>> welcome to this "espnews" update. charlie weis in his fifth season as head coach of notre dame, many believe this is a make or break year for him. he is holding a news conference and we have live coverage for you here on espn. live coverage here on "espnews." >> pick up your media guide when you enter. if you did not, please do so at the press conference. we will have a transcript of the press conference available on the web site. for media cally, the press

conference will be online later today. the student-athletes will be available tomorrow morning at 11:45 a.m. practice begins in the complex. please wear your credential rained your neck. the twomake crow phones here. we raise your hand and wait for the microphone to get to you. this allows the listeners to hear the question. for the out of town media and the local folks who might not be around here every day, please introduce yourself and your affiliation. for our local media, during training camp, we will continue our normal requesting policies and procedure. but since our media sessions are during the lunch hour, please send in your requests for players and coaches the night before, by 6:00 p.m. or so.

at this time i want to make sure everyone has their cell phones turned to vibrate or silent or off. coach weis will start with a brief opening statement and then open it up to questions for the media in aquestions and then questions from the callers. >> good afternoon. i'm glad to be back and see some of these smiling faces. the reason we had a splitup media day into the coaches today and players tomorrow, is that actually today is final exams. they're taking exams until late afternoon, then they actually check into the dorm this evening and they can meet on compliance and several issues nonfootball related. so we couldn't do them both on the same day. tomorrow the players will become available. obviously we're pretty excited to get going. as far as our status of our

team, we have out of 105 guys we have going in practice, everyone is full go, except for williams. we're just waiting for him to clear a couple of tests that haven't been cleared yet. it could get cleared as early as tomorrow but might take a few days for him to clear physically, and once he does hi -- he will be out there so we're not snowing anyone when we go out for practice whether he is cleared or not. he will be out there for stretch and warmups. we're being precautionary and make sure we get complete clearance. everyone else is full good. we have no limitations. the only one we have limitations on is at this points williams, and on that note, i open it up

to questions. >> , coach, wls, chicago. >> nice to meet you. >> if clausen were to obstruct, what is your level of confidence? >> that's kind of a subjective way to get going. we're presuming the starting quarterback is going to be bad right off the bat. not a way to go. >> i already have him winning the heisman. >> i have a lot of confidence that dave can run our offense. this is the most encouraging depth chart i have been able to go into the season with because not only die have a quality gun slinger in dane but i have an

experienced guy back here and this is the most depth we have had with talent at the quarterback position since i have been here. >> congrats on the kid. >> that was very nice. >> just broadstrokes of the team. most people anticipate young talent being older, having gone through the bumps of the last couple years. what do you expect? >> well, i think the one good thing when you talked about players getting older, every coach has a standard phrase they use on media day or we talk about how much further on down the road you are as far as development physically. so, what i really did in the

last few days is did a research study of guys when they first got here to now. not from a freshman to a sophomore year but like freshman to seniors. and i specifically -- let me cite one position as an example. i took all the fourth and fifth year offensive lynnmen -- linemen to see what their numbers were when they got here and what they are now. so i want to see what development really takes place in an off the field setting with ruben, and i found out that the three main lifts you do, clean, squat and bench, the offensive line was just about 50% stronger than win they got here. so, what it real -- if anything, it tries -- it gives you a

resource to show not where a guy was rated when they got here but how much physically they developed from when the first walk in the door until now. so with nat increased planning experience, and like you would expect everyone to get bigger. that goes with the territory. your expectations, then, obviously raise. >> charlie from the southland tribune. i wonder what reports you have gotten from your team leaders about the freshman, how they fit in? >> they have been pretty optimistic with a bunch of guys. the high-profile named are the first ones that every wants to hear about, and sierra, the names that everyone was talking

about the most, but i think the best part or the best words is that hay have all fit in, and i think that that gives them a chance when we go on the field tomorrow, if they fit in and have a clue of what we're doing, to not have information overload too soon. i usually dent have too (problems with flesh moan athletically. they think to much and then you have limitations. >> i know you mentioned tyson. what did you learn from your experience with jimmy coming in and all the expectations you can apply to the manty situation. >> jimmy was probably less ready

to play than manti is family. mantys 245 pounds. if you put him and brian smith next to each other, you won't see a difference, but jimmy being 197 pounds then and 223 pounds now, physically, physically on the hoof there's a night and day difference between the two different scenarios. >> coach, talk about the offseason training for the offenseive linemen. >> i don't set -- what we try to do is just get them ready to play football. i let ruben set the weights and handle the conditioning. i want them to be ready to play football. that's all i care about. every coach in america can talk

about the progress made at different things, but the bottom line i want them ready to play football better than they played last year, and that's the bottom line. >> can you talk about the decision to move olsen to center? >> actually, danny was hurt a lot in the spring last year so we started experimenting with this last spring because he was on the shelf a good part of the spring, and i think that we intend to play the best five guys. we intend to play the best five guys, and going on, what we think that walking in the door, day one, we want to see trevor at right guard and olson at center, and chris at left guard. if danny can boat out one of those three guy is, we will shuffle accordingly, but right now, day one, that's where they are. >> coach, tim, follow up on the

offensive line question. what would you say you have -- you have about six veteran linemen going into the year. did any of the backups distinguish themes in spring? or were you more confident with somebody else? >> this is the first time we have had this many guys on scholarship on the offensive line. to have 15 guys on scholarship, has put a different light to it. we're going good out there for the first time -- let's not talk about quality depth, let's just talk about depth. the first time we will start training camp and have three units with guys that can legitimately play left and right tackle and guard and center. so it's encouraging to know we have numbers to start off with. that being said, there's a couple of guys in addition to those six quality guys you talked about, that really have shown some positive things either in the spring or in the

offseason weight program. going in we already -- andrew, we talked about how he had had a good spring, but now we got taylor back at right tackle and matt at left tackle. broxton changed his body in the summer time. and probably the biggest thing, braxton is a local guy and threw up 320 on the bench. that's big numbers. you see foe guys that follow us on a regular basis, when you see him, you will see he has reformed his body. i don't knoll how that's going to translate into performance but i know i'm encouraged with the number of people who are going to see when we walk out there. >> charlie, what is your plan as far as captains and having that voting? >> august 18th/19th, right

in there, okay? is kind of the time we have identified for the team to do that. i want to give them the first -- pete, there's been so many guys who have done such a good job in the summertime, camaraderie and leadership stuff, and now that we take it to the field -- it's one thing in the offseason. now that we good to the field i want to see who the players perceive as the guys who they want as their leaders of the team. so i believe i have it tagged, the captains and the leaders will talk to you first time as captain and leaders i think on august 20th. >> i don't know if this is a fair way or not. what it would me for the program and you to have the players vote jimmy as the quarterback with the highest profile player on the team to be a captain? >> the signal callers on offense and defense, the signal callers,

okay? are -- it's always a very positive light that the guys that are running the offense and running the defense are perceived by the players to be leaders. whether the captains are on the leadership committee, but -- i think that when you're looking at signal callers, which linebacker or which db or the install -- install callers that coordinate the whole defense. or the offensive linemen that coordinates the front, you always like the team to do that. the flip side is i'm not goes to force captains on the players. the players vote based on what they see, and they usually give you a very objective answer on who they want leading the team. >> charlie, here in the middle. >> obviously your decision to hand over the play-calling to mike haywood last year benefited his coaching career greatly. now that it's back in your hands

are you going to be a little more reluctant to give it up? i mean, will it be a long time again before you give up those responsibilities? >> it will be no time soon, it will be given up no time soon. and part of that has to do with my confidence in the defensive staff. i'm very confident -- i'm very confident that the defensive staff can handle things with minimal interference by the head coach. i always want to talk about personnel and about schemes and so, but i think that i'm going to be with the offense for quite some time. >> as you look back upon it last year, reflecting upon it, how did you feel the process went? >> which process? >> as far as passing on the responsibility and you sitting back and kind of overseeing it as opposed to making the play-by-play call? >> it's a little frustrating

when that's your nitch. it's a little frustrating to do that. but you had to but -- you can only split your energies, can split yourself up so many ways, and i think that when you're trying to be -- get special teams straightened out, which i thought we made some great strides on special teams, and make sure that everything is the way you want it on defense, and the way you want it on offense, i think sometimes you can spread yourself a little too thin. that's why the bulk of my energy and efforts this year will be on offense. >> the only way wow use give up those responsibilities if you had to -- >> or if i had somebody who thought the way i did. i mean thought the way i do, where i understood why they're call what they're calling.

right now that's in the distant future. >> charlie. >> hi, tom. >> you mentioned in the spring though goal to improve the rushing game. the past three years have been the lowest. >> it -- always encouraging to see you tom. [laughter] >> what gives you confidence you can improve those numbers? >> when you talk about expectations and goals, i think that it's best left to prove it. i can sit there and give you a bunch of hot air about everything we're going to do ski matily to fix the running game. i think we're going to have to prove it. there's a lot of things going into this year that why rather not say because it would rather get it done on the field. that's really -- i mean, one of the main deals or goals going into training camp is, don't

tell me about expectations, start showing me. >> one of the things you mentioned again was last year the bcs league said the average 4.6 yards a carry. is that something you would set as a goal for the team, to strive for that average? >> if you want to be a bcs team, which that's our intent, is to be a bcs caliber team, then that should be your goal. i think they go hand in hand. i think that's what -- every team in this country today, on media day, has that goal in mind. they want to be in the bcs. they're not one that doesn't. we're no different. so, if you know what the numbers are, okay, and that's pretty standard for what they're doing, then that's what you should be shooting for.

>> the poll for coaches you were at 23. any thought that notre dame deserves to be ranked? >> i think the first ten teams or so, after the first ten teams or so, that you usually get into a lot of subjectivity. there are teams that are unranched that should be in the top 25, the teams in tee teens should be in the 20s. after you get past a couple teams that earn their stripes, oklahoma, florida, texas, usc, they have awayed their stripes to be there. that's based off the performance last year and the depth charts going in. that's why they are where they are in polls, at least before you start playing games, i think there's a lot of subjectivity based on returning starters and strength of schedule.

until you get through the month of september -- opposite you get through the month of september, everything starts to set. >> does it seem like you have already been here four years? has this first four years passed fast? and if you -- you talked about going back and looking at your freshmen in their senior year. how do you assess your own performance. >> i'm not worried about the past. i'm worried beside today going ford. the only thing i'm worried before the now is the start of this football season. when you look at the development of your program, where is your program going into this season? that's what your really talking about, where are you right now? and i can sit there and tell you my goals or expectations, but

guess what, it's time for us to back them up, and the only way to back them up is back them up on the field. there's no sense giving a lot of hot air about lofty expectations without backing it up, and that's what we're going to try to do. >> charlie, over here. maybe you just touched on it. typically you have a theme for training camp or whatnot. you did not this year. is that kind of the theme you're saying, is that the message to the team? >> don't tell me about expectations, fellas, show me. don't tell me how good we're going to be. it's time for us to show you that's what you want to see? that's what i want to see. i want to see the same thing. >> on jimmy, obviously showed some improvement last year, quite a bit of improvement. there are still specific areas

you want to -- really want him to lock in on during training camp? what are those areas. >> the percentage of touchdown to interception has to change. we have to be a lot more careful with the ball, not forcing the ball into coverage. i think that that's going to be very important. i feel confident that it that ratio will drastically change from the past to now. i feel very confident of that. some of the things i had identifieds a weaknesses of his, he spent a lot of time in the spring working on them, and i think there's some of those things he has already shown great improvement. once again, it's day one. tomorrow is the first practice. let's not talk about expectations, it's time to put it up. >> last one from me. you talked about coaches in general talk about continuity on the offensive line being important. i thought that was going to be in place.

seems like a lot of shuffling when you're looking at olsen for center, chris stewart on the left side -- >> we didn't have trevor in the spring. this has been core -- choreographed for quite some time. if danny is the number one center, and eric guess to guard, and who did danny beat out, olsen? wenger? we don't know. the other thing that happens while you have been working on this, you built some inherent quality depth. which guys do you believe can win a game for you whether it's four guys to play three spots or whether you're completely too deep, six guys to play three spots, will be answered when we go through training camp. >> coach, up here. your two wideouts, how much better due expect them to be in

terms of creating separation, coming out of the breaks, yards after the catch, number one, and number two, might they be capable of being the best one-two wide receiver punch in college football? >> i haven't season everyone but they're pretty good now. they're pretty good. they create separation in different ways. the people back off of him because he is so fast. where as michael uses his body to get open. so they're two different types of bodies as far as getting open. usually creating separation, in their own way, they have already done a pretty good job of that at this point right now. what we have to do is become much more efficient in the passing game across the board. for example, if people decide they want to come out and play two cover to take away your two outside receivers, then who will

be the inside guys to do the damage when that happens? that's when rudolph comes in to play or perris, when they come into play, ordown running backs out of the backfield. i'm happy with the development of both michael and golden. i'm very happy with where we're heading. i think that -- i will give you a story. this summer, jimmy flew out golden and floyd and rudolph and they spent one week out on field, throwing for about agent hours a day. they did that on their own. i had nothing to do with that. duval was already in early summer school, so he couldn't get out there that type of effort they did on their own, that will pay dividends pretty quickly.

