SB Nation Arizona: All Posts by James Brady

NCAA Lacrosse Tournament 2013 results: Syracuse advances, Cornell dominates Ohio State

2013-05-19T00:27:44Z

The first half of the NCAA Division I Lacrosse Tournament quarterfinals took place on Saturday, and we had one very close game that went down to the wire and an absolute blowout. Surprisingly, it wasn't No. 1 seed Syracuse who put up the blowout, but they did advance to the semifinals with a 7-6 win over Yale.

Redshirt freshman Dylan Donahue sealed the victory for Syracuse, scoring with just 13 seconds remaining, capping off a three-goal rally that occurred in the final 3:04 of play. Prior to that rally, the Orange were held scoreless for more than 40 minutes following the early scoring.

Syracuse advances to the semifinals, where they'll take on the winner of Sunday's matchup between No. 4 Denver and No. 5 North Carolina.

In the other game on the day, unseeded Cornell dominated No. 3 Ohio State, 16-6. Steve Mock was phenomenal for the Big Red, scoring seven first-half goals. Connor Buczek had three goals and two assists, while Rob Parnel had two goals and a whopping six assists.

Ohio State rarely even had the ball, winning just two of the first quarter face-offs. Mock seemed to always have the ball, scoring four in a row to finish up the first quarter. By halftime, Cornell had the game well in hand, with an 11-3 lead.

Cornell advances to the semifinals, where they will take on the winner of Sunday's matchup between No. 2 Notre Dame and No. 7 Duke.

Belmont Stakes 2013: Date, time, location and more

2013-05-18T22:00:05Z

With the Preakness Stakes in the books, the 145th running of the Belmont Stakes is just three weeks away, with the third jewel of the Triple Crown up for grabs. The most demanding of the Triple Crown races, at 1.5 miles, is set for Saturday, June 8 at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

The lineup of major contenders aren't yet announced with the Preakness just ending, but the news will come sooner rather than later. The official post positions, odds and selected jockeys will be announced live from Belmont Park on the Wednesday before the race, which is June 5.

Pacing is ever-important in the Belmont Stakes, with many referring to the race as "The Test of Champions," due to the rough run and the pacing required to succeed.

NBC will carry the television coverage of the race beginning at 5 p.m. ET and running for two hours. The race post time is tentatively set for 6:40 p.m. on the day of, but that could change with plenty of time to go until race day.

Event: Belmont Stakes, grade I stakes Thoroughbred horse race

Location: Belmont Park, Elmont, N.Y.

Date/Time: Saturday, June 8, 6:40 p.m. ET

TV: NBC

More Triple Crown coverage:

• Complete 2013 Preakness Stakes coverage

• Longform: Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens returns

• SB Nation's horse racing blog: And Down The Stretch They Come

NFC West position rankings: Seahawks hold the top spot for safeties

2013-05-18T19:04:05Z

We've now covered tight end, running back, offensive line, cornerbacks and linebackers in our NFC West position rankings. Of those positions, the 49ers were on top of four of them. I had them at the bottom of the cornerback rankings. Today, we're going to take a look at the safeties and, wouldn't you know it, the 49ers aren't on top here. However, they might be a little higher than you might have guessed.

Let's jump right into those safety rankings.

1. Seattle Seahawks with Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor, Winston Guy, Jeron Johnson, Chris Maragos

This one isn't very close. Earl Thomas is absolutely one of the top safeties in the league, even if he struggled last season. Last season may have been Thomas' worst year in the league, as he struggled in coverage, earned a few penalties and even seemed to regress against the run. However, he's still the best safety in the division, relatively young, and there's no reason to suspect he won't bounce back next year.

Chancellor is a tackling machine. He actually replaced Dashon Goldson in the 2011 Pro Bowl, and had one of his best seasons to date last year. He was better than Thomas was, though I don't expect that will be true this coming season. He's a very solid strong safety and the pairing with Thomas is just top-notch. They're not as close to Richard Sherman and Brandon Browner's 1-2 punch at cornerback as Seahawks fans like to claim, but they're definitely the top safeties in the NFC West.

2. San Francisco 49ers with Eric Reid, Donte Whitner, Craig Dahl, Darcel McBath, C.J. Spillman, Trenton Robinson

When I went into these rankings, I assumed the 49ers would be lower than No. 2. That's before I did a lot of reading up on the rest of the safeties in the NFC West. It's weird putting the 49ers here with a rookie like Eric Reid, but he is clearly going to be the starter, so it's less of a stretch. He's not going to be buried on the depth chart or anything.

