2:44 to play. NOTES: The Rogers Arena crowd vociferously booed Commissioner Gary Bettman when he stepped on the ice, but the fans cheered wildly for Vancou- ver native Milan Lucic. ... Chara is the second Euro- pean born-and-trained cap- tain to raise the Stanley Cup, joining Detroit’s Nicklas Lidstrom. ... Bruins D Den- nis Seidenberg had two assists. He is the second German to earn a spot on the Stanley Cup, joining Uwe Krupp. ... The NBA finals ended before the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since 2002, when the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Detroit Red Wings to their respective titles. to embarrass the best play- ers, Tatum replied, "No, we're trying to identify them." Harrington said the U.S. Open is doing a better job of that now, which is not to sug- gest there will be birdies galore. "It's not that we find it easy," he said. "It's real tough. But everybody is going to find it tough. You're going to be asked to hit a lot of really good golf shots." SOFTBALL Red Bluff Recreation Coed 2 Monday results Rub a Dub 12, Cornerstone 5 Tehama Angus 8, Pritchard 3 Up In Flames 5, St. Elizabeth 2 Coed 3 Tuesday results Lassen Medical 6, Ramrods 5 Oak Creek 8, Just 4 Fun 7 Red Bluff Gas 7, Vineyard 1 Central Tuesday results Gold Exchange 14, Tehama County 13 Tri R Gas 11, McGlynn Law Sharks 7 MLB West Division National League WL Pct GB GIANTS 38 29 .567 — Arizona 37 31 .544 1.5 Colorado 33 35 .485 5.5 Dodgers 31 39 .443 8.5 Padres 30 40 .429 9.5 East Division WL Pct GB Philadelphia 43 26 .623 — Atlanta 38 30 .559 4.5 New York 33 34 .493 9 Florida 32 36 .471 10.5 Washington 32 36 .471 10.5 Central Division Milwaukee 38 30 .559 — St. Louis 38 31 .551 .5 Cincinnati 37 33 .529 2 Pittsburgh 34 33 .507 3.5 Chicago 27 39 .409 10 Houston 25 44 .362 13.5 ————————————————— Wednesday’s results San Francisco at Arizona, late Cincinnati 7, Los Angeles 2 Colorado 6, San Diego 3 Philadelphia 8, Florida 1, 1st game Philadelphia 5, Florida 4, 10 innings Pittsburgh 7, Houston 3 Washington 10, St. Louis 0 Milwaukee at Chicago, late New York at Atlanta, late Today’s games San Francisco (Vogelsong 4-1) at Arizona (I.Kennedy 7-2), 6:40 p.m. Florida (Vazquez 3-6) at Philadelphia (Cl.Lee 6-5), 10:05 a.m. Pittsburgh (Ja.McDonald 4-4) at Houston (Lyles 0-1), 11:05 a.m. Milwaukee (Greinke 6-1) at Chicago (Garza 2-6), 11:20 a.m. St. Louis (Lohse 7-3) at Washington (Lannan 4-5), 4:05 p.m. New York (Dickey 3-7) at Atlanta (Minor 0-2), 4:10 p.m. NFL