Linus Klasen Trick Shot In AHL Skills Competition (Video)

Filed under: Predators, NHL Videos, Minor League Hockey

One of the events during the All-Star skills competition is a breakaway challenge where players have an opportunity to use their best and most creative moves in an effort to score. It's probably the closest thing the NHL has to a dunk contest.

Assuming that's true, Saturday's event in Raleigh was like watching Nate Robinson's yearly trip to the event: a seemingly endless run of missed attempts before finally something underwhelming goes in. But while the guys in the big league game were coming up short on most of their shots, Linus Klasen, a forward for the Milwaukee Admirals (the AHL affiliate of the Nashville Predators) used a new version of the spin-o-rama move in this weekends AHL skills competition -- held in Hershey, Pennsylvania -- to make some highlights.

Check it out...

 

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Golf Point/Counterpoint: 2011 Season Observings

Filed under: PGA

FanHouse Golf Writer Mick Elliott runs through a point/counterpoint on the early weeks of the 2011 PGA season:

Fact: World No. 1 Lee Westwood (pictured) heads the field this week at Abu Dhabi, joined by Graeme McDowell, Phil Mickelson, Padraig Harrington, Martin Kaymer and Rory McIlroy.

Observation: Not to be outdone, the PGA Tour's Bob Hope Classic, with its pro-am format, has Alice Cooper, Craig T. Nelson, Sterling Sharpe and a Rush Limbaugh listener.

Fact: Of the 26 rookies who made their season debut last week at Sony, only five survived the cut with the best finish belonging to Chris Kirk, a former Ben Hogan Award winner at Georgia (T30).

Observation: Do you wonder if the Bulldogs elected Kirk team captain?

 

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Unrest Forces Cancellation of February USA-Egypt Friendly

Filed under: U.S. Men's National Team

The U.S. Soccer Federation has announced the cancellation of the national team's Feb. 9 friendly against Egypt in Cairo, a city that has been wracked by political demonstrations and violence over the past several days.

The federation said it "explor(ed) other options" for a game that day, but no replacement venue or opponent was arranged.

"We were excited about the opportunity to play against Egypt, but due to the current situation all parties agreed it was best to cancel the match. We appreciate the efforts of the Egyptian Football Association and the U.S. State Department as we worked through this situation," U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati said.

The match against the seven-time African champions was scheduled on a FIFA international match day and was going to be coach Bob Bradley's first opportunity to call in his full team in since early October. Now he'll have to wait until March, when the U.S. is scheduled to face Argentina (March 26 at the New Meadowlands in New Jersey) and Paraguay (March 29 at LP Field in Nashville).

U.S. defeated Egypt, 3-0, at the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa in a wild match that catapulted the Americans to their now legendary semifinal against Spain. Since then, the Egyptians have won a third consecutive African Nations Cup title but suffered a fifth straight failure to qualify for the World Cup.

The senior U.S. national team has not visited the Arab world since November, 1999, when it lost to Morocco, 2-1, in Marrakech (Eric Wynalda scored the goal that day).

Considering the positive public relations impact that the U.S. national team seems to have when it travels, the decision represents a significant lost opportunity for American soccer and, perhaps, the country as a whole. But canceling the Cairo friendly was the only option as the chaos in Egypt continues.

Follow Brian Straus on Twitter Follow FH Soccer on Twitter

 

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Packers Report, Day 1: Mike McCarthy's Pittsburgh Ties

Filed under: Packers, Steelers, NFL Video, Super Bowl

It's safe to say that nearly every household in the Pittsburgh area will be rooting for the Steelers this Super Bowl Sunday. One particular Pittsburgh-raised family, however, will be pulling as hard as they can for the Packers. FanHouse TV's Chris Harry has the story.

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Chip Ganassi Racing Leading the Way in Wild Rolex 24 at Daytona

Filed under: A.J. Allmendinger, Jimmie Johnson, Daytona Int'l Speedway

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Nineteen hours into the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Juan Pablo Montoya held a meager five-second lead over his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Memo Rojas and the Michael Shank Racing Ford driven by Max Papis.

As the sun came up over the famous Daytona International Speedway high banks Sunday morning, six of the marquee Grand-Am Series Daytona Prototypes were on the lead lap -- the top five separated by only 15 seconds with five hours remaining in the twice-around-the-clock race through the 3.56-mile road course.

Wolf Henzler has the No. 67 TRG Motorsports Porsche in front of the GT production class -- an inspired drive, considering the car started at the rear of the 50-car field after its pole-winning qualifying effort was disqualified for a technical violation.

Ganassi, who became the first owner to win three consecutive Rolex 24 races from 2006-2008, saw his teams have some minor problems in the opening hours of the race, but they emerged from a fog-induced early morning caution period to prove themselves as he class of the field again. Some of the closest calls came between the Ganassi team cars -- both featuring a Who's Who list of racing stars.

Montoya is co-driving with Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray, two-time Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti and two-time IndyCar champ Scott Dixon. They are competing against Ganassi's full-time Grand-Am Series entry driven by reigning series champs Scott Pruett and Rojas, along with IndyCar driver Graham Rahal and sports car driver Joey Hand.

Without exception, drivers characterized the early laps of the 2011 Rolex 24 at Daytona as wild and adventurous and it has proven to be one of the most action-packed offerings in the race's 49-year history.

 

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Scottie Reynolds Reinvents Himself as Pass-First Point Guard

Filed under: NBA D-League, Springfield Armor

For a lot of players, the NBA D-League is more of an exposure league, a place where someone goes to put up big statistics while trying to get noticed by an NBA team.

Scottie Reynolds, the first NCAA All-American since the NBA-ABA merger in 1976 not be taken in the NBA Draft, has a different outlook on what he's trying to do while playing for the D-League's Springfield Armor.

Instead of scoring the basketball -- something he showed every NBA scout he can do during his four-year career at Villanova -- Reynolds has recently decided to focus more on getting his teammates involved in hopes of showing talent evaluators he can be counted on to play the point guard position at the next level.

"I've scored enough points," Reynolds told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "In fact, I'm sick of scoring."

That certainly wasn't the case early on this season when Reynolds averaged 23.2 points and just 3.8 assists in the month of November, but Armor coach -- and former NBA player -- Dee Brown has challenged Reynolds to be more of a facilitator of the offense. To his credit, the smooth-scoring guard responded well.

 

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Trade to Eastern Conference Could Cost Carmelo Anthony All-Star Start

Filed under: Nuggets, NBA All-Star Game, NBA Rumors

Carmelo Anthony was named Thursday to start the NBA All-Star Game.

Maybe he will.

If the forward were to be traded before the Feb. 20 All-Star Game in Los Angeles from the Denver Nuggets of the Western Conference to a team in the Eastern Conference, he instead would be placed on the East roster for the game. If all five East starters are healthy and ready to go, it would mean Anthony coming off the bench.

It also could mean the East having 13 players on its roster if Anthony were to be traded to the East after the reserves are announced next Thursday and all players are healthy and ready to play. The West roster could be down to 11 players but could be restored to 12 with a replacement named for Anthony.

An NBA official confirmed the scenarios with FanHouse when information was requested on how any player in the exact situation as Anthony would be handled by the league.

 

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