Donte Whitner has been a great signing for the 49ers. That is to say, Whitner came in for relatively cheap and put up some great numbers. Of course, he's been here more than one year, and last season was his worst in San Francisco by far. He struggled in coverage, especially as the season went on. Replacing Whitner will need to come sooner rather than later, but he's probably got another good season in him.

Craig Dahl is a terrible, awful player. He does nothing well and his addition to the 49ers should be viewed as a subtraction. Darcel McBath will probably remain with the team, and C.J. Spillman is great on special teams. I have no opinion on Trenton Robinson.

3. St. Louis Rams with T.J. McDonald, Darian Stewart, like 100 different undrafted safeties

I'm a firm believer in the belief that you can't draft "your guy" too high. We can speculate on whether guys like A.J. Jenkins were taken too high or not, but in the end, I believe if you're an NFL general manager and you have a guy you know you want, there's no such thing as too high a pick. In other words, you can believe someone went earlier than he needed to, but that's not the same thing.

Another NFL team probably wouldn't have taken T.J. McDonald in the third round of the 2013 NFL Draft. But he was the guy the Rams wanted, so they took him. McDonald will likely compete for, and win the starting free safety job. But he won't play it like a traditional free safety; instead, he'll come up and do his best to hit everything as hard as he possibly can. Because that's how he plays.

That said, his ceiling is all over the place. I'm not sure how good he'll be. He's a total wildcard at this point. At the very least, he should step right into Quintin Mikell's role and play in the box and do some blitzing.

At strong safety the Rams have ... Darian Stewart, who played behind Craig Dahl last season. It's not all that bad, though, considering that when he did play, he was much better than Dahl. I'm not quite sure why the Rams felt like Stewart should be the second string but I do think he could surprise a lot of people next season.

4. Arizona Cardinals with Yeremiah Bell, Rashad Johnson, Tyrann Mathieu

OK, this position is weird for the Cardinals. Neither Bell nor Johnson are particularly good. They had some great safety play the last couple years, but not coming from either of those two guys. I do think Johnson has some solid upside if he gets to see the field more.

But then we get to Tyrann Mathieu. I have no idea what to expect from him. He's better as a cornerback, and I don't really get the Cardinals wanting to use him as a safety. Will he end up being great? Will he not fit the position? Will he smoke himself out of a job? I have absolutely no idea and for now, the Cardinals have to be ranked this low (by a good margin, too). Mathieu could end up being a difference-maker, though. We'll see.

KEEP READING:

NFL news roundup: Bears sign Kyle Long, Bruce Irvin suspended and more

2013-05-18T12:09:04Z

There was plenty going on in the NFL on Friday, and if you missed the pertinent Robert Griffin III, Rob Gronkowski and Bruce Irvin news, then read on for the roundup.

The Chicago Bears became the third team to sign all of their draft picks, inking first-round pick Kyle Long to a four-year deal with an option for a fifth. Long was the No. 20 pick, and getting him signed is just one fewer thing for him to have to worry about. He'll miss the rest of Chicago's offseason minicamp programs due to Oregon's finals schedule and won't return until June 14, so this was probably something the two sides were motivated to get done.

During the 2013 NFL Draft, it was big news when Griffin III was walking around and even jumping during the Washington Redskins' draft-day festivities. His recovery from injury will be the biggest news through training camp, preseason and possibly the first couple weeks of the regular season. That's why it's important to note that RGIII has been throwing since April and is on-pace to start the season opener.

Irvin, the Seattle Seahawks defensive end, was suspended for four games on Friday. Irvin violated the NFL's performance-enhancing drug policy. Given that Irvin immediately released an apology, it doesn't look like he's going to appeal the decision, either.

Field Gulls offered up some early analysis after the news broke:

Seattle starts the year on the road in Carolina, returns home to face the Niners and Jaguars, then heads to Houston to play the Texans. The Seahawks will now be without their two main defensive ends from 2012 in Chris Clemons (likely PUP) and Irvin. The off-season signings of Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett are looking good right now, and Ty Powell may become a factor early on in the year.

Also on Friday, free agent safety Charles Woodson said that he would be open to playing for the Detroit Lions, provided the money was right. Woodson is well on the wrong side of 30 and can't have many seasons left in him, so he's looking for the best deal he can get. Of course, it seems unlikely that the Lions would be the team to give him the deal he's after, but at least Woodson is making it known that he's willing.