>> charlie, sharlene, usa today. how have you seen jimmy embrace his leadership role, and if you can describe how much pressure is on his shoulders. >> when you come in as a freshman quarterback, especially here at notre dame, when you come in with the hype, rated as the best player in the country, sometimes we forget these are just teenagers. we treat them like it's tommy brady or peyton manning. they're just teenagers coming through the door. as he has gone through his first year, and the aches that went with the first year, and developing more the second year, i think now he kind of has the mentality that those junior/seniors now have where, like, they have paid their dues, and they have learned from their experiences, and now the things like the interception ratio and

presence in the pocket and shuffling in the pocket and some of those little things you really -- that really didn't spend as much time on, now you can spend more time on, and when you're doing those, the trickle-down effect, the positive trickle-down effect allows you to become much more of a leader because you feel more confident in your own role of what you're doing. when you first come in you're worrying about just figuring it out yourself. once you do that it becomes easier to take over more of the leadership role, which by all accounts that's what he has done. >> david, sporting news. charlie, when you -- the polls come up, bcs polls, what's your take on where notre dame sits in the national landscape in august 2001. >> i'm not going to be too vague on this one, dave. everyone at this time -- charlie

weis and notre dame is no different than any other team in this division. everyone has that same goal to go into january. so, let's start with that premise. with that being said, when you're sitting there with a bunch of juniors and seniors that have gone through the growing pains and as the program has developed, you know, not the natural thing to do would be for expectations to grow right along with them, and i think that's where we are right now. >> with what happened last year, how do you think that changed -- >> excuse me. which what happened last year? >> the way the season ended.

how did that change you as a coach? and as there's pressure on jimmy, do you feel there's similar pressure on you? >> i can't worry -- i can't live in last year. i mean, what do you want me to sit there and do cartwheels over in hawaii bowl? i mean, i can't be worrying about things like that. i can only worry about here and now. where my team is right now. where my coaching staff is, where my support staff is, where my players, and to be honest with you, that's all that matters. as far as me personally, could i care less. this isn't about me. this is about us, about one group of guys, coaches and players, that have very similar expectations, but it doesn't do much good for me to say that, but until we can start showing we can back it up, it's just hot air. >> charlie, over here.

with the talk of pressure, has that affected recruiting at all and what are your t thoughts on recruit sog far? >> i thought we just addressed the pressure issue, okay? i don't think re -- i think recruiting has been going fairly well to tell you the truth. i think that we're sitting there with a nice solid core of guys that are committed, and we're involved with a whole bunch of really good ones, i think some of the top recruits take the normal wait and see attitude, and justifiably so, and we're hoping the wait and so goes strongly toward notre dame. >> charlie, over here. can you talk about how maybe a lack of depth there impacted you last year and the play calls you could make?

>> i think michael's biggest issue is just having the confidence -- it isn't about whether michael is ready to go. i think when you have acl followed by another acl, you have to get out there and get banged around a lot, and know that everything is going to hold up. everything for him is structurally sound. that's why he is on the full go list. there isn't any athlete, psychologically you have to get past that. and let's use him as an example. if michael ends up being number two, which he currently is, along with kyle, and can produce at the role that our expectations were for him prior to his injury, it gives you a lot more versatility as far as

what you can do and you're not pigeon-holed to put out one offense all the time. >> kind of going back to jimmy, tate, rudolph. would it be all right with you if you rely on those guys and as much as you want the run game to be bcs quality? if you're taking advantage of your best talent at that receiver and tight end and quarterback and that's the focal point of the offense, is that all right with you? >> those guys you just talk about give you an opportunity to be fairly dynamic in the pass game. so what of the residual effects of that? are you going play against every team that is going to try to stop the pass game? if they try to stop the pass game, you have to have an answer, and the answer would be to run the football, and if you can't run the ball -- the football effectively, okay, and they shut down the pass game, you put yourself behind the

eight ball. that's what we have been spending the whole offseason to get to this opinion to try to put us in -- point to try to put us in a position where we're not pudge john-holed. >> can you talk about the implex addition? >> let me just -- i'm going to try to be more specific than general on this question. we come in on a game plan day, which is monday, you know, the first couple things we're going to address are, a., what problems does this defense present to us? after having studied all day sunday, after -- what problems does the defense we're going to go against present? and then after we have gone ahead and split and studied what we can do in the pass game or do in the run game, i will come in and say, okay, frank, tony, and

bernie, how are we going to attack these guys on the run game? how do we attack nevada? how do we run the ball against nevada? give me the four or five runs in our core system that give us the best opportunity to run the ball women against nevada, and whatever he says i will combine those with play-action passes. you always have a core, andow go from that core, and you take it from there. >> charlie, you said you have done a good job with recruiting right now. what makes yourself and the rest of the coaching staff good recruiters? >> i have to give more credit at this point to the assistant coaches than me, because as this

whole recruiting process gets pushed up, the head coaches are not allowed to go on the road in the springtime, so, unless i saw the guys back last jab -- january when we were wrapping up last year, my communication is, i e-mail these kids every other day. so i e-mail them on monday, wednesday, friday, and try to keep them up with everything that a is going on at notre dame, but as far as communication goes, a lot of that was set by our national presence with our coaching staff kind of spreading the net over the nation. i think that has put us foundationally in better positions with coaches at different high schools, and you build relationships and when you walk in the door it gives you a better chance to be involved in the kid because you can't have

communication with the kid in the spring time because it's evaluation period, not a contact period. >> charlie, right here. if it's possible to take the wins and losses out of the equation, are you happy with the timetable of building the infrastructure of this program, the recruiting depth, roster, assistant coaches, et cetera? >> well, first of all, when you have gone through the rotation you have gotten to the point where you have been personally involved with every kid in your program and now know every about them and their families and you have been through the whole process with every one and that the intent is to be able to compete at the highest level, you know, i think that notre dame is in a good place right now. that's what i think. as far as the coaching staff, even though we had some coaching changes, you know, one through michael taking a head coaching

job and a couple others, i think i feel very, very confident and comfortable with our coaching staff. but it's from the head coach right on down. let's not talk about it. in the past i come in here and the comment made before was about coming in and giving you a ten-minute oration on the expectations and everything and we're not going do that. we're going to get to work. that's what we're going to do. >> brian from espn.com can you talk about the -- >> are you guys together? >> we have too many people. >> okay. >> talk about the toughness of your defensive line and how they will be against the run. >> i think it isn't just -- you have three coaches in the defensive line.

i think we're excited about our youth and our athleticism and i think that with youth and athleticism comes some uncertainty, so the gurus who would evaluate our team will probably talk right along with me, saying you got moore, but there's a kid who didn't play last year and you have him penciled in as your starting defensive en. he came here at 220 and is now 265. he is a lot more ready for primetime than a year ago and without a dropoff in this athleticism. so we're excited. ethan johnson played a whole bunch last year but he wasn't 285 like is now. there's a big different. you look at him now and he's a

big guy. williams, he came close to cleaning 400. that's unheard of. and that's a guy that was playing on a notice. a guy that can clean close to 400? that's what your looking for. doesn't make a difference if you're playing on sundays, that's what you're looking for. so i can talk about the whole depth chart but encouraged. >> as you look at your running game you talk about working with france to get the game plan together. will that game plan dictate who you want to use at running back or are you looking for one person. >> armando is first. you have to beat armando out. and they're all gunning for armando. so robert wants him, jonas wants, and aldridge wants a little of that, too. but armando is the guy, and you're going to have to take it away from him first, because i

kind of like having the ball in armando's hands, too. there's plenty of reps left for the other running backs. >> and what has armando done to solidify that job? >> well, once again, you know, it comes down to what your expectations are production-wise in all facets, and right now from our perspective, he is the most well-rounded of all the players. doesn't mean there aren't different guys that do different elements better than him, about he is the most well-rounded. >> coach, al from south bend tribune. what has trevor shown you that put him in the mix for the starting job? >> we really wish we didn't have to get the shoulder done last january because i think that he would have really blossomed in

the springtime, but we have been encouraged now since he started playing as a freshman, and i think that with our scheme, the guy who gets isolated a whole bunch of times is the right guard, and i think that if we believe that he is a guy that can be historically be able to be in that position to give us the best chance to be successful. >> being here four years previously, having four starts in season, four training camps, what did you learn in those four that you're implementing in year five? >> with the media or the team? let's talk about the media. i'm really tired of coming in here with the media -- this isn't a shot at the meety. this is more me. sitting here and telling you all the things we intend to do, and talking about them before you have done anything about them. i would like to be able to sit down in january and have the conversation about what we got

done rather than tell you in august what about what we're going to do. >> you're first. >> is there any -- can you pick any one thing in particular that is going to make you guys better this season than last season? or are there things you see are key? >> experience. you asked for one. that's it. i don't need to elaborate on experience. i mean, experience. >> coach, if i'm wrong on this, feel free to say. replacing a lot of good football players. in -- your message seems to be

one of not necessarily a sense of urgency but it's time to shut up and produce. do you feel like your kid right now have the same attitude you have? >> you ask them tomorrow, i'm sure you're going to feel the same -- i don't know what verbiage they will use but i think you'll hear from our coaching staff, from our players, we're proud to be at the university of notre dame. okay? but it's time for our product to back that up. and that's what we intend to do. but let's not talk about it. let's good do something about it. i think that's very clearly the message that everyone in our organization believes, the coaching staff, support staff to the players. >> all right. so, taking a look at charlie weis' career at notre dame, as i

mentioned, his fifth season as head coach of this team. and this could be a make or brake season for charlie weis this year. in the last two years, 10-15 between '07 and '08. so, a lot of people saying this is a make or break year. still to come here on "espnews," take a look back at the red sox and yankees from last night in the bronx. a four-game set opening up.

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♪ ♪ >> coming up on espnews, it's the best rivalry in baseball, but this season it's been one-sided. how the yankees were able to snap out of a major funk against the red sox. one is fine-tuning, the other is trying to get his groove back. see how close tiger and phil are

to achieving those goals after round one at firestone. the 49ers were hoping they had drafted a wide receiver that could be a game changer. why their front office could just be looking at a major headache. ♪ >> keeping you current with the latest news, scores and highlights, this is espnews available in high definition, along with j.w. stewart, mike yam with you, j.w., heading into -- coming into thursday the yankees hadn't beaten the red sox all season long. yam with you, j.w., heading into >> yammer, the yankees 0-8

against their archrivals, yet they began the night with a 2 1/2-game lead in the a.l. east. >> first of a four-game series in the bronx. david ortiz playing at yankee stadium for the first time since that "new york times" reported he tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003. first inning, flies out to nick swisher in the right field corner. big papi went 0-5. he was booed throughout. bottom two, swisher into center field. jacoby ellsbury comes up throwing, jorge posada trying to score, but he doesn't slide. gets tagged out by victor martinez. an easy out for the red sox. melky cabrera in the on-deck circle. doesn't look like he's telling posada to get down and slide. great relay throw by dustin pedroia. in the top of the third. pedroia going oppo -- opposite field and gone for his eighth home run of the year and his first opposite-field home run of his career. bottom three. derek jeter. deep drive. center field. look at jacoby ellsbury.

into the wall to make the grab. but later in the third inning, nobody's catching this one. johnny damon off john smoltz. his 20th home run of the year for damon. his first 20-homer season since 2006. top four. casey kotchman connects. two-run home run. his first with the red sox. they are up 3-1. but in the fourth, the yanks tee off on john smoltz. melky cabrera -- the no-doubter -- three-run home run, his 11th. smoltz tagged. nine hits, eight earned in 3 1/3 -- his e.r.a. is 8.32. jorge posada off former yankee billy traber, and that's gone for a three-run home run -- his 14th. yanks score eight in the fourth. they lead 9-3. normally, it's joba throwing at kevin youkilis, but on thursday night it was mark melancon throwing at dustin pedroia. it will be interesting to see if

on friday night there will be any retaliation. it will be interesting to see if the yankees win it 13-6. they lead boston by 3 1/2 games in the a.l. east. they beat the red sox for the first time this season. they snap a nine-game losing streak to them going back to last season. joba chamberlain wins four straight starts for the first time in his career, even though he had walked a career-high seven. joe girardi and the yanks are 15-5 since the all-star break. >> fortunately, we won the game, and joba made some big pitches when he had to, but that's something you don't want to have to do against this club, or any club. >> swung the bat well, you have to give credit to the offense for picking us up. >> we're playing better than we were at the beginning, we're pitching better and doing things well, on the mound and at the plate, so hopefully we can carry on and do what we did today. >> we got one now, and our next goal is to win our second game and hopefully it comes tomorrow.

