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Tehama Tracker Today's games MLB Athletics Toronto OAK—Blackley, 2-2 TOR — Cecil, 2-2 San Diego Giants SD— Volquez, 6-7 SF — Bumgarner, 11-6 On the tube BASKETBALL • 1:30 p.m., ESPN2 — Men's national teams, United States vs. Spain, at Barcelona, Spain MLB •4 p.m., CSNC—Oakland at Toronto •5 p.m., MLB — Regional coverage, L.A. Dodgers at St. Louis or Boston at Texas •7 p.m., CSNB—San Diego at San Francisco Raiders trade 7:15 p.m. CSNB 4:07 p.m. CSNC Sports STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — A potential exodus of star athletes. No hope of playing in the postsea- son. More than a decade of accom- plishments erased from the record books. And Joe Paterno's legacy in shreds. powerhouse that was once one of the cleanest, most admired pro- grams in college sports, escaped the so-called death penalty from the NCAA on Monday but was dealt a heavy blow that will cripple it for years to come. The university agreed to an unprecedented $60 million fine, a four-year ban from postseason play Penn State football, a longtime Murphy ALAMEDA (AP) — The Oakland Raiders have traded wide receiver Louis Murphy to the Caroli- na Panthers for an undisclosed condi- tional draft choice. The team announced the trade on Monday, just days before the start of training camp. Murphy made an immediate impact as Oakland's fourth- round pick in 2009, catching 75 passes for 1,130 yards and six touchdowns in his first two seasons. slowed by a groin injury last season and started only one game. He had 15 catches for 241 yards and became expendable when fifth-round pick Juron Criner and undrafted free agent Rod Streater passed him in offseason workouts. The teams made a But Murphy was Courtesy photo Red Bluff Bulls pitcher Robby Lasby pitches in Auburn during the American Legion Area 1 finals. By ANDRE BYIK DN Sports Editor previous trade this offseason with Oak- land sending offensive lineman Bruce Camp- bell to Carolina for running back Mike Goodson. McBath SANTA CLARA (AP) — The San Fran- cisco 49ers have signed cornerback Darcel McBath to a one-year contract. The team announced the signing Monday. Niners sign CB Darcel AUBURN — A trio of Red Bluff Bulls pitchers couldn't stop the bleed- ing in the American Legion Area 1 championship game, which saw the Bulls fall to the Fairfield Expos 15-3 on Sunday. Bulls manager Mike Weibling said he thought everything finally would come together in the win-or-go-home final. The game was cut short after seven innings because of a 10-run mercy rule. The championship round was the furthest a Bulls team had progressed in the postseason since at least 1981 and the team looked to be clicking on offense and defense at the right time. The Bulls won the district title and then its first three games in the area tourna- ment before running into Fairfield. Hot hitting from Trey Samons, who finished with a .700 postseason batting average after going 21-for-30, strong pitching by Gerald Baker and Stephen Jensen and strong defensive play punc- tuated Red Bluff's run to the champi- onship. McBath was a sec- ond-round draft pick by Denver in 2009. He played 20 games for the Broncos and start- ed once. He had 28 tackles, two intercep- tions, and four passes defensed. McBath was released by the Bron- cos last September and played one game in December for Jack- sonville before being cut earlier in the off- season. college teammate at Texas Tech of 49ers receiver Michael Crabtree. Also, his position coach his first two seasons with the Broncos was current 49ers secondary coach Ed Donatell. McBath is a former summer," Weibling said. "We were rid- ing a good up there for a while after the district tournament and the first few games here, but unfortunately came down from that the last two games." The Bulls struggled from the start on Sunday, trailing 3-0 in the top of the first. But Red Bluff countered with a Robby Lasby two-run homer over the left field wall in the bottom of the inning to cut the Expos lead to one. But Bulls starting pitcher Stephen Jensen, who finished the season with nine wins and one loss, wouldn't get relief from Fairfield. "We've had our ups and downs all The Expos put up four more in the top of the second to go up 7-2. "They just put the bats on the ball," Weibling said, adding, "They do a little bit of everything and they do it all well." Red Bluff's Austin Brownfield hit a solo home run in the bottom of the third, but that'd be it for the Bulls offense, which failed to get a runner in scoring position for the rest of the game. Saturday, but earned a berth to Sun- day's championship game regardless, because they were the only undefeated team left in the double-elimination tournament. Fairfield scored another in the top of the fourth, two in the fifth, and five in the sixth to build a commanding 15-3 lead which would be the final score and earn the Expos its Area 1 champi- onship title. The Bulls lost to the Expos 16-6 on playoffs. The Expos will move on to the state Sports Editor Andre Byik can be reached at 527-2151, ext. 111 or sports@redbluffdailynews.com. Follow him on @TehamaSports Twitter and a cut in the number of football scholarships it can award — the price it will pay for having looked the other way while Jerry Sandusky brought boys onto campus and molested them. The NCAA also erased 14 years of victories, wiping out 111 of Paterno's wins and stripping him of his standing as the most successful coach in the history of big-time col- lege football. ''Football will never again be placed ahead of educating, nurtur- ing and protecting young people,'' NCAA President Mark Emmert declared. Penn State meekly accepted its punishment, pledging to hold itself to high standards of honesty and integrity. Torre said university President Rod- ney Erickson had no choice but to Penn State spokesman David La Bulls miss State by 1 game 1B Tuesday July 24, 2012 NCAAslams Penn State, fines it $60 million ''Football will never again be placed ahead of educating, nurturing and protecting young people.'' —NCAA President Mark Emmert acquiesce, given the threat of a total shutdown of the football program. ''It was clear Penn State faced an alternative — a long-term death penalty and additional sanctions for the