Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/82612
2B Daily News– Wednesday, September 12, 2012 RAIDERS WR Jacoby Ford schedules surgery ALAMEDA (AP) — Coach Dennis Allen has a lot more to deal with than just a loss in his debut as Oakland Raiders coach. Jacoby Ford will undergo surgery on his injured left foot and miss signifi- cant time, and the Raiders must find a con- tingency at long snapper after a concussion to Pro Bowler Jon Condo played a major role in the team's 22-14 loss to San Diego on Monday night. Backup long snapper Big-play receiver Travis Goethel rolled two snaps back to punter Shane Lechler, who couldn't get a kick off on either try. Lechler also had a punt blocked after lining up closer to the line of scrimmage than usual. The three miscues led to three field goals for San Diego and left Allen lamenting that he didn't give Goethel more work in practice at long snapping. type situations and giv- ing him the opportunity to do it, kind of repre- senting what he would do in a regular game.'' Condo will have to be cleared medically before he can return for practice this week and Allen said the team will have a con- tingency plan in place if he can't play Sunday at Miami. Goethel hadn't snapped in a game since high school and got only limited work before practices before being thrown into a game on national television. ''That falls on me,'' Allen said. ''I've got to do a better job of making sure we're prepared for all those different situa- tions. We Travis snapping the ball but we could have proba- bly done a better job of putting him in more live- practiced 49ERS (Continued from page 1B) Then, Davis had off- season foot surgery. Har- baugh gave him a shot after Davis visited the 49ers this spring. He signed four months later, ahead of training camp. His former Lions (1-0) come to town for San Francisco's home opener Sunday night at Candle- stick Park in a matchup of projected NFC con- tenders. Davis comes in as an extra blocker, lining up at tight end, in some sets for the 49ers (1-0). ''It feels like he's fit have to come up with a plan going forward with- out Ford, who decided to have the operation after consulting with a spe- cialist in North Carolina when the injury did not heal as quickly as hoped. ''It will be a signifi- cant amount of time,'' Allen said. ''I don't know exactly what that number would be.'' Ford hurt his foot on Aug. 17 in an exhibition game against Arizona. He missed six games with the same injury last season and now is deal- ing with the same prob- lem again. ''It's really basically the same injury that he had last year,'' Allen said. ''When he re- injured it this season there was nothing new structurally different from where it was last year. After visiting with the foot specialist in Car- olina, everybody thought that given a little bit of time he could come back from it. After giving it some time and re-evalu- ating, everybody, the The Raiders also will name ''BIGG'' after reaching 6-0, 205 pounds as a fifth-grader. By sev- enth grade, he was 6-4, 300. life,'' said Davis, drafted out of Texas by the Cardi- nals with the second overall pick in 2001 behind Michael Vick. ''It's not like I graduated high school 200 pounds and three years later I'm 350 or whatever. It was- n't like that. That kind of stuff doesn't bother me. Plus, for Coach to say something like that, he's not saying it in a mean way. That's just all jokes.'' ''I've been big all my in, he's one of us. Anoth- er guy that's just a pure joy to be around,'' Har- baugh said Monday. ''Pure, pure athlete and good guy.'' Harbaugh was impressed by Davis' technique and fundamen- tals in