Gronkowski took the NFL by storm, but he's had some very significant injury issues this past year. On Friday, the news that he may require surgery on his back came out. This comes right after the news that he might need a fourth surgery on his left forearm. His back issue is considered "minor," but it's still a troubling trend for someone who might be the NFL's top tight end.

Over at Pats Pulpit, they take a step back from the ledge and add a helpful reminder:

The recovery time for both procedures will overlap, and it will likely still put him in line to return to training camp. Again, this doesn't mean he'll be ready for camp, just be ready around the time of camp. It's worth noting that back issues is what made Gronkowski slip so far during the 2010 NFL Draft, and allowed him to be essentially stolen by the Pats in the second round

More from SB Nation:

• Geno Smith: 'I play smart. I play above my neck'

• Charles Woodson to visit Raiders

• Coming: A reality TV show featuring Packers fans

• Titus Young's mugshot is Hall of Fame-worthy | #Lookit

• Tim Tebow's (fake) CFL chronicles

• The rise of "Generation Jaguar"

2013 Byron Nelson Championship: Tee times, TV schedule for Saturday

2013-05-18T12:00:04Z

Keegan Bradley is the leader heading into the third round at the 2013 Byron Nelson Championship at TPC Four Seasons Resort. Bradley matched a course record with a 60 in the tournament's opening round, and while he didn't perform quite as well on Friday, he still shot 1-under on the day and holds a three-stroke lead at 11-under.

Tom Gillis and Sang-Moon Bae both trail Bradley at 8-under. Gillis had an exceptional Friday, shooting 7-under on the round and rising 53 spots on the leaderboard. Bae shot 4-under.

More: Stay up to date on all of SB Nation's coverage of the Byron Nelson Championship

The first group of three will tee off at 10:30 a.m. ET, with the final group of Bradley, Gillis and Bae set for 12:40 p.m. The Golf Channel will carry the coverage from 3-6 p.m. The Golf Channel also offers a streaming service at their website that mirrors their TV coverage.

Below, we've got the full tee times for Round 3:

Tee No. 1 times:

	Time	Players
12:40 p.m.	Keegan Bradley	Tom Gillis	Sang-Moon Bae
12:30 p.m.	John Huh	Ryan Palmer	Charl Schwartzel
12:20 p.m.	Graham DeLaet	Angel Cabrera	Ted Potter, Jr.
12:10 p.m.	Scott Piercy	Gary Woodland	Harris English
12:00 p.m.	Erik Compton	Stephen Ames	Nathan Green
11:50 a.m.	Martin Kaymer	Camilo Villegas	Martin Flores
11:40 a.m.	Duffy Waldorf	Alexandre Rocha	Charley Hoffman
11:30 a.m.	Ben Crane	Marc Leishman	Mike Weir
11:20 a.m.	Jimmy Walker	Marcel Siem	Chez Reavie
11:10 a.m.	Cameron Percy	Charles Howell III	Joe Ogilvie
11:00 a.m.	Brian Harman	D.A. Points	Louis Oosthuizen
10:50 a.m.	Jordan Spieth	William McGirt	Steve Marino
10:40 a.m.	John Daly	Matt Bettencourt	Freddie Jacobson
10:30 a.m.	David Mathis	Brendon Todd	D.H. Lee

Tee No. 10 times:

	Time	Players
10:30 a.m.	Michael Bradley	Jeff Overton	Tag Ridings
10:40 a.m.	Justin Bolli	Vijay Singh	John Rollins
10:50 a.m.	Colt Knost	Gary Christian	Zack Fischer
11:00 a.m.	Henrik Norlander	Ricky Barnes	Jerry Kelly
11:10 a.m.	Wes Short, Jr.	Ryo Ishikawa	Chad Campbell
11:20 a.m.	Andrew Svoboda	Will Claxton	Justin Hicks
11:30 a.m.	Matt Kuchar	Charlie Beljan	Stuart Appleby
11:40 a.m.	Jason Bohn	James Driscoll	Seung-Yul Noh
11:50 a.m.	Pat Perez	Tim Herron	Jason Day
12:00 p.m.	Patrick Reed	Padraig Harrington	Justin Leonard
12:10 p.m.	Ted Purdy	Jesper Parnevik	Greg Owen
12:20 p.m.	Charlie Wi	Brian Stuard	Scott Langley
12:30 p.m.	Jason Dufner	Kenny Perry	Rory Sabbatini
12:40 p.m.	Morgan Hoffmann	Brad Fritsch

Golden Nuggets: No sympathy from Craig Dahl

2013-05-18T10:00:06Z

Good morning ladies and gents. Sorry for the confusion in the headline of yesterday's Nuggets. I've always used the term to mean "good luck," which of course, a lot of other people do. Still, I could have picked a better choice of words on that one. Kyle Williams isn't going anywhere, though I do think 2013 is probably his last chance to make an impact before the team cuts ties with him.