>> the fourth inning was the key, thursday night. the eight-run inning was the yankees' biggest inning against the red sox since june of 2000. time may have just run out on 42-year-old john smoltz. >> am i surprised? yeah, i'm very surprised. i couldn't throw b.p. and give up the runs i'm giving up sometimes. they're feasting off every mistake i'm making. >> it's not a lack of effort on his part, we know that, did some things differently tonight, a little different, his delivery, didn't have his hands over his head in his delivery, a little lower arm slot, and threw his fastball in early, tried to get some people off the plate, and the first couple innings looked good. >> there is only one guy that can change it, and that's me. i'm not making any excuses. when i go out there, i feel like the pitch i'm trying to make is the right one. just happens to not be in the position i want to be in.

>> lately, it's been the long ball that has victimized john smoltz. he is yet to go deeper than six innings this season. over his last four starts he's allowed more than one earned run per inning -- it didn't help that the red sox went 3-21 with runners in scoring position and left 15 on base. with more, here is our "baseball tonight" crew. >> steve berthiaume here with eduardo perez and buster olney -- john smoltz has now allowed at least five earned runs in five of his last six starts. eduardo, thursday against the yankees, it was eight earned on nine hits, and he couldn't survive the fourth inning. >> he's always scuffled in the fourth inning, so far this season -- john smoltz has allowed 13 runs and teams hitting .474 against him in the fourth inning, and the yankees knew this and came out aggressive. his slider was a bit flat and you see the first pitch to jorge posada, jumps all over it for a double, robinson cano follows it up with a base hit down the middle, which smoltz could not cover his position, then on that

1-2 pitch, melky was able to get on top of it. that just tells you that the fastball was not overpowering. right there, you see a slider -- a flat slider. hits it to right. posada then can hit the home run straightaway center field. the yankees communicating all night long. >> look at these next-level numbers on john smoltz. major league average vs. what he did in the game against the yankees. tonight only 30% inside strikes compared to the major league average of 60%. that meant that the yankees hitters were hanging out over the plate. it's not very often that you would say this about a future hall of famer like john smoltz. he was helpless. 92 pitches. only two missed swings. big question for the red sox. will they keep him in the rotation? >> there is need for boston. whether they could survive another of these remains to be seen. the yankees rolling, 15-5 since the all-star break, 3 1/2 on top of the red sox in the a.l. east, beckett and burnett friday, buster, at the stadium. they need beckett to be the 2007 postseason beckett -- the

stopper. >> the pressure is building on the red sox, clay buchholz going saturday against cc sabathia. they've lost 11 of their last 18, eduardo. >> it's not going to be an easy task. a.j. burnett is 5-1 lifetime against boston, 0-1, but beckett -- you've got to love it. after losses, he's been phenomenal, 7-1 with a 2.29 e.r.a. >> we'll have it all for you friday, twice on "baseball tonight," 9:30 and midnight eastern time. >> it's almost like phillies g.m. ruben amaro jr. is playing fantasy baseball on espn.com. the world series champs almost landed roy halladay, that didn't work out, instead they landed reigning a.l. cy young award winner cliff lee in a deal that might have had other owners emailing the commissioner to veto the trade. in his debut he had a no hitter going into the to see him up close and personal in his home debut.

here is mr. lee, his first time at citizens bank park, the phillies host the rockieses, lee pitching well, his manager charlie manuel says, "he keeps a good composure out there." lee seven innings, one earned, he struck out nine. bottom five now, game tied at 1-1, paul bako launch -- paul bako launching this one to center field. his first home run of the year. actually, his first since 2008, in june. aaron cook picks up the loss and loses for the first time in his last eight decisions. colorado has lost two straight following a five-game winning streak. lee is proving he's a great second half pitcher. he's now 15-1 with a 2.38 e.r.a. after the all-star break the last two seasons, and after the game, made it clear he was happy to get his first in front of the philly fans out of the way. >> the initial shock and adrenalin type stuff that goes along with that was kind of over. it was my first at home, so i'm anxious to get that behind me and now i have.

to give the team a chance, and the team gets the win. that's all i can ask for. >> no phillies pitcher has had a team debut like lee's since paul byrd 11 years ago. in the divisional era, only four times has a starter gone seven innings and allowed at most one run in his two starts with the team. -- in his first two starts with the team. >> teammates and security had to stop prince fielder from going after guillermo mota. coming up on espnews, major league baseball steps into the fray. >> plus, the biggest question surrounding lebron james -- will he be a cavalier after the 2010 season. in eight minutes, he gives us some insight. >> in 2 1/2 minutes, tiger and phil renew their rivalry in lebron's home town. tiger and phil renew their rivalry in lebron's home town. n

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♪ ♪ >> coming up on espnews, it's the best rivalry in baseball, but this season it's been one-sided. how the yankees were able to snap out of a major funk against the red sox. one is fine-tuning, the other is trying to get his groove back. see how close tiger and phil are to achieving those goals after round one at firestone. the 49ers were hoping they had

drafted a wide receiver that could be a game changer. why their front office could just be looking at a major headache. ♪ >> keeping you current with the latest news, scores and highlights, this is espnews available in high definition, along with j.w. stewart, mike yam with you, j.w., heading into -- coming into thursday the yankees hadn't beaten the red sox all season long. yam with you, j.w., heading into >> yammer, the yankees 0-8 against their archrivals, yet they began the night with a 2 1/2-game lead in the a.l. east. >> first of a four-game series in the bronx. david ortiz playing at yankee

stadium for the first time since that "new york times" reported he tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003. first inning, flies out to nick swisher in the right field corner. big papi went 0-5. he was booed throughout. bottom two, swisher into center field. jacoby ellsbury comes up throwing, jorge posada trying to score, but he doesn't slide. gets tagged out by victor martinez. an easy out for the red sox. melky cabrera in the on-deck circle. doesn't look like he's telling posada to get down and slide. great relay throw by dustin pedroia. in the top of the third. pedroia going oppo -- opposite field and gone for his eighth home run of the year and his first opposite-field home run of his career. bottom three. derek jeter. deep drive. center field. look at jacoby ellsbury. into the wall to make the grab. but later in the third inning,

nobody's catching this one. johnny damon off john smoltz. his 20th home run of the year for damon. his first 20-homer season since 2006. top four. casey kotchman connects. two-run home run. his first with the red sox. they are up 3-1. but in the fourth, the yanks tee off on john smoltz. melky cabrera -- the no-doubter -- three-run home run, his 11th. smoltz tagged. nine hits, eight earned in 3 1/3 -- his e.r.a. is 8.32. jorge posada off former yankee billy traber, and that's gone for a three-run home run -- his 14th. yanks score eight in the fourth. they lead 9-3. normally, it's joba throwing at kevin youkilis, but on thursday night it was mark melancon throwing at dustin pedroia. it will be interesting to see if on friday night there will be any retaliation. it will be interesting to see if the yankees win it 13-6.

they lead boston by 3 1/2 games in the a.l. east. they beat the red sox for the first time this season. they snap a nine-game losing streak to them going back to last season. joba chamberlain wins four straight starts for the first time in his career, even though he had walked a career-high seven. joe girardi and the yanks are 15-5 since the all-star break. >> fortunately, we won the game, and joba made some big pitches when he had to, but that's something you don't want to have to do against this club, or any club. >> swung the bat well, you have to give credit to the offense for picking us up. >> we're playing better than we were at the beginning, we're pitching better and doing things well, on the mound and at the plate, so hopefully we can carry on and do what we did today. >> we got one now, and our next goal is to win our second game and hopefully it comes tomorrow.

>> the fourth inning was the key, thursday night. the eight-run inning was the yankees' biggest inning against the red sox since june of 2000. time may have just run out on 42-year-old john smoltz. >> am i surprised? yeah, i'm very surprised. i couldn't throw b.p. and give up the runs i'm giving up sometimes. they're feasting off every mistake i'm making. >> it's not a lack of effort on his part, we know that, did some things differently tonight, a little different, his delivery, didn't have his hands over his head in his delivery, a little lower arm slot, and threw his fastball in early, tried to get some people off the plate, and the first couple innings looked good. >> there is only one guy that can change it, and that's me. i'm not making any excuses. when i go out there, i feel like the pitch i'm trying to make is the right one. just happens to not be in the position i want to be in. >> lately, it's been the long

ball that has victimized john smoltz. he is yet to go deeper than six innings this season. over his last four starts he's allowed more than one earned run per inning -- it didn't help that the red sox went 3-21 with runners in scoring position and left 15 on base. with more, here is our "baseball tonight" crew. >> steve berthiaume here with eduardo perez and buster olney -- john smoltz has now allowed at least five earned runs in five of his last six starts. eduardo, thursday against the yankees, it was eight earned on nine hits, and he couldn't survive the fourth inning. >> he's always scuffled in the fourth inning, so far this season -- john smoltz has allowed 13 runs and teams hitting .474 against him in the fourth inning, and the yankees knew this and came out aggressive. his slider was a bit flat and you see the first pitch to jorge posada, jumps all over it for a double, robinson cano follows it up with a base hit down the middle, which smoltz could not cover his position, then on that 1-2 pitch, melky was able to get on top of it. that just tells you that the fastball was not overpowering.

right there, you see a slider -- a flat slider. hits it to right. posada then can hit the home run straightaway center field. the yankees communicating all night long. >> look at these next-level numbers on john smoltz. major league average vs. what he did in the game against the yankees. tonight only 30% inside strikes compared to the major league average of 60%. that meant that the yankees hitters were hanging out over the plate. it's not very often that you would say this about a future hall of famer like john smoltz. he was helpless. 92 pitches. only two missed swings. big question for the red sox. will they keep him in the rotation? >> there is need for boston. whether they could survive another of these remains to be seen. the yankees rolling, 15-5 since the all-star break, 3 1/2 on top of the red sox in the a.l. east, beckett and burnett friday, buster, at the stadium. they need beckett to be the 2007 postseason beckett -- the stopper. >> the pressure is building on the red sox, clay buchholz going saturday against cc sabathia. they've lost 11 of their last

18, eduardo. >> it's not going to be an easy task. a.j. burnett is 5-1 lifetime against boston, 0-1, but beckett -- you've got to love it. after losses, he's been phenomenal, 7-1 with a 2.29 e.r.a. >> we'll have it all for you friday, twice on "baseball tonight," 9:30 and midnight eastern time. >> it's almost like phillies g.m. ruben amaro jr. is playing fantasy baseball on espn.com. the world series champs almost landed roy halladay, that didn't work out, instead they landed reigning a.l. cy young award winner cliff lee in a deal that might have had other owners emailing the commissioner to veto the trade. in his debut he had a no hitter going into the to see him up close and personal in his home debut. here is mr. lee, his first time at citizens bank park, the phillies host the rockieses, lee pitching well, his manager

charlie manuel says, "he keeps a good composure out there." lee seven innings, one earned, he struck out nine. bottom five now, game tied at 1-1, paul bako launch -- paul bako launching this one to center field. his first home run of the year. actually, his first since 2008, in june. aaron cook picks up the loss and loses for the first time in his last eight decisions. colorado has lost two straight following a five-game winning streak. lee is proving he's a great second half pitcher. he's now 15-1 with a 2.38 e.r.a. after the all-star break the last two seasons, and after the game, made it clear he was happy to get his first in front of the philly fans out of the way. >> the initial shock and adrenalin type stuff that goes along with that was kind of over. it was my first at home, so i'm anxious to get that behind me and now i have. to give the team a chance, and the team gets the win. that's all i can ask for.