a new system from Day 1 — and Davis tak- ing it upon himself to spend extra time with offensive line coach Tim Drevno to learn. ''It speaks volumes for him, his ability to be able to come in and get up to speed this fast,'' baugh said. Har- Bowler, Davis said all the right things for a player coached by Harbaugh when he arrived. Namely: He wouldn't be here if he didn't like to compete. ''Leonard's been a great addition,'' line- backer Patrick Willis said. ''He's a big guy and we know he still has some oomph to him.'' When an IndyCar was displayed at a recent practice, Harbaugh joked that Davis probably weighed a third of the car. ''Big Leonard,'' as he is sometimes referred, didn't mind, knowing it was all in good fun. If Davis was sensitive to jokes about his size, he might have walked away years ago. A three-time Pro He earned the nick- Most of his siblings had already moved out of the house by the time he came along, though he grew up with three sis- ters and a niece and nephew in the house. And the sister closest to him in age was 10 years older. ''It was stressful at times. They did whatever they could do to keep the family moving along,'' said Davis. ''Sometimes you have heartaches and sometimes you have joy. Most of it was joyful liv- ing.'' His mom did all she could for Davis, who grew up in the close- knit, sports-crazy com- munity of Wortham, Texas, with a population of just under 1,100. When the football team traveled, the town trav- eled. Sammie Lee traveled, too. She once drove 50 miles to find three pairs of size 18 Nikes that were on clearance at $19.95 because the per- son who ordered them never showed up — and there wasn't exactly a high demand for the size. ''They were blue and white. They didn't match his college colors but Leonard was so happy,'' his mom recalled. ''His first pair of dress shoes, my brother found them and my daughter and I drove 91 miles to get those after they were medical people, felt like that surgery was proba- bly the best thing for him.'' place Ford on a new short-term injured reserve list, which would sideline him for at least six weeks and open up a roster spot for another player. Ford has 44 catches for 749 yards and three touchdowns in 24 games over two seasons. He has also scored two touch- downs rushing and returned four kicks for TDs in his career. Taiwan Jones had one return for 6 yards and downed the other six kicks in the end zone. The Raiders hope to get a boost at receiver this week with the expected return of deep- threat Denarius Moore. Moore injured his ham- string in June and partic- ipated in only a handful of practices before last week. Allen said he's hopeful Moore will be able to play in Miami. Allen also said he did The Raiders could not know until too late that the Raiders should have had one last play from their 5-yard line after the Chargers downed a punt before an Oakland player touched it. Allen said he knew the rule that the replacement officials did not follow but was not sure until it was too late which team touched the ball first. held for us. ... ''I tell people I could write a story on how we raised Leonard. I don't regret anything,'' she said. ''I've been to more places. Leonard built us a home, bought us a new Tahoe car when he got picked in the NFL because my husband was tall and it was hard for him to get in and out of the car. Leonard, he took care of us. In Austin where he went to col- lege, they called him the big teddy bear.'' Davis graduated high school at nearly his cur- rent size. He is happy to say he was rarely teased for his unique size. ''Where I'm from, happy with his brothers on the 49ers. San Fran- cisco