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2B Daily News – Friday, February 17, 2012 Daytona win hasn't led to full-time ride for Bayne DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A year later, Trevor Bayne still can't quite believe the whirlwind of instant notoriety that followed his wild Daytona 500 victory. Bayne fondly recalls taking a congratu- latory phone call from Vice President Joe Biden, meeting a list of celebrities that included Pamela Anderson, and talking to an athlete he's often compared with, Tim Tebow. What all that newfound fame hasn't done for Bayne, though, is get him a full- time ride in NASCAR's Sprint Cup series or a guaranteed starting spot in this year's Daytona 500. Bayne's team, Wood Broth- ers Racing, currently plans to run him in 14 Sprint Cup series races this season. For now, at least, he doesn't have a full-time Nationwide Series ride either. ''It's OK,'' Bayne said at Thursday's media day at Daytona International Speed- way. ''We're just making the best of what we've got right now and it's tough to do that when you only have a few races. For me, I'm running about the same schedule I ran in Cup last year. It's kind of one a month with the 21 car, but in Nationwide I had hoped to run a full season this year and run for a championship. Obviously, as a young guy you want to have championships under your belt and full seasons.'' The Feb. 26 Daytona 500 is on Bayne's limited schedule, but he doesn't have one of the starting spots guaranteed to the top 35 teams in points from last season. He says they don't plan on trying to buy a guaran- teed spot from another team — so he'll have earn a spot in Sunday's qualifying or Thursday's qualifying races. Bayne doesn't have a full-time ride in the Nationwide series, either. Roush Fen- way Racing plans to run him in the first three races of the season, hoping to attract potential sponsors with good results and run more races. ''I still haven't spent a whole full season with one team yet in Nationwide, and I think that would be great to have that oppor- tunity,'' Bayne said. ''But, right now, we're going to run the first three races and kind of see where we stand, work on sponsorship deals. It just shows how tough it is right now. Here we are at Roush Fenway Racing with great things to offer and it's still tough for us, so we're working really hard at that.'' Bayne certainly hoped his Daytona 500 win would catapult him into a full-time ride right away, but he's remaining patient for now. ''It's almost like being a part of the fam- ily there,'' Bayne said of the Wood Brothers SEATTLE (AP) — Christopher Hansen is making a $290 million pro- posal to his hometown that could be the impetus for a new sports arena that could bring the NBA and NHL to Seattle. All he needs is city and county approval equaling $200 million and the two franchises to make it a real- ity. Hansen, a hedge-fund manager based in San Francisco and a Seattle native, submitted a propos- al to the city on Thursday that calls for $290 million in private investment toward the construction of a new arena that would cost between $450 and $500 million. Hansen and his investment group would also be responsible for the purchase of an NBA fran- chise and finding a partner interested in bringing an NHL franchise to Seattle as well. The proposal represents the first significant step toward solving the arena problem that was at the root of the SuperSonics' move from Seattle to Oklahoma City following the 2008 NBA season leaving behind 41 years of history. The proposal will now go before a review board — a group of community lead- ers that includes one-time SuperSonics player and coach Lenny Wilkens — with King County execu- tive Dow Constantine hop- ing their review can be completed within a month. According to a letter submitted by the Hansen, the remaining construction and development costs would be financed by the city and King County using taxes and revenues generat- ed by the new facility and rent charged to the teams playing in the arena — money that will not exist if the arena isn't built. City officials are adamant that there will be no new public taxes needed for the build- ing and the city's portion of the investment will be team. ''I think for this point in my career the Wood Brothers is the best place for me to be. If we could run full-time, that would be better, but I