>> no phillies pitcher has had a team debut like lee's since paul byrd 11 years ago. in the divisional era, only four times has a starter gone seven innings and allowed at most one run in his two starts with the team. -- in his first two starts with the team. >> teammates and security had to stop prince fielder from going after guillermo mota. coming up on espnews, major league baseball steps into the fray. >> plus, the biggest question surrounding lebron james -- will he be a cavalier after the 2010 season. in eight minutes, he gives us some insight. >> in 2 1/2 minutes, tiger and phil renew their rivalry in lebron's home town. tiger and phil renew their rivalry in lebron's home town.

right in line with his career scoring average at the tournament. if you like drama, this is the game for you -- braves and dodgers, bottom seven, dodgers down 4-2, two on for manny. he's going to have to take a seat. he was 2-4 with an r.b.i. bottom nine here. dodgers down 4-2, andre ethier sending it over the wall in right field. his fourth career walk-off home run. his 23rd jack of the season. it's actually his third walk-off home run this year. he leads baseball with five walk-off hits. rafael soriano gives up three earned runs without recording an out in the ninth for his third blown save of the season. derek lowe against his former team was in line for the victory but he gets the no decision.

he's got a 2.97 e.r.a. over his last six starts. >> >> magic forward rashard lewis will miss the first 10 games of the regular season after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. the nba suspending him without pay because lewis tested positive for dhea, a steroids precursor which combats fatigue. rashard lewis says, "i take full responsibility for the situation." >> more nba. at the national association of black journalists conference,

lebron asked if he would be in cleveland after the 2010 season. his response? "i hope so." >> white sox looking for a three-game sweep of the >> white sox looking for a three-game sweep of the a.l. west-leading angels, top of the third, vlad the impaler at it again, impaling another baseball. vladimir guerrero with his first home run since coming off the d.l., his fifth of the year. angels win 9-5 and avoid the sweep. bobby abreu joins barry bonds, craig biggio, joe morgan, rickey henderson and willie mays as the only players in major league history with 250 home runs, 2,000 hits, 1,000 runs, 1,000 r.b.i.'s, 1,000 walks and 300 stolen bases.

>> the a.l. central-leading tigers facing the orioles, bottom two, brandon inge. goodbye. a two-run home run for him to left field. his 22nd of the year. his first home run since june 12. orioles are now just 5-15 since the all-star break. rick porcello won his 10th game of the season. he becomes the fifth tigers pitcher with 10 wins in his first big-league season since world war ii. we keep talking about the tight n.l. central? a.l., no joke either. detroit two games up in the a.l. central with the twins 4 1/2 games back. do this shot with b it.

the royals beat the mariners 8-2. the story here is bruce chen gets his first win since october of 2005 with baltimore. he said, "i feel like a gorilla with a bunch of kids, maybe a family of five, is off my back. to get this one out of the way is a tremendous relief for me." >> almost forgot what he looked like. >> niners rookie wide receiver michael crabtree is prepared to sit out the entire season re-enter the nfl draft next year. david wells, his cousin and advisor tells our joe schad he believes the niners have made an offer but it is not acceptable. >> niners coach mike singletary weighs in. >> i really want our coaches and everybody here to be focused on what's here. michael crabtree -- that's his career, and he's got people around him that he's counting on

to make decisions for him, and i can't worry about that, and i really mean it. michael crabtree right now is at the back of my mind. when he comes in, it will be an exciting day. i would love to get him in. when everything works itself out, he will be here, but until that time, i can't waste any time, not one moment looking around wondering, "i wonder if he's coming in today." no, we've got to continue to work here and get these guys going. >> crabtree's advisor uses darrius heyward-bey as a measuring stick for what he thinks he should get. based on deals that other rookie wideouts signed crabtree is in the ball park for a five-year deal worth between $16-30 million.

cleveland's donte' stallworth was suspended indefinitely by the league for killing mario reyes while driving drunk in miami. the wide receiver reached an undisclosed settlement with the reyes family. stallworth met with roger goodell in new york about a possible reinstatement and released this. >> still to come, new york was able to end a long losing streak against boston. >> this is jeff norman. he doesn't get health insurance from an employer, so he's been buying it himself for years. he's healthy, so he wonders why his rates keep going up. liz sloan wants health insurance but doesn't think she can afford it. we're assurant health, and we've been customizing plans to meet the needs of individuals for over 110 years.

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♪ ♪ >> coming up on espnews, it's the best rivalry in baseball, but this season it's been one-sided. how the yankees were able to snap out of a major funk against the red sox. one is fine-tuning, the other is trying to get his groove back. see how close tiger and phil are to achieving those goals after

round one at firestone. the 49ers were hoping they had drafted a wide receiver that could be a game changer. why their front office could just be looking at a major headache. ♪ >> keeping you current with the latest news, scores and highlights, this is espnews available in high definition, along with j.w. stewart, mike yam with you, j.w., heading into -- coming into thursday the yankees hadn't beaten the red sox all season long. yam with you, j.w., heading into >> yammer, the yankees 0-8 against their archrivals, yet they began the night with a 2 1/2-game lead in the a.l. east. >> first of a four-game series

in the bronx. david ortiz playing at yankee stadium for the first time since that "new york times" reported he tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003. first inning, flies out to nick swisher in the right field corner. big papi went 0-5. he was booed throughout. bottom two, swisher into center field. jacoby ellsbury comes up throwing, jorge posada trying to score, but he doesn't slide. gets tagged out by victor martinez. an easy out for the red sox. melky cabrera in the on-deck circle. doesn't look like he's telling posada to get down and slide. great relay throw by dustin pedroia. in the top of the third. pedroia going oppo -- opposite field and gone for his eighth home run of the year and his first opposite-field home run of his career. bottom three. derek jeter. deep drive. center field. look at jacoby ellsbury. into the wall to make the grab.

but later in the third inning, nobody's catching this one. johnny damon off john smoltz. his 20th home run of the year for damon. his first 20-homer season since 2006. top four. casey kotchman connects. two-run home run. his first with the red sox. they are up 3-1. but in the fourth, the yanks tee off on john smoltz. melky cabrera -- the no-doubter -- three-run home run, his 11th. smoltz tagged. nine hits, eight earned in 3 1/3 -- his e.r.a. is 8.32. jorge posada off former yankee billy traber, and that's gone for a three-run home run -- his 14th. yanks score eight in the fourth. they lead 9-3. normally, it's joba throwing at kevin youkilis, but on thursday night it was mark melancon throwing at dustin pedroia. it will be interesting to see if on friday night there will be any retaliation.

it will be interesting to see if the yankees win it 13-6. they lead boston by 3 1/2 games in the a.l. east. they beat the red sox for the first time this season. they snap a nine-game losing streak to them going back to last season. joba chamberlain wins four straight starts for the first time in his career, even though he had walked a career-high seven. joe girardi and the yanks are 15-5 since the all-star break. >> fortunately, we won the game, and joba made some big pitches when he had to, but that's something you don't want to have to do against this club, or any club. >> swung the bat well, you have to give credit to the offense for picking us up. >> we're playing better than we were at the beginning, we're pitching better and doing things well, on the mound and at the plate, so hopefully we can carry on and do what we did today. >> we got one now, and our next goal is to win our second game and hopefully it comes tomorrow.

>> the fourth inning was the key, thursday night. the eight-run inning was the yankees' biggest inning against the red sox since june of 2000. time may have just run out on 42-year-old john smoltz. >> am i surprised? yeah, i'm very surprised. i couldn't throw b.p. and give up the runs i'm giving up sometimes. they're feasting off every mistake i'm making. >> it's not a lack of effort on his part, we know that, did some things differently tonight, a little different, his delivery, didn't have his hands over his head in his delivery, a little lower arm slot, and threw his fastball in early, tried to get some people off the plate, and the first couple innings looked good. >> there is only one guy that can change it, and that's me. i'm not making any excuses. when i go out there, i feel like the pitch i'm trying to make is the right one. just happens to not be in the position i want to be in. >> lately, it's been the long

ball that has victimized john smoltz. he is yet to go deeper than six innings this season. over his last four starts he's allowed more than one earned run per inning -- it didn't help that the red sox went 3-21 with runners in scoring position and left 15 on base. with more, here is our "baseball tonight" crew. >> steve berthiaume here with eduardo perez and buster olney -- john smoltz has now allowed at least five earned runs in five of his last six starts. eduardo, thursday against the yankees, it was eight earned on nine hits, and he couldn't survive the fourth inning. >> he's always scuffled in the fourth inning, so far this season -- john smoltz has allowed 13 runs and teams hitting .474 against him in the fourth inning, and the yankees knew this and came out aggressive. his slider was a bit flat and you see the first pitch to jorge posada, jumps all over it for a double, robinson cano follows it up with a base hit down the middle, which smoltz could not cover his position, then on that 1-2 pitch, melky was able to get

on top of it. that just tells you that the fastball was not overpowering. right there, you see a slider -- a flat slider. hits it to right. posada then can hit the home run straightaway center field. the yankees communicating all night long. >> look at these next-level numbers on john smoltz. major league average vs. what he did in the game against the yankees. tonight only 30% inside strikes compared to the major league average of 60%. that meant that the yankees hitters were hanging out over the plate. it's not very often that you would say this about a future hall of famer like john smoltz. he was helpless. 92 pitches. only two missed swings. big question for the red sox. will they keep him in the rotation? >> there is need for boston. whether they could survive another of these remains to be seen. the yankees rolling, 15-5 since the all-star break, 3 1/2 on top of the red sox in the a.l. east, beckett and burnett friday, buster, at the stadium. they need beckett to be the 2007 postseason beckett -- the stopper. >> the pressure is building on

the red sox, clay buchholz going saturday against cc sabathia. they've lost 11 of their last 18, eduardo. >> it's not going to be an easy task. a.j. burnett is 5-1 lifetime against boston, 0-1, but beckett -- you've got to love it. after losses, he's been phenomenal, 7-1 with a 2.29 e.r.a. >> we'll have it all for you friday, twice on "baseball tonight," 9:30 and midnight eastern time. >> it's almost like phillies g.m. ruben amaro jr. is playing fantasy baseball on espn.com. the world series champs almost landed roy halladay, that didn't work out, instead they landed reigning a.l. cy young award winner cliff lee in a deal that might have had other owners emailing the commissioner to veto the trade. in his debut he had a no hitter going into the to see him up close and personal in his home debut. here is mr. lee, his first time at citizens bank park, the phillies host the rockieses, lee

pitching well, his manager charlie manuel says, "he keeps a good composure out there." lee seven innings, one earned, he struck out nine. bottom five now, game tied at 1-1, paul bako launch -- paul bako launching this one to center field. his first home run of the year. actually, his first since 2008, in june. aaron cook picks up the loss and loses for the first time in his last eight decisions. colorado has lost two straight following a five-game winning streak. lee is proving he's a great second half pitcher. he's now 15-1 with a 2.38 e.r.a. after the all-star break the last two seasons, and after the game, made it clear he was happy to get his first in front of the philly fans out of the way. >> the initial shock and adrenalin type stuff that goes along with that was kind of over. it was my first at home, so i'm anxious to get that behind me and now i have. to give the team a chance, and the team gets the win.

that's all i can ask for. >> no phillies pitcher has had a team debut like lee's since paul byrd 11 years ago. in the divisional era, only four times has a starter gone seven innings and allowed at most one run in his two starts with the team. -- in his first two starts with the team. >> teammates and security had to stop prince fielder from going after guillermo mota. coming up on espnews, major league baseball steps into the fray. >> plus, the biggest question surrounding lebron james -- will he be a cavalier after the 2010 season. in eight minutes, he gives us some insight. >> in 2 1/2 minutes, tiger and phil renew their rivalry in lebron's home town. tiger and phil renew their rivalry in lebron's home town.