won 30-22 at Green Bay in its opener last week, and the defending NFC West champions are quickly showing they're serious about making another run at a Super Bowl after last season's near-miss. ''There's definitely a lot of talent on this team,'' Davis said. ''The guys who are here want to be here.'' everybody was friends, everybody got along,'' he said. ''We all knew each other, we all respected each other. It was pretty family oriented.'' These days, Davis is WNBA WESTERN CONFERENCE WL Pct GB x-Minnesota 24 5 .828 — x-Los Angeles 20 10 .667 4.5 x-San Antonio 17 11 .607 6.5 x-Seattle Phoenix Tulsa 13 15 .464 10.5 7 21 .250 16.5 6 22 .214 17.5 EASTERN CONFERENCE WL Pct GB x-Connecticut 21 8 .724 — x-Indiana Atlanta Chicago New York 19 9 .679 1.5 17 14 .548 5 12 17 .414 9 12 17 .414 9 Washington 5 24 .172 16 x-clinched playoff spot —————————————————— Tuesday's games Atlanta 77, Seattle 61 Chicago 83, Minnesota 70 Today's games Seattle at Indiana, 7 p.m. Washington at New York, 7 p.m. San Antonio at Tulsa, 8 p.m. Connecticut at Phoenix, 10:30 p.m. Thursday's games Chicago at Los Angeles, 10:30 p.m. TENNIS On grand slams, Murray hopes 'it's not the only 1' If it's true, as they say, that the toughest Grand Slam title to win is your first, then Andy Murray was right to feel relief, above all, when he finally got No. 1 out of the way at the U.S. Open. ''I certainly was doubting myself a bit, and thinking about the match and how tough it was going to be, and whether I was going to be able to do it or not,'' Murray said Tuesday, a day after beating defend- ing champion Novak Djokovic over nearly five hours in the final at Flushing Meadows, ''so I'm just glad that I final- ly managed to do it.'' As he spoke those NEW YORK (AP) — try and enjoy it.' That was kind of how it went.'' like any 25-year-old might on a day off, in dark jeans and a striped polo shirt, Murray chuckled while recount- ing that conversation, which offered a tiny taste of his dry wit. He met with reporters Looking very much words, Murray stared at his reflection in the shiny silver trophy he so longed for and now had earned, adding: ''And I hope it's not the only one.'' will be. defensive and returning skills, and a new willing- ness to be aggressive with his forehand, Mur- ray might very well be considered the man to beat when tennis returns to the Grand Slam scene at the Australian Open in January. For proof, Murray needs to look no further than his coach, Ivan Lendl. No reason to believe it Indeed, with his Tuesday while sitting at a wooden dining room table in the Manhattan residence of British Con- sul-General Danny Lopez. A bagpiper greet- ed Murray's entrance, a nod to his Scottish homeland. Standing near a lithograph of Queen Elizabeth II by Andy Warhol, Lopez presented Murray with a basket of Scottish treats, including bottles of Irn-Bru, a rust- colored carbonated fruit drink. Murray, long considered by his peers a sure-thing, champion-to-be who just hadn't managed to figure it all out yet. Perhaps now he has. ''Andy has been maturing very nicely as a player, as a competitor, as a person,'' Lendl said. ''As you mature, you become more comfort- able in these situations. Of course, being in more of these situations, it's very important, and the more of them you're in, the more comfortable you feel.'' major tournaments pre- ceding this U.S. Open (Juan Martin del Potro's 2009 victory in New York was the lone exception). But now here comes experience. Until letting a two-set lead against Djokovic evaporate, then muster- ing all the gumption required to prevail in a fifth, Murray was 0-4 in Grand Slam finals. Only one other