London's O2 Arena to host NBA regular season matches

Kobe Bryant's LA Lakers are the NBA champions

America's National Basketball Association will stage meaningful games in Europe for the first time, at London's O2 Arena in March.

The Toronto Raptors will face the New Jersey Nets at the O2 on 4 and 5 March.

NBA commissioner David Stern hinted at the move last October when GB star Luol Deng's Chicago Bulls took on Utah at the arena, a 2012 Olympic venue.

"The staging of regular-season games in Europe is a milestone for the NBA," said Stern.

"By bringing these two young and exciting teams to London, we are fulfilling our commitment to schedule a regular-season game in the UK prior to the 2012 Olympics.

"[It is] a natural progression given the overwhelming response to the many friendlies we have played to sold-out crowds over the years."

The O2 has hosted NBA pre-season exhibition games in October for the past three years, selling out each game. Stern added that tickets for the two games would go on sale on 1 September.

The October series has become a feature of the sporting calendar in London, with sport stars like Lewis Hamilton, Didier Drogba, David Haye and Phillips Idowu among the celebrities who have sat courtside at NBA's O2 games in recent years.

This is in the context of giving as much support as we can to basketball in the 2012 Olympics NBA commissioner David Stern

The O2 is set to host the Olympic Games basketball tournament in 2012 from the quarter-final stage onwards.

"This, to us, is in the context of giving as much support as we can to the sport of basketball for the 2012 Olympics," said Stern.

"It's going to make basketball shine as a sport of intensity and teamwork and of diversity and inclusiveness."

"In Beijing, basketball was the hottest ticket. We don't expect that to be the case in London but we do think that Team GB could gain a lot of attention that wasn't expected."

Great Britain's men's and women's teams are currently engaged in European qualifiers, still in the process of convincing world governing body Fiba that they deserve a hosts' spot for 2012.

This October will see Kobe Bryant's Los Angeles Lakers, the current NBA champions, taking on the Minnesota Timberwolves in the latest game in the Europe Live series.

The Nets are no strangers to the O2 - they played against the Miami Heat in the Europe Live game in 2008. New Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov is believed to have volunteered his team for this and other trips when he took over.

NBA regular season games have previously been played in Mexico and Japan, but the league has always resisted the clamour to bring a competitive game to Europe.

"Europe to us is second only to China as a potential revenue source," said Stern. "So we view Europe as a potentially fertile place."

Stern refused to be drawn on questions about possible future NBA franchises in Europe, however.

America's National Football League has staged an annual regular season game in London for each of the last three seasons and the National Hockey League has also held games in London in the past. 

© MMX

Juan Pablo Montoya more relieved than happy after winning at Watkins Glen on Sunday

By Terry Blount ESPN.com

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- The first thought that came to Juan Pablo Montoya's mind when he saw the checkered flag Sunday wasn't a screaming, "whoopee, we won."

"Sorry about last week again guys," Montoya said calmly. "A great job today by everybody. We've been working really hard for this."

Crew chief Brian Pattie, the man who has taken the brunt of Montoya's anger the past two races and a guy who said a few nasty things himself to his driver, was all smiles and a few tears.

"Way to go, big boy,'' Pattie said. "You drove the race of your career buddy. Zero mistakes. That was tremendous."

NASCAR racing at the Sprint Cup level is about winning. This win was about forgiveness.

An apologetic driver wanting to make amends to his team. A crew chief wanting to show his driver they could do better.

Rusty Jarrett/Getty ImagesBrian Pattie, left, got his first victory as a crew chief and Juan pablo Montoya got his second Sprint Cup win. Together, they may finally have the No. 42 running in the right direction.

"It's huge," Pattie said, choking up as he spoke. "I still want to win on an oval to prove a point. But the Brickyard two weeks ago was my fault. Hopefully this makes up for it a little bit."

The Brickyard 400 appeared to be Montoya's race to win before Pattie opted for four tires on the final pit stop. It dropped Montoya from first to eighth, and then he wrecked as he overdrove the car trying to get back to the front.

The frustration of that day boiled over a week later at Pocono when the team had a strong car again. A slow pit stop came when Montoya rolled a little forward. Pattie suggested Montoya needed to work on his stops. Montoya's response was, well, let's just say less than pleasant.

So the talk all week heading to The Glen was whether these two men would stay together much longer. But a meeting with team owner Chip Ganassi helped clear the air.

"We had a great talk with Chip," Montoya said. "It's simple. As competitive as I am and Brian is, every week we have one goal -- to win. To come so close the last few weeks and see it slip away was very frustrating for everybody."

The frustration ended on the type of track where Montoya is at his best. Sunday was his second career victory in Cup, both coming on road courses. His first win was at Sonoma as a rookie in 2007.

That was a fuel-mileage race. This one wasn't. The Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen was a superb show between two international road racing stars -- Montoya and Marcos Ambrose.

Midway through the race, they battled for the top spot like there were two laps to go, neither man giving an inch. But Ambrose had handling problems after the final restart and Montoya pulled away. Kurt Busch earned his best road-course finish by passing Ambrose for second place at the end.