right in line with his career scoring average at the tournament. if you like drama, this is the game for you -- braves and dodgers, bottom seven, dodgers down 4-2, two on for manny. he's going to have to take a seat. he was 2-4 with an r.b.i. bottom nine here. dodgers down 4-2, andre ethier sending it over the wall in right field. his fourth career walk-off home run. his 23rd jack of the season. it's actually his third walk-off home run this year. he leads baseball with five walk-off hits. rafael soriano gives up three earned runs without recording an out in the ninth for his third blown save of the season. derek lowe against his former

team was in line for the victory but he gets the no decision. he's got a 2.97 e.r.a. over his last six starts. >> >> magic forward rashard lewis will miss the first 10 games of the regular season after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. the nba suspending him without pay because lewis tested positive for dhea, a steroids precursor which combats fatigue. rashard lewis says, "i take full responsibility for the situation." >> more nba. at the national association of

black journalists conference, lebron asked if he would be in cleveland after the 2010 season. his response? "i hope so." >> white sox looking for a three-game sweep of the >> white sox looking for a three-game sweep of the a.l. west-leading angels, top of the third, vlad the impaler at it again, impaling another baseball. vladimir guerrero with his first home run since coming off the d.l., his fifth of the year. angels win 9-5 and avoid the sweep. bobby abreu joins barry bonds, craig biggio, joe morgan, rickey henderson and willie mays as the only players in major league history with 250 home runs, 2,000 hits, 1,000 runs, 1,000

r.b.i.'s, 1,000 walks and 300 stolen bases. >> the a.l. central-leading tigers facing the orioles, bottom two, brandon inge. goodbye. a two-run home run for him to left field. his 22nd of the year. his first home run since june 12. orioles are now just 5-15 since the all-star break. rick porcello won his 10th game of the season. he becomes the fifth tigers pitcher with 10 wins in his first big-league season since world war ii. we keep talking about the tight n.l. central? a.l., no joke either. detroit two games up in the a.l. central with the twins 4 1/2 games back. do this shot with b it.

the royals beat the mariners 8-2. the story here is bruce chen gets his first win since october of 2005 with baltimore. he said, "i feel like a gorilla with a bunch of kids, maybe a family of five, is off my back. to get this one out of the way is a tremendous relief for me." >> almost forgot what he looked like. >> niners rookie wide receiver michael crabtree is prepared to sit out the entire season re-enter the nfl draft next year. david wells, his cousin and advisor tells our joe schad he believes the niners have made an offer but it is not acceptable. >> niners coach mike singletary weighs in. >> i really want our coaches and everybody here to be focused on what's here. michael crabtree -- that's his career, and he's got people around him that he's counting on

to make decisions for him, and i can't worry about that, and i really mean it. michael crabtree right now is at the back of my mind. when he comes in, it will be an exciting day. i would love to get him in. when everything works itself out, he will be here, but until that time, i can't waste any time, not one moment looking around wondering, "i wonder if he's coming in today." no, we've got to continue to work here and get these guys going. >> crabtree's advisor uses darrius heyward-bey as a measuring stick for what he thinks he should get. based on deals that other rookie wideouts signed crabtree is in the ball park for a five-year

deal worth between $16-30 million. cleveland's donte' stallworth was suspended indefinitely by the league for killing mario reyes while driving drunk in miami. the wide receiver reached an undisclosed settlement with the reyes family. stallworth met with roger goodell in new york about a possible reinstatement and released this. >> still to come, new york was able to end a here's another "nattyism" with natty light.

today's word is "natastrophe." "natastrophe." the unfortunate loss or destruction... of one's natty light. as in... once bill took his eyes off the prize... and put them on natalie, the party turned into a complete natastrophe. natty light. now you're talkin'. >> this is jeff norman. he doesn't get health insurance from an employer, so he's been buying it himself for years. he's healthy, so he wonders why his rates keep going up. liz sloan wants health insurance but doesn't think she can afford it. we're assurant health, and we've been customizing plans to meet the needs of individuals for over 110 years. for instance, with our two-year rate guarantee and healthy discount, jeff will get 15% off his rate and lock in that rate for two years. for liz, we offer plans that allow people like her to pay for only the benefits they need, saving them money.

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♪ >> the sports world can change in the blink of an eye. the yankees and red sox do not resemble the same foes who met two months ago. i'm bram wine time. today one nba stars blaming the magic star for a blown drug test and paddy wants everyone to remember the tour isn't jut about phil and tiger. the sox -- in a sport built withdebate it's hard to say who is number one in the college season. and while tiger and phil get the

headlines for recovering superstars, paddy, is getting his groove back. ♪ >> they are 8-1 against the yankees, and yet they are the ones panicking today. one boston column describes the state of the red sox as a team preparing to hand out paper bags to their fans. it's now boston dealing with the steroid issues and pitching woes and a crippling injury to their lineup, and it's showing, or as pedroia put it, quote, we're playing like you know what right now, and that was the bottom line in game one of a four-game set between the red sox and the yankees at the stadium. yankees hadn't beaten them this year. there's david ortiz stepping to

the plate for the first time since the steroid stuff game up. a big fly from big papi. no score. bottom second no score. two men on. here's swish are, lines it into the middle. posada will try to score but he gets tagged. look at this. posada is a catcher. why aren't you sliding? top third. pedroia at the plate. here comes dustin. with just kind of a fly ball and in the old yankee stadium this one probably isn't going out, but in the new one it does. eight home run of the year. 1-0 sox. jeter goes high. here's ellsbury to make the catch. he hangs on it to. looked like it was going to be a pitchers' duel. yankees down 1-0 here comes damon, and the flood gates open.

ties the game at 1-1. top fourth, same score. kotchman hitting one out. in the bottom of the fourth, the yankees down 3-2. cabrera, striking this one deep to right off of smoltz. three-one shot, 11th of the year. smoltz would go out after giving up nine hits, eight earned runs. bottom fourth, how about posada, crushing this one to left center. 14th of the year, making up for the mistake. 9-3 now. top of the eight. he gets drilled. the yankees win by seven. the manager, the fourth is a charm. >> big hits all around for

different guys. it was an important inning and gave us a cushion. >> definitely better to be 1-8 than 0-9. those are eight games we can't get back, but we went out and played all right. we walk too many guys but swinging the bats okay. >> they had a tidal wave in the eight inning. smoltz was on the other end of that. what's up with that? >> not making any excuses. when i go out there, i feel like the pitch i'm going to make is where i want it, and just happens to not be in the position i want to be in. i want to wake up and go to work tomorrow. >> sounds like a good idea at the time. the reality is his comeback hays -- has not been happy.

he is yet to go deeper than six innings this year. he has allowed more than one earned run per inning in his last four starts. >> is it time for the nation to start pushing the panic button? what is the level of concern there today? >> well, it's august, so it's usually pretty high level of panic here in boston when the red sox are behind the yankees, especially in the standings, and they're 8-1 against the yankees. they were playing pretty good baseball for a stretch and then they run into the rays and new york, and it's been the starting pitching, and it's been like this now for a month-plus since john smoltz is in the rotation. until they get the back end of the rotation square away they're going to struggle. >> what's the answer to the pitching staff? >> they hope that tim wakefield

is a couple weeks ago and get him out. and they have -- other than that, it's basically inhouse options. they just signed paul byrd who pitched well last year but was out of baseball. no teams were interested in bringing him in until the red sox just signed him. he is in the minor leagues. so other than that the red sox don't have a ton of inhouse options who have been pitching well. >> they are the team right now with the steroid cloud hanging over them. tomorrow david ortiz is going to officially address the failed test in team. what are you expecting to hear from him? >> well, i believe we have talk about this before when i have been on here where he essentially made an excuse, you know, two years ago when he said, you know, in 2007, i took things in the dominican republic, different shakes, and i didn't know what were in them. i think he could go that route. he basically set himself up for

it two years ago and has been waiting for word from the union to come out. i think it was a mistake for him to wait this long to let this news come out. if it was up to him, because now he is in new york, in the meddle of a media firestorm, and tomorrow is big game for him. it's not going to be softball questions. these are new york reporters after him. so we will see what come out. i wouldn't be surprised if he went with the same setup in '07. >> consternation in boston these days. adam jones in beantown. thank you. >> thank you. >> we are going to carry david ortiz's news conference. he will face allegations he failed a 2003 drug test. we will carry that live right here on "espnews." >> look at me. i'm skinny as hell.

does look i can i take steroids? that was the wrote from rashard lewis who failed a drug test. he accepts his suspension and his reasoning was, it was an honest mistake. is was an over the counter supplement. he released this statement:

>> is he believable? orlando sentinel columnist mike is on the record and he is on lewis' side. you write, with his spindly arms and legs he should have tested positive for bird seed. so it looks like he is not deceiving you. why do you believe he made an honest mistake her? >> i got to tell you, i just got back from lunch. the reason i believe lewis is this, all right? if lewis truly wanted to juice up -- and i wrote this in my:almost. if he wanted to bulk up, the guy is one of the richest players in the league. he makes $118 million. why wouldn't he just go buy some of this hcg -- hgh.

why would he go buy some crude overthe counter stuff made out of chinese yams. i think it's incredible to think that a guy like rashard lewis would take something like this instead of the designer steroids, and plus, if he is taking stuff to try to bulk up, like i wrote, it ain't working. he is failing miserably at it. >> this is the protest prominent nba player to test. >> yes it is. >> what do you expect he is going to get for reaction from the fans? >> i think the fans in orlando are going to forgive him, they were in the finals, but this is the most prominent player to ever test positive for performance-enhancing drugs in the nba. he is going to get grief on the

road. if he were a baseball player like big papi, there is a double standard. he would be considered a dirty, rotten cheater if he were a baseball player, but because he is in the nba which doesn't have a history of using performance-enhancing drugs he may get a pass like the nfl players did. >> mike, thank you. >> thanks a lot. >> at the world golf classic bridgestone invitational yesterday, tiger woods and phil mickelson were stealing the headlines because they were the ones that were supposed to be having the comeback stories. there's one other comeback story occurring, padraig harrington, who completely lost his swing, tinkered with and it now he might be back. here's round two scoreboard for the wgc invitational.

harrington, remains atop the leaderboard at 7-under par. scott verplank, 5-under. tim clark as well. there's zack johnson on the board. tiger is done, shoots a 70. phil mickelson is only through three. he also is at 2-under par. >> coming up, no need to check the votes out on this one. tebow and irvin, they team up for another run and start at number one. number one. joe schad breaks down the

this is the year you take the trail less traveled. the year you come home with one less round and one more story. this is the year you do a little team building with the team that matters most. during the bass pro shops fall hunting classic, you can get great deals on the latest gear. and friday through sunday, take advantage of free seminars by over 50 top pros nationwide. bass pro shops. your adventure starts here. ♪ tell me who's watching.

♪ i always feel like somebody's watching me. ♪ (announcer) it's right here. it's easy. >> tebow looks to throw the ball. he makes the catch.

touchdown! oh, my, 66-yard bomb. >> touchdown. >> a beautiful run by. >> two times the national champs with the heisman winning quarterback staying under center. the gators were named the preseason number one team in the country by the coaches. that's good news for gator nation. that's fourth time that florida opens the season ranked number one. the other three times this happened the preseason number one was 1994, 1997 and 2001, and they did not win championship in any of those seasons. oklahoma state is ranked in the top 25 for the first time since 2003. georgia was the preseason number one a year ago. utah was the only undefeated team last season and open up number 18. and notre dame back in its first preseason coaches pole since

2006 when they start number three. this year the irish are 23rd. nebraska returning after a one-year hiatus. >> take a good look at the top ten in that preseason coaches pole. two of those teams are playing for the national championship, at least that is what happened over the last five years no team in august has advanced to the bcs title game. here with joe schad. either the voters know what they're talking about or there's a glitch in the system. >> i like the statses you roll out, especially about florida and how they didn't necessarily win when they started number one. it is important in order to play in the national championship game to get a good start. take, for example, oklahoma state this year, which begins the season behind texas and oklahoma. god forbid there is actually a three-way tie like last year, this time oklahoma state instead of texas tech. would oklahoma state get the

shaft because they started the season low center it's harder to climb your way up. you have to good undefeated if you start the season outside the top 10. >> it's hard to argue with colt mccoy and sam performed. your opinion is well taken. if you look at the top ten, anything stand out? >> the number of teams from the two most dominant conferences. seven of the top 11, sneaking in at number 11 is oklahoma state. so seven of the top 11 from the big 12 or the southeastern conference, which says to me that there's a very high likelihood that this year's national championship game participants hear already been decided. the winner of the sec championship game versus the winner of the big 12 championship game. we need to play the games. or why play? >> you're right about the top three teams being easy to identify, and most are going to pick out florida and oklahoma.