man in the Open era, which began in 1968, lost his first four major titles match- es. That man, of course, is Lendl, who eventually figured out how win the big one and accumulated eight Grand Slam tro- phies of his own. Before Monday's match, Murray and Lendl chatted. Murray was anxious during his warmup in Arthur Ashe Stadium. He was anx- ious in the locker room. ''He just said to me, when we spoke, 'Just enjoy the match. It's what you work all your life towards, so just enjoy it,''' Murray said. ''And I was like, 'Well, that's exactly the prob- lem. I've been working 10 years for this, and it's a big moment for me, so I don't know if I'm going to enjoy it.' And then he was like, 'Oh, why not? You've got to MLB West Division Texas A's East Division Baltimore New York American League WL Pct GB 84 57 .596 — 80 60 .571 3.5 Los Angeles 77 64 .546 7 Seattle 68 74 .479 16.5 WL Pct GB 79 62 .560 — 79 62 .560 — Tampa Bay 77 64 .546 2 Toronto Boston Central Division Chicago Detroit 64 76 .457 14.5 64 78 .451 15.5 WL Pct GB 76 65 .539 — 74 67 .525 2 Kansas City 64 77 .454 12 Cleveland 59 83 .415 17.5 Minnesota 59 83 .415 17.5 —————————————————— Tuesday's results Baltimore 9, Tampa Bay 2 Seattle 4, Toronto 3 Boston 4, N.Y.Yankees 3 Texas 6, Cleveland 4 Detroit 5, Chicago White Sox 3 Kansas City 9, Minnesota 1 Oakland at L.A. Angels, late Today's games (All times Eastern) Tampa Bay (Cobb 9-8) at Baltimore (Mig.Gonzalez 6-4), 7:05 p.m. Seattle (Millwood 5-12) at Toronto (R.Romero 8-13), 7:07 p.m. N.Y.Yankees (D.Phelps 3-4) at Boston (A.Cook 3-9), 7:10 p.m. Cleveland (J.Gomez 5-7) at Texas (Dempster 5-1), 8:05 p.m. Detroit (Scherzer 15-6) at Chicago White Sox (Floyd 9-9), 8:10 p.m. Kansas City (Hochevar 7-13) at Minneso- ta (Walters 2-3), 8:10 p.m. Oakland (Griffin 5-0) at L.A. Angels (E.Santana 8-11), 10:05 p.m. Thursday's games Tampa Bay at Baltimore, 12:35 p.m. Oakland at L.A. Angels, 3:35 p.m. Seattle at Toronto, 7:07 p.m. N.Y.Yankees at Boston, 7:10 p.m. Cleveland at Texas, 8:05 p.m. Detroit at Chicago White Sox, 8:10 p.m. Kansas City at Minnesota, 8:10 p.m. Murray clearly recog- nizes — how could he not? — and embraces the significance of his suc- cess in Britain, which last could proudly hail a male Grand Slam tennis champion in 1936, when Fred Perry won Wimble- don and the U.S. Cham- pionships. It's been a summer of barrier- breaking by Murray, who was the first British man since Bunny Austin in 1938 to even be the runner-up at the All Eng- land Club (losing to Roger Federer), then won the singles gold medal at the London Olympics (beating Fed- erer). ''Winning a Grand know for sure exactly what sort of confidence boost he'll gain from these 15 days at the U.S. Open — and one particu- larly engaging victory against a gritty competi- tor in Djokovic — until the next time he finds himself on court with so much at stake. Lendl speaks from Murray said he won't He is certain, though, that he can't wait to find out. ''I want to keep This has not been the easiest era to come along in men's tennis, of course. Federer owns a record 17 Grand Slam titles, Rafael Nadal owns 11, and Djokovic five. Those three guys com- bined to win 29 of the 30 MLB West Division GIANTS National League WL Pct GB 79 62 .560 — Los Angeles 74 67 .525 5 Arizona East Division WL Pct GB Washington 88 54 .620 — Atlanta 81 62 .566 7.5 Philadelphia 71 71 .500 17 New York Miami Central Division WL Pct GB Cincinnati 86 57 .601 — St. Louis 75 66 .532 10 Pittsburgh 72 69 .511 13 Milwaukee 71 71 .500 14.5 Chicago Houston 55 87 .387 30.5 45 97 .317 40.5 —————————————————— Tuesday's results Philadelphia 9, Miami 7 Cincinnati 5, Pittsburgh 3 