enjoy that family and just the support that they give me.'' NASCAR veteran Michael Waltrip sees Bayne's struggle to secure a full-time ride is another sign of a sluggish economy. ''It's not just NASCAR, it's how difficult things are today,'' Waltrip said. ''Trevor's a sharp young man, very well-spoken, good- looking kid and got a great heart. Can drive the heck out of the car and just didn't get the opportunity, hasn't had the opportunity to do it full time yet.'' But trying to refine his driving skills while running a limited schedule wasn't the only challenge Bayne faced last year. He missed several weeks after being diagnosed with a mystery ailment that turned out to be Lyme disease. Sitting out those races, Bayne said, made him realize ''how much you appreciate being here.'' Bayne says he's feeling fine now, good enough to take a mission trip to Kenya in the offseason. ''What's wild about people in Kenya is like no matter who are, if you're from out of town or an American and you show up on their front porch, they're pulling out chairs and trying to give you food at their little mud huts,'' Bayne said. ''They're incredible people, so I would tell anybody they should go check it out because, to me, it was hum- bling. These people don't have hardly any- thing and here they are, their kids are so happy. They've got their bellies sticking out because they're malnourished and stuff, but they're the most pumped kids in the world to be alive. It was an incredible experience.'' Bayne, a Baptist, wants to use his racing success as a platform to talk about his reli- gious faith — leading to frequent compar- isons with Tebow. The two still occasional- ly text, and Bayne says it has been tough for him to watch Tebow get criticized for voic- ing his beliefs. ''It's tough,'' Bayne said. ''But it says that we're going to have criticism and per- secution and stuff, so I'm good with it and we'll just not let it change us, I guess.'' But while the parallels between Bayne and Tebow are apparent, Bayne isn't neces- sarily the right guy to ask about the sports world's latest surprise sensation, New York Knicks guard Jeremy Lin. Before saying a few nice words about Lin's success, Bayne had to double check. ''That's basketball, right?'' Bayne said with a laugh. Seattle announces plans for new sports arena capped at $200 million with any additional cost overruns paid by the private investors. From there, Hansen's proposal would need city and county approval, but even with ultimate approval no shovels will be going into the land just south of Safeco Field until an anchor tenant is in hand with a 30-year lease agree- ment that includes a no- relocation clause. City offi- cials say their projections for how the financing plan would work are based off having both an NHL and NBA team. ''There will be no arena unless there is an agree- ment to get a team here to occupy that arena over a very long term,'' Constan- tine said at an afternoon press conference that was part pep rally. The amount of liability Hansen and his investment group is taking on is some- what staggering and appears to comply with a voter passed initiative in 2006 that prohibited Seattle from supporting teams with taxes unless such invest- ments yielded a profit. City officials say the $290 million in private investment would be the third-most among NBA or NHL arenas, behind only Staples Center in Los Angeles and Madison Square Garden. It would be built on land Hansen already owns parcels in Seattle's SoDo neighbor- hood where the Seahawks and Mariners already play. ''I am confident this proposal will be looked on favorably by both leagues and sincerely believe that together we can accom- plish the goal of securing NBA and NHL franchises for our community,'' Hansen wrote in his pro- posal. Seattle is the only top 15 media market in the coun- try not to have at least three franchises in the four major professional leagues and Thursday's announcement would appear to ratchet up pressure in places like Sacramento, New Orleans and Phoenix where their franchises face uncertain futures. Documents obtained through a public records request from the city of Seattle show that Hansen is paying attention to what's happening in Sacramento, where a March 1 deadline looms for submitting plans to the NBA for funding a new arena. The lynchpin of Sacra- mento's arena plan — a proposal to divert