>> thank you. >> anybody. with those three returning superstars in colt mccoy, sam bardford and tim tebow. eveneven -- if they run the tabe and win the southeastern conference, they will be in the national championship. off need the preseason pole but you need it because college football has been built on polls, controversiy and discussion. >> one quick note. you had ole miss pretty high. you had them enough five. >> at five, alabama six and lsu seven. aside from tim tebow they have the best quarterback in the southeastern conference in snead, but -- >> steve spurrier agreed with you. >> that's right. director of football --

>> someone agreed on snead. so ole miss we're watching, jeff jones picked the shocker. they beat florida. charlie weis is back in the poll. pressure is to be on. a true make or break season. he met the media and answered the question, what if jimmy clause clausen gets hurt? >> we're assuming the start quarterback is bad off the start. i have a lot of confidence that he can run our offense, probably since i have been here this is the most encouraging depth chart i have been able to go into the season with. not only do i have quality gun slinger but a fifth year guy in evan who has experience back here, fashion this is easily the most depth we have had with

talent at the quarterback position since i have been here. >> let's make this clear. he can't have that go wrong for him. he can't have anything go wrong for him this year. is that safe to say for charlie weis? >> florida to lose tim tebow and maybe still go in the national game with their backup but jimmy clausen is essential to charlie weis' success. clausen told me he will not allow his coach to get fired. that's huge statement from his quarterback who has taken on a grand responsibility. they're attached at the hip in a great way. he was recruited by weis. when you look at the schedule, improvement in depth and speed no excuse for notre dame not to win eight games. they're expected to win at it games. i think they will win ten games which i why i rated them number 15. >> so that's the big boys. let's get to one of the bazaar stories. edwards is of the fame of going

into ann arbor, leading appalachian state. he had a lawnmower incident. >> he is mowing a lon on the hill and slipped or whatever, the lawnmower rolls back at him. he gets his foot caught in the lawn motion keep cuts, thankfully no broken bones or torn ligaments. however, one of this most exciting players, edwards, might not be available for the season opener against east carolina. so that's a big story. i'm also told justin foggan, who didn't play in the upset, is transferring to appalachian state and could be available. >> that is irony at its greatest. the former michigan quarterback going to appalachian state. we need to revisit michael

crabtree. you confirm that he is actually threatening to sit out the entire season if he doesn't get what he wants from the 49ers, which apparently a ton of money. the agent of crabtree says, this threat was never made. what's going on here? >> i mean, i don't think the agent wanted to be quoted publicly or wanted this to be out. he probably preferred that the negotiating strategy and negotiating ploys take place behind the scenes. certainly nobody is closer to michael crabtree than david wells. not just his advicer and personal trainer, also his cousin and his best friend. so if david wells tells me michael is prepared to sit out the entire season, believe that at worst that is their current strategy. >> all right. it's august. should -- see writ goes from here. >> we kick off another season on

college football overdrive. taking you live to more than a dozen games each weekend, along with the halftime reports and postgame news conferences, the whole shebang. >> coming up, now on espn.com, our analysts have restructured college football into a 40-team, no cream puff year power division. who shall be victorious? much more on the michael crabtree situation coming up.

>> macal crabtree cannot let go of draft day. the raiders didn't think he was the highest pick. would he really just sit out the entire year? the gang at "nfl live" discusses his options. >> okay. so, we have an advisor, and a cousin of michael crabtree saying they're prepared to sit out the season and re-enter the draft in 2010 if they don't get what they want from the niners. your thoughts on what we're hearing from this advisor? >> right now it's just rhetoric. it's not coming from -- here is the most important thing. who is doing the talking? not michael crabtree or his agent, it's something on the

periphery. the second part is, all the guys around him aren't signed, either. that's not an easy thing to do, and they talked -- the person who said this said they wanted fair market value. the market has not been determined. and so generally what is going happen, they can jump into the fool first. those things happen. i think eugene parker has been around a while. he is a good agent. he understands what he is doing and why he is doing it, and so this thing will work itself out, but he needs to get himself in camp. >> eugene parker said, listen, i don't negotiate in public. i did not make this threat. i do don't know who is responsible for it. still, the issue seems to be, herm, michael crabtree throughout he would be the first wide receiver. he was not. he was tenth, three picks behind heyward-bey. >> what should be driving him,

he is a rookie receiver. he needs to be in touch with hi -- his agent and say, i want to be in camp. i want to be the starting receiver for the 49ers and i need to get in camp. >> he didn't run because he got hurt with a stress fracture in his foot. there was some interviews he did around the league that were put off by his attitude. you throw in this, how much more added pressure does it put on him to perform? >> if i'm the 49ers i don't look at those things because i new what i was getting when i drafted him. he is the same kid. i think this thing is going to run its court and we will be watching michael crabtree. >> he needs to be in camp. he needs to get to camp with the players he is going to play with this season. >> that camp opened up this weekend. we will see where these negotiations go, if they go at all.

the niners have made an offer. eugene parker not willing to jump into the pool yet. >> coming up, the red sox are leaning on josh beckett. they need their ace more than every. every. the yankees ended the dro soon there will be 1 trillion connected devices... in the world. can you hear them? food is talking to store shelves. cargo containers are talking to supply chains. power lines are talking to the grid. now that's smart. systems that allow carrots to tell truck drivers how fresh they are. roads alert cars about traffic patterns. cars alert mechanics before they break down. when things communicate... systems connect. when systems connect... the world gets smarter. that's what i'm working on. i'm an ibmer. let's build a smarter planet.

>> the sports world can change

in the blink of an i'm these yankees and those red sox do not resemble the same foes who met two months ago. welcome into the studios. i'm bram weinstein. today one nba star is blaming magic dust for failing a drug test. and in the span of a couple of months, time has significantly changed the sox. in a sport filled with debate, it's hard to argue who is number one heading into the college football season. it's florida's world. and while tiger and phil are in the headlines for recovering superstars, paddy is getting his groove back. ♪ >> they are 8-1 against the yankees and yet they are the ones panicking today.

one boston column described the state of the red sox as a team prepare fog handout paper bags to their fans. in the span of two months it's now boston dealing with the steroid issue, boston dealing with pitches woes and boston dealing waive crippling injury to their lineup and it's showing, or as pedroia put it, quote, we're playing like you know what right now, and that was the bottom line in game one of a seminal four-game set. the yankees hadn't beaten them this year. there's david ortiz stepping to the plate for the first time since the steroid stuff came up. a big fly from big pappy. nick swisher there to make the catch. here's swisher coming up, lines into the middle, and posada tries to score. take another look. posada is a catcher. he has to know better. why aren't you sliding? slide for the plate. top third no score.

now pedroia at the plate. a fly ball in the old yankee stadium this one isn't going out but in the new one it does just get over the wall. 1-0 sox. bottom third, jeter, went high. here goes ellsbury to make the catch at the while while sliding into the wall. one more look. and it liked like it would be a pitcher's duel. yankees up 1-0 here comes damon. and the floodgates open. ties the game at 1-1. top fourth, came score. kotchman out to right. boston showing the dominance. in the bottom of the fourth, the yankees down 3-2. it opened up. melky cabrera, deep to right. smoltz out after giving up eight

earned runs. bottom fourth, posada, crushing this one to left center, making up for the mistake. 9-3 now. yankees up 13-8. pedroia. he gets drilled. the yankees win by seven. for joe girard dis, the fourth was the charm. >> a nice inning. i'm not going to lie to you. a nice inning to put together and big hits from a lot of different guys. it was an important inning and gave us a cushion. >> definitely better to be 1-8 than 0-9. those are eight games we can't get back. we played all right. we talked too many guys, but we swung the bats okay. >> things were looking okay until the forth inning. they had a three-run lead did boston. then the eighth inning was the biggest inning for the sox.

posada hit one of the two yankee home runs in that inning. john smoltz is on the other end of that. what's up with that? >> not making any excuses. when i go out there i feel like the pitch i'm going to make is the right one, and happens to not be in the position i want to be in i want to wake up and good to work tomorrow and see what happens. >> sounded like a good idea at the time but the result of the john smoltz comeback story has not been happy. he has allowed eight home runs in his last 15 innings pitched and has yet to go deeper than six innings. he has allowed more than one earned run per inning in his last four starts. >> mike's come column says the yankees didn't just beat the red sox. they threw them through a window. let's bring in andrew marchand in new york city. how much do you make of one game on one night? >> well, it's important for the yankees because the previous

eight games they lost all eight so they needed to win last night to stop people like me and others in the media asking them, can you beat the red sox? it means something now because at the end of this series the yankees will be in first place, and if they were to go on and win the next three they might be able to close the door in terms of the division on the red sox. >> you did elude to the streak there. how much did the 0-8 record against the sox bother them? >> it bothered them a lot. they would deny it. it bothered them. the yankees and red sox, everyone knows about the rivalry. the questions just do not stop when you're 0-8 against the red sox and you're wearing a yankee uniform. more importantly, if they were to have gone 0-18, it's hard to imagine that you can win the division over the red sox when

you lost in an 18-game swing. so they still need to win against the red sox. you can beat up on the rest of the schedule but it makes it difficult if you don't win a share of the head-to-head matchups. >> this is a big series for boston and new york. if they were to sweep this series. what it would moment it feels like a big spot, particular particularly boston. beckett is on the hill. >> we know how important he is for the red sox. it will be interesting to see if beckett retaliates for what happened last night when pedroia was hit. but beating beckett, anytime you can beat beckett and you're the yankees, that's big. they have a.j. burnett going, so it's an interesting matchup.

>> things have changed drastically in this series, thank you. >> look at me, i'm skinny as hell. does look like i trade steroids? that was direct quote from rich shard lewis yesterday who failed a mandated drug test. he accepted his ten-game suspension. he says it as an over the counter supplement he found out contains a steroid that can be synthetically manufactured through the use of a chinese yam. he is taking responsibility and will miss the first ten games of the season and he released this statement.:

>> in a, in trent green went done down in a heap, and then watcheds a kurt warner became the ultimate comeback story. green would have a comeback of his own. a run in kansas. the newest chief brings new hope, like whether lightning can strike twice in new england. they have lost 23 of their last 25 day and they dealt away security blanket. and cassel was moved to kansas city. the chiefs underwent a host of offseason changes. he brought in matt cassel from new england. herm edwards is on the sed here at espn and replaces there by

folly and the ex-offensive coordinate fors is the new head coach. tony gonzalez on his way. >> and for more on the chiefs, let's bring in doug stewart from kansas city. how have the first couple of weeks of camp gone for matt cassel? >> so far so good for matt cassel. a lot of talk from the coaching staff that he would just be competing for a start job. that's all been put to bed. we saw right now that. he is clear the number one and so far so good. he seems to have a good grasp on what they want to do. it's a different offense than new england, but matt cassel has performed well in camp. we will see in a couple weeks. >> the chiefs are the latest in the rumor of possibly being the next home for michael vick. what are you hearing being that?

>> we talked to scott and he said they were not interested. he said michael vick wouldn't fit what they're try to do here. he isn't going to make judgments and vick played -- paid for what he did but he did not feel he was a fit for the chiefs. maybe they got to camp and started to scratch their head and change their minds. last week, he said they weren't interested but things can change. >> larry johnson still in. he has been an unhap a -- unhappy camper. where is his head and health? >> eseems to be motivated, healthy. he had a season with over 400 carries a couple years ago and his numbers dropped off, but last year he missed four or five games due to some personal issues and so i think he has his legs back under him. he seems to embrace a second chance in a new change.

we saw it when herm edwards came and took over. we will see it again with todd. he seems to be in shape, and people are whispering he might have a bounce-back season. >> there was this one interesting side bar to the chiefs' camp. alex magee was taking reps against the top pick last year. what is going on there? >> started off by dorsey not being able to participate. they have a conditioning test that he was not able to pass, and he simply messed the first couple days and it took time for him to catch up. the reports from the coach is dorsey has looked better saginaw have been impressed with alex magee and he is working more and more into number one. whether he is taking the spot,

remains to be seen. >> coming up here, tom brady wants to play the entire preseason off of major knee reconstruction. we find out, would you advic

