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Friday 89th Annual Red Bluff Round-Up, 7 p.m. Baseball — Corning at Lassen, 4 p.m. Baseball — Faith Christian at Mercy, 2 p.m. Baseball — Los Molinos at Biggs, 4:30 p.m. Baseball — Red Bluff at Chico, 4 p.m. Softball — Chico at Red Bluff, 4 p.m. Softball — Faith Christian at Mercy, 2 p.m. Softball — Los Molinos at Biggs, 4:30 p.m. Sports 1B Friday April 16, 2010 Spartans take EAL lead Cavs, Magic, Lakers seem best, but threats abound By BRIAN MAHONEY AP Basketball Writer Maybe Kobe Bryant is too beaten up to last through three playoff rounds against the rest of the West. Perhaps the aging Boston Celtics do have one more run in them, or the Atlanta Hawks are ready to take the next step. Sure, it’s easy to think this year’s NBA champion will be LeBron James and Cleveland, Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers, or the Orlando Magic. Just don’t tell that to all the other teams believing the trio can be knocked off. ‘‘I don’t think anybody is afraid of anybody,’’ Dallas owner Mark Cuban said. ‘‘We think we can beat anybody and anybody thinks they can beat us. That’s how good the teams are.’’ The best during the regular season were the Cavaliers, but they were last season, too. All that got them was a trip to Orlando, where the Magic ended their season in the confer- ence finals, and James picked up a $25,000 fine for not talk- ing to the media after the loss. But with a bolstered front line that now features Shaquille O’Neal and Antawn Jamison alongside James, there may not be anything that can stop the Cavaliers this time. ‘‘Dan Gilbert, Danny Ferry went out and got the pieces that I feel should help us against the bigger teams that we’ll be going against,’’ Cleveland coach Mike Brown. ‘‘We still have a long way to go. It’s going to be tough for us, because we’re going to face a lot of different types of teams on this run, hopefully. We’ll see how we pan out after we get started.’’ Daily News photo by Rich Greene Red Bluff’s Drew Wagner tees off at Wilcox Oaks,Thursday, during an EAL meet. By RICHGREENE DN Sports Editor Playing in their own back yard, Thursday helped the Red Bluff Spar- tans golf team to take over first place in the Eastern Athletic League points race. Freshman Daniel Frantz shot a meet low, 74, including an even par 36 on the Back 9 of Wilcox Oaks. Frantz’s in, helped Red Bluff cap- ture the Back 9 with a combined score of 215 points. Chico, which had won the Front 9, Thursday, fell to fourth on the Back 9. After two league meets, Red Bluff leads the EAL with 25 points, followed by Chico with 23 points and Pleasant Valley with 20 points. There are three league meets remaining. Pleasant Valley’s Jessie Stephens had the second lowest total of the day — two shots back of Frantz. For the Spartans, Drew Wagner shot a 39 and a 40 for a 79. Bryan Benton shot a 38 and 48 for an 86. Peter Mitzel shot a 44 on both the front and the back for an 88. Brad Patchen shot a 44 and a 50 for a 94. In the sixth slot Justin Martinson played the Front 9 and shot a 51 and Cody Robertson shot a 47 on the back. Raiders sign QB Kyle Boller ALAMEDA (AP) — The Oakland Raiders signed free agent quarterback Kyle Boller on Thursday, adding a for- mer first-rounder to an unsettled quar- terback mix. Former No. 1 overall pick JaMarcus Russell lost his job midway through last season because of ineffectiveness and is competing with Bruce Grad- kowski to get it back. Charlie Frye started three games last season and is also back. How Boller fits into the mix is not immediately evident. The team announced the move shortly after coach Tom Cable addressed the media about the upcoming draft. Boller never lived up to his billing after being drafted 19th overall by Bal- timore in 2003. He started nine games as a rookie and all 16 the following sea- son. But because of injuries and inef- fectiveness he eventually lost his job and played last season in St. Louis. Boller is familiar with new Raiders offensive coordinator Hue Jackson, who was the quarterbacks coach in Baltimore in Boller’s final season with the Ravens. He did not play at all in 2008 because of a shoulder injury. The former Cal star has made 46 starts in his career, throwing 50 inter- ceptions and only 48 touchdown pass- es. He has completed 56.8 percent of his passes and has a career passer rat- ing of 70.6. The Raiders are looking for better play out of their quarterbacks this sea- son and were linked to trade talks with Philadelphia for Donovan McNabb before he was dealt to Washington. Russell had a disappointing third year in the NFL. He completed 48.8 percent of his passes, with three touch- downs, 11 interceptions and a 50.0 MCT file photo Former first-round pick Kyle Boller has signed with Oakland. passer rating that was the lowest in the NFL in 11 years before losing his job to Gradkowski. Russell has been participating in offseason workouts but Cable would not get into details about how he has looked. ‘‘He’s here. He’s working,’’ Cable said. ‘‘He’s doing everything that everybody else is doing, has been here since the start of the second week. Has been doing it like everybody else. That’s all I can tell you.’’ Gradkowski provided an immediate spark after replacing Russell, leading Oakland to comeback victories in two of his first three starts. He got hurt mid- way through his fourth start, suffering a torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee and a partially torn MCL in his right knee, and did not play the rest of the season. He completed 54.7 per- cent of his passes with six touchdowns and three interceptions on the season. Frye started the final three games last season, completing 60.9 percent of his passes with one touchdown and four interceptions. That comes Saturday, when the Cavaliers open against the Chicago Bulls, who earned the NBA’s final playoff spot on the last night of the regular season. Also Saturday, Mil- waukee visits Atlanta; Boston hosts Miami and Utah visits Denver. On Sunday, it’s playoff newcomer Oklahoma City at the Lakers; Orlando hosting Charlotte, another first-time postseason team; San Antonio visiting Dallas; and Phoenix entertaining Portland. The Suns, who missed the playoffs last year but rode a late-season surge to the No. 3 seed in the West this year, are another team that could spoil one of the presumed finals matchups. ‘‘I don’t know if you start matching us up with all the teams in the league how talented we are, but I think as a col- lective group we’re pretty doggone good,’’ Suns coach Alvin Gentry said. All eight playoff teams in the West won 50 games, the second time that happened in three years. Still, the Lakers probably stand out as the class of the conference — when their health allows it. ‘‘The West is wide open. A lot of great teams out there,’’ Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki said. ‘‘The Lakers, if they’re healthy with (Andrew) Bynum and everybody, I think they’re still the favorites, but everybody else is kind of bunched up and on the same level. Anything is possible.’’ Bynum, the Lakers’ starting center, missed the last 13 games with a strained left Achilles’ tendon. Bryant missed four of the last five games with a series of injuries, most notably a broken right index finger that caused him to shoot awfully in April. ‘‘He’s going to be just fine,’’ Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. ‘‘How we play together as a team is really the critical element of playing in the playoffs.’’ Yet health is always an issue come playoff time, and a pair of the league’s oldest teams insist they have it. Tim Dun- can, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker are all ready to go for the Spurs, giving them reason to think they can avenge last season’s first-round loss to the Southwest Division champi- on Mavericks. ‘‘We’re playing better than we have all year long, there’s no doubt about that,’’ Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. ‘‘Whether that’s good enough to do anything of note in the playoffs, we’ll see. But we’re very thankful we’re playing our best basketball now.’’ The Celtics aren’t, dropping seven of their final 10 to tumble to the No. 4 seed. But with Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen all playing, the 2008 champions insist they will look much sharper in the postseason than they did over the second half of the regular season. And they’d better, with Dwyane Wade and the Heat looming as a dangerous opening opponent. ‘‘It’s going to be a tough series,’’ Miami forward Quentin Richardson said. ‘‘We’re going to be ready. We’ll never be intimidated by anyone. We just look at them as a very good, veteran team. They have some good players. It’s going to be a good series and I’m pretty excited about it.’’ The Lakers, who beat the Magic last year in five games, are bidding to become the first team with three consecutive trips to the finals since O’Neal and Bryant led them to three straight championships from 2000-02. But every round could be a difficult for team that played so fluidly early on but dropped six of its final 10. They were beaten badly the last time they played the Thunder, who are led by Kevin Durant, who averaged 30.1 points to become the NBA’s youngest scoring champion. Bryant was fourth with 27 points per game. The Cavs think it’s their year to get the most. Orlando believes it can stop them again. One of them probably faces the Lakers for the title. NCAAbans wedge blocks, eye black with messages INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Eye black with messages and wedge blocks will be banned from college foot- ball this fall, and taunting in the field of play will start costing teams points in 2011. On Thursday, the NCAA’s Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved the three rules changes. One year after the NFL banned wedge blocking on kickoffs because of safety concerns, the NCAA fol- lowed the lead. The new rule says that when the team receiving a kickoff has more than two players standing within two yards of one another, shoulder to shoul- der, it will be assessed a 15- yard penalty — even if there is no contact between the teams. The reason: NCAA stud- ies have shown that 20 per- cent of all injuries occurring on kickoffs result in concus- sions. ‘‘Everybody is looking to make sure we have a safe environment for the play- ers,’’ said Grant Teaff, exec- utive director of the Ameri- can Football Coaches Asso- ciation. ‘‘On kickoffs, you have a lot of steam on both sides and you usually have what is called a ’wedge buster.’ This will eliminate some of that.’’ The hope is it will reduce concussions, an issue that has received greater atten- tion over the past year. The NCAA deemed it so important that it made a rare rules change in an off-year of the normal 2-year process. But it’s the taunting rule that will create the biggest buzz. Currently, players who are penalized for taunting on their way to the end zone draw a 15-yard penalty on the extra point attempt, 2- point conversion attempt or the ensuing kickoff. Beginning in 2011, live- ball penalties will be assessed from the spot of the foul and eliminate the score. Examples include players finishing touchdown runs by high-stepping into the end zone or pointing the ball toward an opponent. Celebration penalties fol- lowing a score will continue to be assessed on conversion attempts or the ensuing kickoff. ‘‘I think one of the rea- sons it’s been looked at is that when a penalty occurs on the field, it’s normally taken from the spot,’’ Teaff said. ‘‘This was the only occurrence that it wasn’t taken from the spot, so they wanted to change that.’’ Taunting has caused an annual debate among col- lege football players, coach- es and fans, and last season’s big controversy stemmed from Georgia receiver A.J. Green receiving a 15-year personal foul penalty after he caught a go-ahead touch- down pass late in a game against LSU. The yardage from the penalty was assessed on the kickoff and helped LSU get into position to drive for the winning score. Southeastern Conference officials said later that there was no video evidence to support the flag on Green. A third change bans the use of eye black containing symbols or messages, a trend that grew in popularity because of the use by Heis- man Trophy winners Reggie Bush and Tim Tebow. The rules committee also approved a change for new soccer fields. Those fields can be 70 to 75 yards wide and 115 to 120 yards long. All fields in current use have been approved and will not be required to change.