"I felt today was a moral victory for us to come in between those guys," Busch said. "Those are two world-class road racers and I learned a lot. It was a big day for us."

It also was a big weekend for Ganassi, who went three-for-three for the first time in his career with victories in Cup, IndyCar (Dario Franchitti at Mid-Ohio on Sunday) and Grand-Am (Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas at Watkins Glen on Saturday).

But Montoya's victory was a healing process. This was Pattie's first win as a Cup crew chief. It couldn't have come at a better time, helping repair the damaged feelings among the members of the No. 42 Chevy team.

"Today was spot on," Pattie said. "You have to be passionate at this level. The closer we got [without winning] the worst the frustrations got."

When Montoya stopped the car on the track after his victory lap, the entire crew ran out to greet him. All was forgiven.

“
We're going to have good weeks and bad weeks. You'll still hear things on the radio. That's how we are. But we've got to learn not make bad judgments, myself and everyone.
” -- Juan Pablo Montoya

"I feel more relieved than happy," Montoya said. "This really will bring the team together. Last week [at Pocono] was a misunderstanding on the radio. I went too far with it."

But Montoya is a volatile guy, so he warned everyone that tempers will flare from time to time.

"We're going to have good weeks and bad weeks," he said. "You'll still hear things on the radio. That's how we are. But we've got to learn not make bad judgments, myself and everyone."

Montoya made the Chase last year and entered 2010 with expectations of contending for the championship. That won't happen. He's 19th in the standings, still too far back to make the playoff.

But he's come closer to winning far more often this year than he did last year when the team played it safe in order to make the Chase.

And he watched his teammate, Jamie McMurray, win the two biggest races of the season in the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400.

"We focused on the Chase last year and it was all about the numbers," Montoya said. "But this year we had three DNFs in the first five races. So we got more aggressive and a lot of mistakes came."

The mistakes led to the confrontations that got ugly between Montoya and Pattie.

"We gave away some races and everyone was fighting," Montoya said. "But despite that, we have great relationship and understand each other."

Forgive and forget. For Montoya and Pattie, that's the message. And a victory sure helps.

Terry Blount is a senior writer for ESPN.com. His book, "The Blount Report: NASCAR's Most Overrated and Underrated Drivers, Cars, Teams, and Tracks," was published by Triumph Books and is available in bookstores. Click here to order a copy. Blount can be reached at terry@blountspeak.com.

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Dario Franchitti wins for second time this season, tightens up IndyCar Series title race with leader Will Power

By John Oreovicz ESPN.com

Franchitti Holds Of Power For Win

LEXINGTON, Ohio -- The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course was a fairly uneventful race, but it at least injected a glimmer of excitement into the IZOD IndyCar Series championship. 

Target Chip Ganassi Racing's No. 10 crew got Dario Franchitti ahead of championship leader Will Power of Team Penske during the first yellow-flag round of pits stops, and Franchitti was able to maintain the position through the final two-thirds of the 85-lap race. The Scotsman crossed the line 0.533 seconds ahead of Power to claim the 25th victory of his 14-year American career, split between CART and Indy Racing League sanctions.

The consolation for the pole winner Power was clinching the inaugural Mario Andretti Trophy, awarded the top road racer in the IndyCar Series. Power locked up that honor with one road race remaining on Aug. 22 in Sonoma, Calif.

"That's just fantastic," Power said. "Mario Andretti is one of the best racers of all time.

"But we're going for that world championship and we couldn't get Dario today. I gave it everything I've got. Still a strong day, but that's the guy we've got to beat."

Chris Graythen/Getty ImagesPole winner Will Power couldn't find the juice to pass Dario Franchitti in the closing laps after Franchitti's team got him out of pit stops with the lead.

Franchitti capped a remarkably successful day for team owner Chip Ganassi, who already saw his cars take victory in the Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series (with drivers Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas) and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (Juan Pablo Montoya) at Watkins Glen International in the past 24 hours.

"That was a big weekend, probably the biggest weekend our team has ever had," Ganassi said. "Pretty special. "[Franchitti] was bulletproof on the track and the guys did a great job in the pits and got him out in the lead. That might have been the race right there."

Indeed, the complexion of the Mid-Ohio race turned on the 25th lap during a hectic blitz of yellow-flag stops that saw top contenders Helio Castroneves and Ryan Hunter-Reay delayed by contact in the short, narrow, pit lane.

Power had led from the start, but the Ganassi crew was a tick quicker in the pits and Franchitti out-accelerated Power to the pit exit. Although Alex Tagliani ran an alternate pit-stop sequence to lead the next 30 laps on the way to an eventual fourth-place finish, Franchitti was ahead of his rival Power and managed to stay there to the finish despite heavy pressure from Power all the way to the checkered flag.

"A yellow-flag stop in this tight pit lane was my worst nightmare but the Target boys were flawless and we actually made a place up," Franchitti said. "I don't know how the hell they did it, but we got ahead of Will. After that, I was just pushing as hard as I could.

"Finally I won a race at Mid-Ohio … it's been a long time coming."