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i'll be using the 3g at&t laptopconnect card. he won't. so i can book travel plans faster, check my account balances faster. all on the go. i'm bill kurtis and i'm faster than andy roddick. (announcer) "switch to the nations fastest 3g network" "and get the at&t laptopconnect card for free". >> tom brady suggested that had he not played so. in the preseason a year ago he might have had a better timing at the start of the season and avoided the season-ending hit. that's a lot of ifs. here's our injury analyst. he says he wants to play in

preseason. now his coming off the injury. advisible thing to do? >> i'm going surprise a lot of people and say, yes. here's why. tom brady was a very smart quarterback, understands when you come back from an injury, it's not just the strengthening, the flexibility, the agility drills. it's gaining confidence in a knee, and the only we you do that is by playing in games. he needs to train himself for that reaction timing to avoid the defenders, and also to be able to step up in the pocket and stand in when appropriate. so i understand why he wants to play in the preseason. there's no guarantee that he could have prevented an injury, but you need to have your player get his confidence back, and playing will help him do that. if they can limit his time but he needs to be out there. >> you're saying do it, see what bill listens to you. >> what the status of bennie

wells. >> he is in the training room. he got hurt in the first practice. he came in with injury questions, particularly around the foot and ankle. you need food and ankle strength for mobility. he is a big, physical back, and he has to learn a whole new system but they hope to have him back. >> other backs is brian westbrook here. the eagles got a running back, trying try to spell him. he has injuries. >> he had offseason knee surgery which was expected and then he had ankle surgery which was a surprised. the leftover problems from the high ankle sprain. he did start some football activities this week. he was out with a trainer, catching some balls, run something routes. so that's a good start. andy reid said his i ahead of schedule and hopes to have him in a preseason game.

he surgeon said he probably won't play in the preseason. the important thing is not when he gets back but how he is utilized and how he holds up. >> he has played through a lot. ribs, shoulder. >> he is a tough guy but he is getting up there and you have to spell him. >> brandon marshall has made a lot of headlines. he has been injured, had hip surgery. >> he said last year the hip was affecting him so he underwent a repair. and he looked great when he first started practicing, he did pull up lame with a hamstring injury. these guys get deconditioned when they're recovering. they can't run, can't do impact work so when they get back out on the field and do football activities it's easy to pull a muscle like the hamstring so he is rehabbing it. they're going to balance his

workouts and have him practice only lightly. >> he is not getting trading to anybody. baseball news. jake peavy might have a second surprise in store for arch. back on the field by the end of the month. >> i think it's actually looking more and more like a possibility. jake peavy, this thing about his injury was that it was not to his throwing arm. this may explain why a team was willing to trade for him even while he was on the dl. a lot more confidence when they're coming back from a leg injury as o'poseed to an arm injury. it's important he heels 100 percent so he doesn't develop a shoulder problem. he needs needs to build up his endurance on the mound. >> astros need to get their guys back, oswalt, berkman. what's happening with the ace? >> he head a disc protrusion and

hey had to have an injection to calm it down. he tried throwing last week and it flared up. he thinks he will be starting at the beginning of the week. i say, with these disc problems you can't guarantee that. see how he feels after the bullpen session. >> last one was looking like a completely lost feel for jose reyes. any chance he gets back on the field? >> never say never. there's always a chance. but you have to look at the history here, and keep in mind, reyes has had soft-tissue injuries several years ago that took an exceptionally long time to recover. now we hear about scar tissue buildup in his leg behind the knee. it's not a new injury so you can take some positive from that. it's going limit him. he is not going to be the jose reyes of full speed until he has another offseason. >> he is the one of many that the mets have been dealing with.

>> my goodness, the poor mets. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> and coming up here, they are number one. no doubt about it. tebow and urban weigh in on the top billing.

>> tebow throws the ball deep

down the field. he makes the catch. touchdown touchdown! my, my, 66-yard bomb. >> touchdown,. >> a beautiful run by tebow. >> two times the national champ with their heisman winning quarterback staying under center. florida the team to beat. namedded the number one team in the initial coaches poll. this is good news for gator nation. the fourth time they open the season ranked number one. the bad news is the other times it happened they didn't ultimately win the national championship. oklahoma state is ranked in the top 25 for the first time since 2003. georgia was last year's preseason number one. they're 15th is in year. utah opens 200918 in. notre dame back in the coaches poll. first appearance since 2006.

nebraska returns to the preseason poll. >> michael crabtree, just cannot let go of draft day. still thinks he was the best receiver available. the reality is the raiders disagreed and now being paid like the tenth overall pick isn't sitting well and he is giving consideration to sitting out the entire year if he doesn't get the deal he wants from san francisco. what's the appropriate punishment for driving while intoxicated and killing a preddan? was 24 days in jail appropriate? now roger goodell has a similar division. donte stallworth said this: >> to baseball, david ortiz said he wanted to get a better

understanding why he failed the test in 2003, so is the latest of the 104 suppose lid anonymous names leaked out. tomorrow he fully plans on addressing the matter before game three of the yankees-red sox series. >> david ortiz was already having a forgettable season when the news broke last thursday and despite homering that day his season has only gotten worse. he is batting under .200. here's what is coming up tomorrow in regards to david ortiz. we will show you his news conference live right here on "espnews." >> and coming up, the red sox, once again leaning on josh beckett. they need their ace more than anything. the yankees

♪ ♪ >> the sports world can change in the blink of an eye. these yankees or those red sox do not resemble the foes who met 2 months ago. welcome to espnews. i am bram weinstein. today 1 nba star is blaming the magic dust for a blown drug test. and padraig harrington wants everyone to remember the tour is not all about tiger and phil. first, times have changed.

the sox better recapture their yankees dominance quick. in a sport filled with debate it's hard to argue who is number 1 headed into the college football season. it's florida's world. while tiger and phil get the headlines for recovering super star, padraig harrington is getting his groove back. ♪ ♪ >> they are eight and 1 against the yankees and they're the ones panicking today. one boston column described the red sox as a team preparing to hand out paper bags to the fans. in 2 months it's boston dealing with the steroids issue and dealing with pitching woes and a crippling injury to their line-up. as pedroia put it: we are

playing like you know what right now. that was the bottom line at game 1 of the pivotal 4 game set between the red sox and the yankees at the stadium. yankees had not beaten them this year. there is david ortiz stepping to the plate for the first time since the steroids stuff came up. swisher made the catch. bottom of the 2nd no score. swisher line its to the middle. jorge posada will try to score. martinez tags him out. look at this thing. posada is a catcher. why aren't you sliding? top of the 3rd no score. pedroia at the plate. here comes dustin with just a flyball in the old yankee stadium this is not going out. but at the new one it gets over the wall. the first strike of the game. 1-0 sox. bottom of the 3rd derek jeter at bat, sending it deep to centerfield. there's ellsbury to make the

catch sliding into the wall. later in the 3rd yankees down 1-0. johnny damon lining one off smoltz. the flood gates open. ties the game at 1. top of the 4th same score. kotchman hitting it out to right. his first home run with the red sox. boston back up 3-1. in the bottom of the 4th, the yankees down 3-2 and it opened up. melky cabrera striking this one deep to right off smoltz. a 3 run shot. 11th of the year. smoltz would go out after giving up 9 hits. the yankees led 6-3. bottom of the 4th, jorge posada crushing this one to left center. 14th of the year. 9-3 now. top of the 8th yankees up 13-8. pedroia at bat. a 95 miles per hour pitch over his head and then he drills him. the yankees win by 7.

for joe girardi the 4th was the charm. >> it was a nice inning. i am not going to lie to you. it was a nice inning to put together. big hits from a lot of different guys. it was an important inning for us. it gave us a cushion. we just kept adding on. >> better to be 1 and 8 than 0 and 9. we are not happy but those are 8 games we can't getack. we walk too many guys but swung okay. >> in the 4th inning, they had a 3-run lead did boston. then an 8 run inning. jorge posada hit one of the yankees home runs. john smoltz is on the other end of that. what is up with that? >> i won't make any excuses. when i go out thrifeel like the pitch i am going to make is right one. it just happenings to not be in the position i want to be in. i want to wake up and go to work

tomorrow and see what happens. >> it sounded like a good idea at the time but the smoltz comeback story hasn't been happy. he allowed 8 home runs in the last 15 innings and yet to go deeper than 6 innings in any start this year. in his last 4 starts he allowed more than one earned run per inning. >> is it time for the nation to push the panic button? we bring in adam jones from espn radio in boston. what is the level of concern there today? >> it's august so there is a high level of panic when the red sox are behind the yankees in the standings. they are 8 and 1 against the yankees. they ran into the rays and new york. they struggled. it's been the starting pitching. it's been like this now for a month plus since john smoltz went into the rotation. lefties are hitting .450 against

him. until they get the back end of the rotation squared away they will struggle. >> what is the answer after this outing by smoltz? >> they hope wakefield is 2 weeks a way to get him back in a start or 2. they still have daisuke matsuzaka waiting in the wings. possibly in september. other than that, it's in house options. they just signed paul byrd the other day. he was out of baseball. no teams were interested in bringing him in until the red sox signed him. other than that the red sox don't have a ton of in house options pitching well. >> they are the team right now with the steroids cloud hanging over them. tomorrow david ortiz will officially address the failed test back in 2003. what do you expect to hear from him tomorrow? >> well, i believe we talked about this before. he made an excuse 2 years ago

when he said, in 2007 i took things in the dominican republic and i didn't know what were in them. he could go that route. he's been waiting for word from the union to come out. i think it was a mistake for him to wait this long to let this news come out if it was up to him. now all of a sudden he is in new york and in a media fire storm. tomorrow will be a big day for him. he will face a lot. it won't be softball questions like there might have been in boston. these will be new york reporters after him. we will see what comes out. i would not be surprised if he went with the same set up in 2007. >> adam jones from espn radio in bean town, thank you. >> sometimes you can't go home again. less than a year into his return to the a's giambi is out released by oakland. the 38-year-old had been on the disabled list since july 20th

with a strained right quadriceps. >> look at me. i am skinny as well. does it look like i take steroids? that was a quote from rashard lewis who apologized for failing a mandated drug test. he said it was an honest mistake. he said it was an over-the-counter that contained a steroids that can be manufactured through the use of a chinese yam. he is taking responsibility and will miss the first 10 games and released this statement:

>> is he believable? a columnist is on the record today and on lewis's side; mike you write with his spinly arms and legs, he looks like he should have tested positive for bird seed. it looks like he sudden deceiving you. why do you believe lewis made an honest mistake here? >> well, first of all, i can't find these chinese yams anywhere. the reason i believe lewis is this: if lewis truly wanted to juice up, and i wrote this in my column, he is one of the richest players in the league making $118-million dollars.

why wouldn't he just go buy of of this hgh and undetectable stuff that athletes are taking? why would we go buy some crude over-the-counter stuff that is made out of chinese yams? it's incredible to think that a guy like rashard lewis would take something like this instead of the designer steroids. plus, if he is taking stuff to bulk up, it ain't working. he is failing miserably. >> this is the most prominent nba player to have tested positive for performance enhancing drugs? >> yes. >> what do you expect lewis will get from reaction from the fans down there? >> well, i think the fans in orlando are probably going to forgive him. orlando is coming off an eastern conference finals last year. you are right. this is the most prominent player to ever test positive for peds in the nba.

he will get all sorts of grief on the road. if we were a baseball player like big papi, i think there is a bit of a double standard. i think he would be considered a dirty, rotten cheater if he were a baseball player. but the nba doesn't have a history of performance enhancing drugs, he may get a bit of a pass like the nfl players do. >> mike is the columnist from the orlando sentinel. thanks. >> is what happened to tigers woods at the open championship an anomaly? the week before the final major, we profile the 2 megastars. but lost in the shuffle is the guy who won more majors than both of them over the last couple of years: padraig harrington who tinkered with his swing and saw his results go south. now he may be back on the eve of the pga championship. you look up at the leader board

today, he is alone. 64 followed with a 69. 2nd round of the bridgestone invitational. harrington no top 10 finishs and missed 8 cuts in the last 17. his last pga tour win, was the pga championship. phil mickelson 2 under through 7. he eagled his 2nd hole. tigers woods even par 70 and 5 shots off the pace. >> coming up next on espnews: the fighting phillies made the right move. cliff lee is paying off dividends. we will ask shane victorino if we will ask shane victorino if this is the year you take the trail less traveled. the year you come home with one less round and one more story. this is the year you do a little team building with the team that matters most. during the bass pro shops fall hunting classic, you can get great deals on the latest gear. and friday through sunday, take advantage