The big news from yesterday was the suspension of Seattle Seahawks defensive end Bruce Irvin. I'm not in the camp of "oh well the Seahawks are a bunch of cheaters," I just happen to think that they're not very good at disguising it. If you want to call them anything, do something with that.

For those who aren't aware, the Nuggets are supposed to just be quick links, especially at this point in the offseason where there's so little to talk about. I'd love to spend an hour or more each night writing them up like I used to, but right now it's either quick links or no links and I'd rather get you good folks your links. We'll see what we can do to flesh things out once the preseason nears.

Onto the links.

Seatte DE Irvin suspended; 49ers' Dahl unsympathetic (Branch)

Let's start the bidding: 49ers, Bay Area to learn Super Bowl fate Tuesday (Barrows)

Eric Mangini -- Three thoughts on his possible hiring in San Francisco (Lynch)

Michael Crabtree and stakes for 'No. 1' WR (Sando)

Quinton Patton vs. D.J. Hayden highlights (Cohn)

Quinton Patton got the Tavon Austin treatment (FOX Sports)

His Shadow: Lattimore inspired after first meeting with Gore (Branch)

Lockette: 49ers Jenkins will 'surprise a lot of people' (49ers)

MT: Lattimore inspired by Gore (49ers)

Dilfer: Kaepernick Changing the Environment (49ers)

Giro d'Italia 2013 Stage 14: TV schedule, map, route and more

2013-05-18T09:00:05Z

Stage 14 of the 2013 Giro d'Italia is set for Saturday and offers very little respite for those tired after Stage 13, the Giro's longest stage at 254 kilometers (or about 158 miles). The second big mountain stage of the Giro, Stage 14, is only 168 kilometers, but about 50 of those are uphill.

Racers will go 38 kilometers to the top of Sestriere before a short downhill portion, and a final climb of 7.25 kilometers. Unfortunately, that climb has an average gradient of 9 percent, as you can see from the profile below, via Cycling News:

If the thought of a harder stage to come following the day's action was going to have an effect on anyone, the news that Stage 15 was considerably shortened should be a nice boost to morale. Stage 15 was set to be one of the more challenging stages of the Giro, but racers today can thank poor weather conditions for an easier pace on Sunday, as noted by Podium Cafe.

Stage 14 gets underway at 6:45 a.m. ET (12:45 local) and should wrap up right around 11:15 a.m. Live television coverage in the United States will be on beIN Sport, which can be found on many of the top cable and satellite providers. That coverage begins at 9:30 a.m. This is the map of the route through Stage 14:

Bears sign 1st-round pick Kyle Long to 4-year deal

2013-05-18T02:32:30Z

The Chicago Bears have signed rookie first-round pick Kyle Long to a four-year deal with an option for a fifth, according to the team's official Twitter account. Long, an offensive guard out of Oregon, was the No. 20 overall pick in the NFL draft.

Chicago has now signed its entire draft class. Jon Bostic, the team's second-round pick, signed back on May 9, leaving Long as the only remaining unsigned player.

There's not a whole lot of significance to getting the rookies signed so early, but given that the Bears also were the first team to sign any of their draft picks, it's a sign that general manager Phil Emery likes to work quickly.

The Bears recently wrapped up their rookie minicamp, during which Long was said to have impressed. He played left guard in college, but lined up on the right side -- Chicago's biggest area of need -- during the minicamp. As noted by Windy City Gridiron, Long needed to have a strong minicamp due to the fact that he'll be absent for the rest of the team's offseason activities until June 14.

Oregon operates on a quarters system, and finals don't conclude until June 14, which is one day after the last day of Chicago's full-team minicamp. An NFL rule prohibits rookies from participating in OTAs and minicamps, sans the initial rookie minicamp, until classes end. So Long may be behind the curve when it's all said and done, but with his contract now in place, at least the team doesn't have to worry about getting a deal done anymore.