It wasn't an especially clean race, with silly mistakes from backmarkers causing several full-course cautions. But Franchitti was perfect on every restart and the Ganassi team turned in a flawless green-flag pit stop in the closing stages.

Power aggressively pressured Franchitti over the final 10 laps, but he never had a realistic chance of passing the leader on the twisty and narrow road course.

"Definitely I think the Verizon car had the speed," Power said. "He got us in the pits there and I just couldn't get him back. We just couldn't get by. It's so hard to pass around here. I was just trying to make him make a mistake. I wasn't going to make it easy for him.

“
Chip got a hat trick today -- three wins this weekend, that's awesome. I just didn't want to screw it up.
” -- Dario Franchitti

"It's a good result, but Dario is the guy chasing us right now and we need to finish ahead of him."

Franchitti cut Power's overall IndyCar Series championship lead from 54 to 41 points with five races remaining. Franchitti is the defending champion at Infineon Raceway, where in 2009 he led from start to finish.

He then has four events on 1.5-mile ovals -- generally Power's worst form of track -- to erase the Australian's advantage and claim his second consecutive (and third overall) IndyCar Series title.

"We didn't get most laps led, but we made up some points today," Franchitti said. "We've been finishing on the podium, but mostly finishing behind [Power] lately. That got a bit old so it was nice to actually make some points up.

"It's not over yet and we'll just keep fighting. Each race you've just got to push 100 percent."

Franchitti downplayed the significance of his 25th Indy car victory, his 15th under Indy Racing League sanction.

"I'd forgot that was number 25 today," he said. "I'm lucky I've been driving for great teams in great equipment. But they're all the same to me. I don't distinguish between one and the other. I'm quite surprised we got to 25 and I'm really proud of that."

Of far greater importance to the 37-year-old Scotsman was wrapping up what is already being called the "Ganassi Triple."

"On one of the restarts they came on and said, 'News flash: Montoya just won at Watkins Glen. Oh by the way, it's going green this lap,' " Franchitti said with a broad smile. "I said, 'Oh my God … OK, the pressure's on now!'

"Chip got a hat trick today -- three wins this weekend, that's awesome. I just didn't want to screw it up."

John Oreovicz covers open-wheel racing for ESPN.com.

©2010 ESPN Internet Ventures. Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and Safety Information/Your California Privacy Rights are applicable to you. All rights reserved.

"Le pedimos perdón a la hinchada por la derrota en Cali": A.T. de Nacional

CEET/JUAN CARLOS QUINTERO

"El equipo estuvo confundido y no tuvo claridad para descifrar lo que nos planteó Cali", indicó Jaime Arango, mano derecha de Santa que reconoció además, que pudieron haber perdido "por más goles".
No pudo ser más pobre el estreno del 'verde' en el torneo Finalización. Volvió a mostrar falencias en su bloque posterior, no generó fútbol ofensivo desde el medio campo, no tuvo apertura de las bandas y su producción en ataque fue nula. No cabe duda que a Nacional lo volvieron a acosar los fantasmas de torneos pasados.
Por eso la obligación del cuadro antioqueño no solo será vencer a Deportes Quindío el próximo sábado a las 8:30 p.m. en el Atanasio Girardot, sino que tendrá que mejorar su funcionamiento si quiere reconquistar a su fanaticada.
Jaime Arango, asistente de José Fernando Santa, habló con Futbolred después de la derrota en Palmira y esto declaró del frio debut verdolaga: 


Futbolred: ¿Qué sensación le quedó después de la mala presentación frente a Cali?
Jaime Arango: "Realmente me parece que fue un partido donde Nacional no hizo lo que había trabajado durante la semana. Estuvo confundido, nervioso y no reaccionó ante la movilidad de los jugadores del Cali".
Futbolred: A Nacional le faltó profundidad, creación de fútbol ofensivo en la zona de volantes y falló mucho en defensa, ¿le quedó la misma sensación?
J.A.: "A uno le queda un sabor de tristeza porque trabajamos muy bien durante la pretemporada y en el partido Nacional no demostró ese trabajo. No pasamos la línea del balón, no tuvimos claridad en el medio del campo y cometimos muchos errores en defensa. Cali nos marcó tres goles pero pudieron haber sido muchos más".
Futbolred: ¿Van a replantear la estrategia de los cinco volantes para enfrentar a Quindío?
J.A.: "Tenemos que tener calma en este momento. Vamos a hablar con los jugadores y vamos a mirar que pudo haber pasado. Replantearemos varias cosas durante la semana para sacar conclusiones y no volver a cometer los errores que cometimos el sábado pero el trabajo de la semana nos dará la pauta".


Futbolred: ¿Qué mensaje le deja a la hinchada luego de este traspié en el comienzo?
J.A.: "Lo primero es pedirle perdón por esta presentación. Hay que pensar con cabeza fría en estos momentos y corregir para que esto no vuelva a pasar. Los jugadores deben poner la jerarquía y dar un giro completo porque no podemos quedarnos en esta derrota".

Juan Diego Ortiz Jiménez
Corresponsal Futbolred.com
Medellín


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