and pri- vatize parking revenues to cover roughly $200 million of the arena's costs — is tentatively scheduled for a full City Council vote on Feb. 28. Think BIG Sacramento, a regional initiative for a new arena launched by Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson, denounced Hansen's moves calling them ''publicity stunts aimed at derailing Sacra- mento's process to build an arena.'' But the NHL's Coyotes in Phoenix and the NBA's Hornets in New Orleans are both currently owned by their leagues, although each league has strongly expressed its desire to find local ownership to keep those teams in those mar- kets. A public records request by The Associated Press found that Seattle mayor Mike McGinn's office has not had docu- mented contact with either the NBA or NHL about a team coming to Seattle. McGinn reiterated Thursday that the responsi- bility of dealing with the individual leagues is on Hansen and his partners, not the city or county. But he acknowledged this is as close as the area has been to solving its arena issue since the Sonics' messy divorce. ''I'm out of the predic- tion business. I'm not going into the prediction business on this one,'' McGinn said. Mickelson back on top LOS ANGELES (AP) — Four days after his big win at Pebble Beach, Phil Mickelson keeps right on rolling. Mickelson hit driver off the deck from just under 300 yards on the par-5 11th that led to a two-putt birdie, and he ended a gorgeous after- noon Thursday at Riviera by chipping in from 35 feet for birdie. That gave him a 5- under 66 and a one-shot lead in the Northern Trust Open. Dating to the back nine of his second round at the Pebble Beach National Pro- Am, Mickelson has made birdie or eagle on one-third of the holes he has played. And his streak of consecu- tive holes without a bogey finally ended at 49 on the par-3 16th. No matter. He looked good with the putter and with his low, penetrating tee shots that he kept below the tree line on a windy day that prevented low scoring. J.B. Holmes, in his fourth tournament since returning from brain surgery in Sep- tember, played his final six holes without a par. His round ended with a 315- yard tee shot — a big drive in the cool air of Los Ange- les in February — and an approach to 8 feet for birdie at No. 9, the second-tough- est hole at Riviera. That gave him a 4-under 67. He was tied with Hunter Mahan, whose 35-foot birdie at No. 5 sent him on a string of four straight birdies. They all played in the afternoon, when the wind began to die late in the day. Jonathan Byrd, who WRESTLE (Continued from page 1B) sion come Masters. Ander- son's Aaron Evett won the NAL title. 126: Corning's Nate Fultz won the NAL title and will look to continue his strong season. 132: Orland's Jimmy Gamboa was BVL champi- on. Corning's Sean Lowe was third at NALs. 138: Anderson's Spencer Larson defeated Corning's Aiden Nye at NALs. 145: Christian Wathen, from Oroville, is ranked 10th in the state and won the BVL title. Corning's Dominic Azevedo finished second at NALs. Sutter's Alex Ingram is also a factor. 152: The BVL title went to Orland's Justin Hill. Jon Jones finished second at NALs for Corning. 160: Trevor Wright is ranked 39th in the state and won the BVL title for Win- ters. Anderson's Bryan Cabral was NAL champion. 170: Corning's Daniel Welborn, who grabbed the NAL title, has a tough task in a division with BVL champion Tyler Gil from Orland, ranked 24th in the state. 182: Luis Hernandez took the BVL title for Orland. Anderson's Bryan Swaggerty won the NAL title. Corning's Mario Cer- vantes was third. 195: Corning's Erik Miranda was ranked 35th in the state, but he's done for the season with a shoulder NCAA Top 25 Schedule Thursday's results No. 5 Duke 78, NC State 73 No. 7 Mich. St. 69, No. 15 Wisconsin 55 No. 20 Florida St. 48, Virginia Tech 47 No. 24 Gonzaga at Santa Clara, late Today's games No games scheduled Saturday's games No. 1 Kentucky vs. Mississippi, 1 p.m. No. 3 Missouri at Texas A&M, 11 a.m. No. 4 Kansas vs. Texas Tech, 5 p.m. No. 6 Ohio St. at No. 17 Michigan, 6 p.m. No. 8 North Carolina vs. Clemson, 1 p.m. No. 9 Baylor vs. Kansas State, 10:45 a.m. No. 10 Georgetown at Providence, 4 p.m. No. 11 UNLV at New Mexico, 10 a.m. No. 12 Marquette vs. UConn at the XL Center, Hartford, Conn., 9 a.m. No. 13 San Diego St. at Air Force, 1 p.m. No. 14 Florida at Arkansas, 3 p.m. No.16 Murray