program, university and whole community. Given the situation, he believed the sanctions offered and accepted was the appropriate and course of action,'' La Torre said. See NCAA, page 2B 49ers gear up for Harbaugh's second year SANTA CLARA (AP) — Jim Harbaugh won NFL Coach of the Year honors as a rookie coach with no off- season to prepare his team for his thick playbook and unique, rah-rah style. Now, the San Francisco 49ers' schedule is far more daunting and the pressure is on to repeat as NFC West champions and make anoth- er run at a Super Bowl that was right within reach last January. in overtime of the NFC title game to the eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants, and that defeat still stings for this bunch. Last season's special run came after the Niners ended a franchise-worst stretch of eight years without a playoff berth or winning record — so, the expectations are to keep a good thing going for the long haul. ''You want to be where you left off,'' tight end Delanie Walker said. And Harbaugh is expect- ing another focused, physi- cal training camp as players at several key positions fight to earn spots. All 11 defen- sive starters return from one of the NFL's top units of 2011, while Frank Gore has a cast of backups hoping to get a share of the carries behind the three-time Pro Bowl running back — Bran- don Jacobs, Kendall Hunter, Anthony Dixon. ''I like our offense. We're universal,'' tight end Vernon San Francisco lost 20-17 See 49ERS, page 2B Oakland A's playing 'Moneyball' again Moneyball, take two? Exactly a decade after the Oakland Athletics inspired the book that became a major motion picture star- ring Brad Pitt last summer, baseball's most frugal fran- chise is becoming a must- see attraction again. The A's are a majors-best 14-2 in July and coming off a stun- ning four-game sweep of the high-priced New York Yan- kees to move into a tie for the final American League wild card spot. With a little more than OAKLAND (AP) — We really don't have any high-dollar guys who are prima donnas. That's probably the key. We're more of a blue-collar team.'' —Oakland Athletics third baseman Brandon Inge really don't have any high- dollar guys who are prima donnas. That's probably the key. We're more of a blue- collar team.'' And a low-budget team, The 49ers also announced linebacker Darius Fleming has been placed on the acti v e /physically unable to perform list. Guard Joe Looney and running back Jewel Hampton have been placed on the active/non-football injury list. two months to play, general manager Billy Beane's new bunch of no-names and up- and-comers are starting to turn the Oakland Coliseum into the real-life ''Money- ball'' sequel. ''I think Billy's really good at finding eager play- ers to be able to produce,'' third baseman Brandon Inge said. ''Kind of the opposite of high-maintenance play- ers. They're not all caught up in selfish stats. They want to come in and they want to be a part of a winning orga- nization, and that makes the difference in everything. We Still saddled with the same ballpark issues, Oak- land traded away its three best pitchers — All-Stars Trevor Cahill and Gio Gon- zalez, and 2009 Rookie of the Year closer Andrew Bai- ley — last winter in the lat- est payroll purge. Oakland began the season with a league-low $53 million pay- roll. too. Sweeping the big, bad Bronx Bombers for the first time in a four-game series at the aging Oakland Coliseum sent a clear message across the American League: Wins tive: the $200 million Yan- kees have two stars — slug- ger Alex Rodriguez ($30 million) and ace CC Sabathia ($24.3) million — making more money com- bined this year than the entire A's roster. To put that in perspec- aren't coming cheap against the A's anymore. ''It definitely feels good to battle and be victorious against the best teams, on paper, in the game,'' said center fielder Coco Crisp, whose two-out RBI single in the 12th inning Sunday capped Oakland's major- league leading 11th walk-off win. ''You can look up and down a lot of lineups like Detroit, or the Angels, the teams with high payrolls. Obviously, they have high payrolls for a reason, because the players on the team deserve it. When we battle against those guys and come out with wins, it's def- initely a great feeling.'' When the season began, nobody figured Oakland could contend. Most thought the A's would lose around 90 games. Some guessed 100. Instead, a new class of youngsters emerged: out- fielder Josh Reddick, catch- er Derek Norris and pitchers Tommy Milone, Jarrod Parker and Travis Blackley. The arms have carried the club more than anything, even while Oakland's three best remaining starters in the rotation — Brandon McCarthy, Brett Anderson and Dallas Braden — are rehabbing from injuries. The A's lead the Ameri- can League with a 3.37 ERA, almost a third of a run better than Tampa Bay and New York, who are bunched in the pack trailing Oakland. Oakland also is on pace to shatter last year's mark of 114 home runs, already hav- ing smacked 101 long balls in what is becoming a sud- den surge of power at the plate, offsetting a majors- worst .228 batting average. ''It's the same formula when I was here and we were winning,'' said Yan- kees third baseman Eric Chavez, who played for the A's from 1998-2010. The comparison to those A's of old might still be pre- mature. Beane bucked the trend of relying on the common trio of statistics — batting average, home runs and RBIs for hitters; wins, losses and ERA for pitchers — and instead turned to hard num- bers over subjective scout- ing to fuel his team's suc- cessful runs in the early 2000s. Every team now uses some level of ''sabermet- rics,'' and all with more money than Oakland. The A's also have only won five straight and 14 of the last 16 games heading into Tuesday's series at Toronto. Those 2002 Athlet- ics chronicled in Michael Lewis' best-selling book won an AL-record 20 con- secutive games, with the last coming in September, not late July. There have still been some thrilling moments, with 10 different players accounting for Oakland's major-league leading 11 wins on a game-ending RBI. And after every one, players toss whipped-cream pies and a sports-drink bath at the hitter in a celebration that See A's, page 2B