Washington 5, N.Y. Mets 3 Houston 1, Chicago Cubs 0 Milwaukee 5, Atlanta 0 San Francisco at Colorado, late L.A. Dodgers at Arizona, late St. Louis at San Diego, late Today's Games (All times Eastern) Miami (Jo.Johnson 8-11) at Philadelphia (Cl.Lee 4-7), 4:05 p.m. St. Louis (Lohse 14-2) at San Diego (Richard 12-12), 6:35 p.m. Pittsburgh (A.J.Burnett 15-6) at Cincin- nati (H.Bailey 10-9), 7:10 p.m. Washington (Lannan 2-0) at N.Y. Mets (Harvey 3-4), 7:10 p.m. Chicago Cubs (T.Wood 5-11) at Houston (Abad 0-3), 8:05 p.m. Atlanta (Maholm 12-9) at Milwaukee (Gallardo 14-8), 8:10 p.m. San Francisco (Lincecum 8-14) at Col- orado (Francis 5-4), 8:40 p.m. L.A. Dodgers (Harang 9-8) at Arizona (Cahill 10-11), 9:40 p.m. Thursday's games Philadelphia at Houston, 8:05 p.m. St. Louis at L.A. Dodgers, 10:10 p.m. 65 77 .458 23 63 80 .441 25.5 69 72 .489 10 San Diego 67 75 .472 12.5 Colorado 57 83 .407 21.5 Slam's been his goal and his dream since he was a very young kid playing tennis. And he's come so close a number of times and not quite made it,'' said Murray's mother, Judy, who is Britain's Fed Cup captain. ''I think winning the Olympic gold gave him the belief that he could do it in a major final. And to see him manage to do it yesterday, after such a tough, brutal match against a great player like Djokovic, was just fantastic. ... Hopeful- ly, it will spur him on to more.'' improving. I want to keep trying to win. ... I know, obviously, how good it feels to win a Grand Slam and, obviously, winning the Olympics. I know how hard it was, obvious- ly, losing a Wimbledon final,'' Murray said on Day 1 of life as a major champion. ''You want to try to win those big matches in the big tourna- ments, and I'll keep working hard to try and do it again.'' NFL AFC West WL T Pct Denver 1 0 0 1.000 RAIDERS 010 .000 Chargers 1 0 0 1.000 Kansas City 0 1 0 .000 East WL T Pct N.Y. Jets 1 0 0 1.000 N. England 1 0 0 1.000 Miami 0 1 0 .000 Buffalo 0 1 0 .000 South WL T Pct Houston 1 0 0 1.000 Jacksonville 0 1 0 .000 Indianapolis 0 1 0 .000 Tennessee 0 1 0 .000 North WL T Pct Baltimore 1 0 0 1.000 Cincinnati 0 1 0 .000 Cleveland 0 1 0 .000 Pittsburgh 0 1 0 .000 NFC West WL T Pct Arizona 1 0 0 1.000 49ERS 100 1.000 St. Louis 0 1 0 .000 Seattle 0 1 0 .000 East Dallas WL T Pct 1 0 0 1.000 Washington 1 0 0 1.000 Philadelphia 1 0 0 1.000 N.Y. Giants 0 1 0 .000 South WL T Pct Tampa Bay 1 0 0 1.000 Atlanta 1 0 0 1.000 N. Orleans 0 1 0 .000 Carolina 0 1 0 .000 North WL T Pct Detroit 1 0 0 1.000 Chicago 1 0 0 1.000 Minnesota 1 0 0 1.000 Green Bay 0 1 0 .000 —————————————————— Week 1 results Wednesday's result Dallas 24, N.Y. Giants 17 Sunday's results San Francisco 30, Green Bay 22 Arizona 20, Seattle 16 Atlanta 40, Kansas City 24 Chicago 41, Indianapolis 21 Denver 31, Pittsburgh 19 Detroit 27, St. Louis 23 Houston 30, Miami 10 Minnesota 26, Jacksonville 23, OT New England 34, Tennessee 13 N.Y. Jets 48, Buffalo 28 Philadelphia 17, Cleveland 16 Tampa Bay 16, Carolina 10 Washington 40, New Orleans 32 Monday's results San Diego 22, Oakland 14 Baltimore 44, Cincinnati 13 Week 2 schedule Thursday's game Chicago at Green Bay, 5:20 p.m. Sunday's games Oakland at Miami, 10 a.m. Detroit at San Francisco, 5:20 p.m. Arizona at New England, 10 a.m. Baltimore at Philadelphia, 10 a.m. Cleveland at Cincinnati, 10 a.m. Houston at Jacksonville, 10 a.m. Kansas City at Buffalo, 10 a.m. Minnesota at Indianapolis, 10 a.m. New Orleans at Carolina, 10 a.m. Tampa Bay at N.Y. Giants, 10 a.m. Dallas at Seattle, 1:05 p.m. Washington at St. Louis, 1:05 p.m. N.Y. Jets at Pittsburgh, 1:25 p.m. Tennessee at San Diego, 1:25 p.m. Monday's game Denver at Atlanta, 5:30 p.m.