St.vs.No.21 St.Mary's, 3 p.m. No. 19 Louisville at DePaul, 9 a.m. No. 20 Florida State at NC State, 10 a.m. No. 22 Virginia vs. Maryland, 10 a.m. No. 23 Notre Dame at Villanova, 6 p.m. No. 24 Gonzaga at San Francisco, 5 p.m. No. 24 Wichita State at Davidson, 9 a.m. Sunday's games No. 2 Syracuse at Rutgers, 10 a.m. No. 5 Duke at Boston College, 3 p.m. No. 7 Michigan State at Purdue, 10 a.m. No. 15 Wisconsin vs. Penn State, 1 p.m. No. 18 Indiana at Iowa, 3 p.m. faced the chilly, blustery conditions of the morning, had a 68. He was joined by Carl Pettersson. The first round was sus- pended by darkness with 30 players yet to finish the round, a typical occurrence at this tournament with 144- man field and limited day- light. Mickelson is coming off an 8-under 64 in the final round at Pebble Beach, where he rallied from a six- shot deficit — and beat play- ing partner Tiger Woods by 11 shots — to change the outlook on his West Coast Swing. Riviera is his final tournament before the tour moves to Florida, and even on a different golf course, not much has changed. He holed a 30-foot birdie putt on the long par-3 fourth hole, and then really got going on the back nine. After a tough pitch to 12 feet that led to birdie on the 10th, Mickelson had 297 yards to the hole on the 11th and decided to hit driver, a shot he had not tried in months. It came off perfectly and climbed onto the front edge of the green, making Mick- elson the only player to have an eagle putt on the 587- yard hole, which played right into the wind. The pin was all the way back, away from a large hump in the putting surface, which gave Mickelson the green light. His eagle putt from 60 feet died next to the hole. ''I didn't think it was going to necessarily be reachable into that wind, but I was able to hit a low drive off the tee that scooted along injury. Noah Hall took over the weight class for the Car- dinals and won the NAL title. Orland's Jake Funk won the BVL champi- onship. 220: Corning's Noe Franco lost to Lobsinger in the NAL championship. Now he'll have BVL cham- pion Fernando Infante from Orland in his path. 285: Orland's Victor Raygoza won the BVL title. Corning's Brian Mahutga was third at NALs. NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE Pacific Division WL OT Pts GF GA SHARKS 31 17 7 69 163 136 Kings Phoenix 27 21 9 63 149 146 Dallas 29 25 3 61 149 162 Ducks 24 24 9 57 148 165 Central Division WL OT Pts GF GA Detroit 39 17 2 80 185 136 St. Louis 35 15 7 77 145 114 Nashville 33 18 6 72 161 150 Chicago 30 21 7 67 180 176 Columbus 17 34 6 40 133 186 Northwest Division WL OT Pts GF GA Vancouver 36 15 6 78 183 140 Calgary 27 22 9 63 141 155 Colorado 28 26 4 60 147 162 Minnesota 25 23 9 59 129 150 Edmonton 22 28 6 50 150 169 EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division WL OT Pts GF GA N.Y.Rangers 37 14 5 79 158 114 Philadelphia32 18 7 71 189 171 Pittsburgh 32 20 5 69 176 150 New Jersey 32 20 4 68 158 156 N.Y. Islanders24 25 8 56 135 165 Northeast Division WL OT Pts GF GA Boston 35 18 2 72 188 126 Ottawa 30 22 8 68 179 183 Toronto 29 23 6 64 176 174 Montreal 23 25 10 56 155 158 Buffalo 24 27 6 54 139 169 Southeast Division WL OT Pts GF GA Florida 27 18 11 65 143 158 Washington 28 23 5 61 156 160 Winnipeg 27 26 6 60 144 167 Tampa Bay 25 26 6 56 161 194 Carolina 21 25 11 53 147 175 NOTE: Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss. —————————————————— Thursday's results Tampa Bay 6, San Jose 5, OT Chicago 4, N.Y. Rangers 2 Dallas 3, Calgary 2, OT Philadelphia 7, Buffalo 2 St. Louis 5, N.Y. Islanders 1 Winnipeg 4, Minnesota 3, SO Phoenix at Los Angeles, late Today's games San Jose at Carolina, 4 p.m. Anaheim at New Jersey, 4 p.m. Montreal at Buffalo, 4:30 p.m. Nashville at Detroit, 4:30 p.m. Washington at Florida, 4:30 p.m. Boston at Winnipeg, 5 p.m. Colorado at Edmonton, 6:30 p.m. Saturday's games Chicago at Columbus, 10 a.m. Pittsburgh at Philadelphia, 10 a.m. Minnesota at St. Louis, 11 a.m. Carolina at N.Y. Islanders, 4 p.m. Toronto at Vancouver, 4 p.m. Washington at Tampa Bay, 4 p.m. Dallas at Phoenix, 5 p.m. Calgary at Los Angeles, 7 p.m. Through Feb. 15 NHL Scoring Leaders GP G A PTS Evgeni Malkin, Pit 50 32 37 69 Jason Spezza, Ott 60 25 38 63 Steven Stamkos, TB 56 37 25 62 Phil Kessel, Tor 58 30 32 62 Claude Giroux, Phi 52 22 40 62 Joffrey Lupul, Tor 58 23 38 61 Henrik Sedin, Van 57 12 46 58 Pavel Datsyuk, Det 57 15 42 57 Ilya Kovalchuk, NJ 51 25 31 56 James Neal, Pit 57 29 26 55 Jordan Eberle, Edm 52 25 30 55 Daniel Sedin, Van 56 24 31 55 John Tavares, NYI 56 22 33 55 27 19 11 65 124 124 the ground, and I felt like if I could hit one more of those with a driver I could get right up by the green,'' Mickelson said. ''I felt like it was worth the risk to try to scoop one up.'' The chip-in from behind the 18th was a bonus. Mickelson made his lone bogey when his chip behind the 16th green ran 7 feet past the cup, and he missed the putt. On the 17th, his wedge rolled back to 7 feet for birdie, but the putt slid by on the left. He faced another quick chip on the 18th, but it dropped in with perfect speed. ''It wasn't one I was real- ly trying to make,'' he said. ''It was quick, it was down- hill, and I had to play about four or five feet of break, so it's not one that you're trying to get aggressive with. I was trying to get good speed and try to let it feed with the break, and I got fortunate, obviously, that it went in.'' Holmes was the first player to reach 5 under, and that's where his fun began — consecutive bogeys when he failed to get up-and-down from just short of the green; a tap-in birdie at the par-3 sixth, with the pin below the bunker in the middle of the green; an 18-foot birdie on the seventh, a three-putt double bogey on the eighth and the birdie at the end. He has struggled with a slight loss of power since brain surgery in September, and he even topped a shot in Phoenix a few weeks ago. But it's all starting to come together. NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE Pacific Division Clippers Lakers WL Pct GB 18 9 .667 — 17 12 .586 2 WARRIORS 11 15 .423 6.5 Phoenix KINGS Southwest Division WL Pct GB San Antonio 21 9 .700 — Dallas Houston Memphis 19 11 .633 2 17 13 .567 4 16 14 .533 5 New Orleans 6 23 .207 14.5 Northwest Division WL Pct GB Oklahoma City 22 7 .759 — Denver Portland Utah 17 13 .567 5.5 16 14 .533 6.5 14 14 .500 7.5 Minnesota 14 16 .467 8.5 EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division Philadelphia 20 10 .667 — Boston New York Toronto Miami Atlanta Orlando WL Pct GB 15 14 .517 4.5 15 15 .500 5 9 22 .290 11.5 New Jersey 8 23 .258 12.5 Southeast Division WL Pct GB 23 7 .767 — 19 11 .633 4 19 11 .633 4 Washington 7 23 .233 16 Charlotte Central Division Chicago Indiana 25 7 .781 — 18 12 .600 6 Milwaukee 12 17 .414 11.5 Cleveland 11 16 .407 11.5 Detroit 9 22 .290 15.5 —————————————————— Thursday's results Chicago 89, Boston 80 Indiana 93, New Jersey 88 L.A. Clippers at Portland, late Today's games Sacramento at Detroit, 4:30 p.m. Golden State at Oklahoma City, 5 p.m. Charlotte at Toronto, 4 p.m. Milwaukee at Orlando, 4 p.m. Miami at Cleveland, 4:30 p.m. Dallas at Philadelphia, 5 p.m. Denver at Memphis, 5 p.m. Minnesota at Houston, 5 p.m. New Orleans at New York, 5 p.m. Washington at Utah, 6 p.m. Phoenix at L.A. Lakers, 7:30 p.m. Saturday's games Golden State at Memphis, 5 p.m. San Antonio at L.A. Clippers, 12:30 p.m. New Jersey at Chicago, 1 p.m. Atlanta at Portland, 7 p.m. NBA Leaders Through Feb. 15 Scoring GFG FT PTS AVG Bryant, LAL 29 302 185 831 28.7 James, MIA 29 292 208 812 28.0 Durant, OKC 29 284 171 782 27.0 Love, MIN 28 230 208 714 25.5 Westbrook, OK 29 253 135 660 22.8 Aldridge, POR 29 267 120 655 22.6 Ellis, GOL 25 204 111 549 22.0 Griffin, LAC 27 236 99 572 21.2 D. Williams, NJ 29 206 138 611 21.1 Howard, ORL 30 222 160 604 20.1 Lee, GOL 25 201 74 476 19.0 Parker, SAN 30 218 128 570 19.0 Gay, MEM 30 233 75 566 18.9 Bosh, MIA 30 211 129 558 18.6 Jennings, MIL 29 198 74 533 18.4 Jefferson, UTA 25 198 63 459 18.4 Martin, HOU 28 172 108 511 18.3 Nowitzki, DAL 26 174 109 474 18.2 Irving, CLE 24 166 76 437 18.2 Granger, IND 27 161 112 486 18.0 Rebounds G OFFDEF TOT AVG Howard, ORL 30 104 350 454 15.1 Love, MIN 28 116 278 394 14.1 Bynum, LAL 25 87 227 314 12.6 Varejao, CLE 25 109 178 287 11.5 Cousins, SAC 28 121 195 316 11.3 Griffin, LAC 27 86 211 297 11.0 Gasol, LAL 29 92 214 306 10.6 Humphries, NJ 28 106 181 287 10.3 Lee, GOL 25 79 174 253 10.1 Gortat, PHX 30 78 224 302 10.1 Assists G ASTAVG Nash, PHX 27 288 10.7 Rondo, BOS 20 192 9.6 Paul, LAC 22 199 9.0 Calderon, TOR 31 272 8.8 Rubio, MIN 30 259 8.6 D. Williams, NJ 29 246 8.5 Rose, CHI 23 179 7.8 Parker, SAN 30 233 7.8 Lowry, HOU 28 215 7.7 Wall, WAS 30 229 7.6 3 26 .103 19.5 WL Pct GB 12 18 .400 7.5 10 19 .345 9