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>> rockies and phillies yesterday. cliff lee taking the mound for the first time on the home dome. he was pitching well. then 4th inning. atkin son swinginga the dirt and barnes. 9 strikeouts. first home run of the year. phillies win 3-1. cliff lee is riding the wave. >> the initial shock and adrenalin-type stuff that goes with that was kind of over. it was my first one here at home. i was yankees to get that behind me. now i have h. the team gets the win. >> cliff lee is off to a flying start with the phillies. just the 4th phillies pitcher to go 7 innings and allow only 1

earned run or fewer. since 1969. the last to do it before lee was byrd in 1998. >> deep downfield. he makes the catch. touchdown! oh my! 66 yard drive. a beautiful run by tebow. >> [cheers and applause]. >> 2 times the national champs with their heisman trophy quarterback staying. florida was an easy vote as the team to beat in the college football season. the gators were named the pre-season number 1 team in the country by the coaches. good news for gators nation. the 4th time they are ranked number 1. the other 3 times this happened, they did not win the championship in any of those

seasons. oklahoma state is ranked in the top 25 for the first time since 2003. georgia was the pre-season number 1 a year ago. 13th this year. utah the only undefeated team. they open up at 18. notre dame back in the first pre-season coaches poll since 2006 when they began that season at number 3. this time 23rd. and nebraska returning to the pre-season poll. >> take a good look at the top 10 in the pre-season coaches poll. 2 will be playing for the national championship. that's what happened over the last 5 years. no team out of the top 10 in august advanced to the bcs title game. with joe schad, either the voters know what they are talking about or there is a glitch in the system. >> it might be a little bit of both. i like the stats you roll out about florida. they did not win the national championship.

but it is important to play in the national championship game to get a good start. oklahoma state this year which begins the season behind texas and oklahoma. god forbid there were a 3 way tie in the big 12 south like last year. then what? would oklahoma state get the shaft because they started the season lower? it's hard to climb your way up. you have to go undefeated to have a chance. if you start the season outside of the top 10. >> it's hard to argue with colt mccoy and sam bradford. your point is well taken there. looking at the top 10. anything stand out to you? >> the number of teams from the 2 most dominant conferences in college football. 7 of the top 11. from the big 12 or the southern eastern conference which says to me that there is a very high likelihood that this year's national championship game participants have already been decided.

it will be the winner of the sec championship game. most people think florida, versus the winner of the big 12 championship game. we don't need to play the games. you are right what you said about the top 3 teams being easy to identify. a monkey could have picked out florida, texas and oklahoma. >> thank you. >> anybody. with the 3 returning super stars in colt mccoy and bradford and tim tebow, it will be hard. even in florida loses at lsu, if they win the southeastern conference, there is a 90% chance they will be in the national championship game. that's how this is set up. you need the pre-season poll. because college football forever has been built on polls and controversy and discussion. we can't get rid of them. >> i saw your notes about where you would rank these teams. you have ole-miss pretty high.

number 5? >> i had them 5 and alabama 6 and lsu 7. >> what is it about ole-miss? >> aside from tim tebow they have the best quarterback in the southeastern conference in sneed. >> spurrier agrees with you on that. >> wait a 2nd. >> someone agreed on that. ole-miss beat florida last year. charlie weis is back in the poll. some call this a make or break year for him. he met the media earlier today. one question he fielded was what if jimmy clauson gets hurt? >> that's a subjective way to get going. we are presuming the starting quarterback will be bad right off the bat. [laughing]. >> no. i have him winning the heisman trophy. >> i have a lot of confidence that dave could run our offense. since i have been here, this is

the most encouraging depth chart i have been able to go into the season with. not only do i have a quality gun slinger in dane but evan has experience back here to. this is the most depth we have had with talent at the quarterback position since i have been here. >> he can't have that go wrong for him. he can't have anything go wrong? >> florida could lose tim tebow and still go to the national championship game. but jimmy clauson is essential to weis's success. jimmy told me he won't allow his coach weis to get fired. that's a huge statement from a quarterback now taking on a grand responsibility. they are attached at the hip. he was recruited by weis. but when you look at schedule and the improvement and speed,

no excuse for notre dame not to win 8 games. i think notre dame will win 10 games. that's why i rated them number 15 which is higher than most people. i don't see any way they don't win 10 games. >> one of the bizarre stories of the day. edwards is of the fame of going into ann arbor and leading appalachian state to one of the biggest upsets in college football history. ran into a lawn mower? >> in appalachian state; they have huge hills. he slipped and the lawn mower rolls back at him. deep cuts in his foot. no broken bones. however, one of the most exciting players in college football he might not be available for the season opener against east carolina. that's a big story. the former michigan quarterback justin fagan who did not play in

appalachian state over michigan is transferring to appalachian state. you never know. if edwards can't play maybe a former michigan goes under center. >> irony at its greatest. we need to revisit michael crabtree. you spoke to an advisor who confirmed he is threatening to sit out the season if he doesn't get what he wants from the 49er's. the agent for cabinet released-- for crabtree released a statement and said this threat was never maid. what is going on? >> i don't think the agent wanted to be quoted publicly. nobody is closer to michael crabtree than david wells. he is not just his advisor. he's his cousin and best friend.

when he tells me michael crabtree is prepared to sit out of the entire season, i believe that's their strategy. >> joe schad on the world of college pro football. college football overdrive kicks off another season beginning september 5th. >> coming up: more on the michael crabtree situation. would he sit out the entire season? "nfl live" crew will dissect that coming up.

michael crabtree just cannot let go of draft day. he still thinks he was the best receiver availability. reality is the raiders disagree and being paid like the 10th pick is not sitting well with him. he is considering sitting out the entire season. more bad news for the 49er's receiving core. brandon jones suffered a fracture in his right shoulder diving for a ball on a drill in camp. he will be out for 8 weeks. no surgery is expected to be required. keeping you current on espnews:

>> coming up next on espnews: the red sox are leaning on josh beckett. they need theirs a more than ever. the yankees ended their douth

♪ ♪ ♪

>> the sports world can change in the blink of an eye. the yankees and red sox don't resemble the foes who met 2 months ago. welcome to espnews. i am bram weinstein. today 1 nba star is blaming the magic dust for a blown drug test and paidid wants everyone to remember the tour is not all about tiger and phil. in a couple of months times changed. the sox better recapture their yankees dominance and quick. who is number 1 headed into the college football season? it's florida's. while tiger and phil get the headlines for recovering super stars, padraig harrington is getting his groove back. ♪ ♪ >> they are 8 and 1 against the

yankees. yet they are the ones panibing today. -- panicking today. one column said the red sox were preparing to hand out paper bags to fans. it's boston dealing with the steroid issue and dealing with pitching woes and boston dealing with a crippling injury to the line-up. it's showing. as pedroia put it to the boston globe: we are playing like you know what right now. the red sox and the yankees. the yankees had not beaten them this year. david ortiz stepping to the plate. nick swisher made the catch. bottom of the 2nd no score and 2 men on. ellsbury comes up with it. jorge posada will try to score. victor martinez tags him out. posada, why aren't you sliding?

now pedroia at the plate. here's dustin with just a flyball. in the old yankee stadium, this one is not going out. but in the new one it gets over the wall. 8th home run of the year. the first strike of the game. 1-0 sox. derek jeter went high. here goes ellsbury to make the catch at the wall. one more look. later in the 3rd yankees down one-0. here's johnny damon. off john smoltz. the flood gates would open. ties the game at 1. top of the 4th kotchman hits it out to right. his first home run with the red sox. boston back up 3-1. in the bottom of the 4th, the yankees down 3-2. this is when it opened. melky cabrera striking this one deep to right off smoltz. 3 run shot. 11th of the year.

smoltz goes out after giving up 9 hits and 8 earned runs. bottom of the 4th, jorge posada crushing this one to left center. 14th of the year making up for the mistake. top of the 8th. yankees up 13-8. pedroia at bat. a 95 miles per hour pitch over his head. and then drills him. the yankees win by 7. for joe girardi the 4th was the charm. >> it was a nice inning. it was a nice inning to put together. big hits from a lot of different guys. it was an important inning for us. it gave us a cushion. >> we are still not happy about it, but those are 8 games we can't get back. we walked too many guys but we swung the bats okay. >> things were looking okay into the 4th inning for boston.

then an 8 run inning. jorge posada hit one of the 2 yankees home runs in that inning. john smoltz was on the other end of that. what is up with that? >> i am not making any excuses. when i go out there, i feel like the pitch i am making is the right one. i just want to wake up and go to work tomorrow and see what happens. >> it sounded like a good idea, but reality is that the smoltz comeback story is not a happy one. the long ball victimized him allowing 8 home runs in the last 15 innings pitched. he's yet to go longer than 6 innings. >> mike's column in the "new york daily news" said the yankees did not just beat the red sox, they threw them through the window. for the yankees viewpoint, let's bring in andrew marchand from 1050 espn radio in new york city. how much do you make of 1 game

on 1 night? >> well, it's important for the yankees. because the previous 8 games they lost all 8. they needed to win last night to stop people asking: you can beat the red sox? it's only 1 win. the 1960 world series, it means something because at the end of the series, the yankees will still be in first place. if they win the next 3 they might close the door in the division on the red sox. >> you did allude to the streak there. how much did the 0 and 8 record bother the team coming into this series? >> a lot. they would not say it outright. they would deny it. it bothered them. the yankees and red sox, everyone knows about the rivalry. the questions do not stop when you are 0 and 8 against the red sox for the yankees. they had to answer question after question. if they were to have gone 0 and

18, it's hard to imagine you could win the division over the red sox when you lost 18 games. they are still 1 and 8. they need to win more games against the red sox. you can beat up on the rest of the schedule but it makes it difficult if you don't win a fair share of the head-to-head match ups . >>this is a big series for boston and new york. tonight for boston, they have josh beckett on the hill. what would a win over him do to the race? >> it's big. we all know how good josh beckett is. it will be interesting to see if beckett retaliates for what happened last night when mark hit dustin pedroia. that could be interesting. there could be fireworks as well tonight. beating beckett, any time you beat beckett, that's big. they have a pretty good pitcher going for them in burnett.

>> things have changed drastically in this series. andrew marchand 1050 espn radio in new york city, thank you. >> sometimes you can't go home again. less than a year into his return to the a's giambi is out released by oakland. the 38-year-old had been on the disabled list since july 20th. >> look at me. i am skinny as well. does it look like i take steroids? that was a direct quote from rashard lewis who apologized for failing an nba drug test. he accepted his 10 game suspension and he is hope thawing accept his reasoning: it was an honest mistake. he said it was an over-the-counter supplement that contained a steroids from a chinese yam. he will miss the first 10 games. he put out this release:

>> is what happened to tiger at the open championship an anomaly? is phil's head back into golf. lost in this shuffle is the guy who won more majors than both of them over the last 2 years. padraig harrington who tinkered with his swing and his results went south but now he might be back. 2nd round of the bridgestone invitational. there is harrington with tim

clark. clark still on the course at 10 under. harrington done in the clubhouse. 64 and a 69. that came today. stricker up on the leader board at 4 under. woods and mickelson, phil just made the turn. he eagled the par 5 second hole. tigers woods fires an even par 70 and 5 shots off the pace headed into the weekend. >> coming up next on espnews: road trip to the road course. angelique chengelis previews this weekend's nascar stuff in new york. the sack ring and the rush linebacker 2 of the classic picks headed to canton tomorrow. the 2009 class next.

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nascar takes a summer break and hits the streets of watkins glen. the 2nd road course. for more angelique chengelis joins us from the track. how is this different from sonoma? >> it's a lot different. this is one the drivers prefer. here in watkins glen, there are a lot of high speed corners and room to pass. that's what drivers like obviously. they like that they can keep their speed here. that's where the double file restarts might not be as interesting. there will be more room for the restarts on sunday. >> the drivers like this place better? how does it compare? >> absolutely like it better. they both have their good

points. but the drivers if they were to have a preference and only keep one, it would be watkins glen. there is so much more room to do things and to make moves and make the passes that people like to see on these courses. >> this is an interesting spot for this race. now with the chase that is there, you 0 a different race. important for the bubble drivers. who does this affect this most? >> i asked quite a few drivers. if it's make or break for us: the guys on the bubble? for a guy like biffle on the fringe, this is a track that has been very bad for him. his average finish is 28.7. this is not a place where biffle hopes to make up ground. for kyle busch 101 points out of the chase, this is a track where he won last year.

this is a place where kyle busch could make a move into the chase. >> [engines revving]. >> we are looking at the standings. what about stewart's chances this weekend? >> tony stewart has to be the favorite coming into this race hands down. he has 4 wins. tied with jeff gordon for the most wins at this track. he's been dominant since 2004. if 5 races he had 5 top 2 finishes. a great track for trojans trojans. he likes road courses. he is very confident coming into sunday's race. >> how about the other drivers? who else is on your mind this weekend? >> i think you have to look at mark martin. he hasn't had a lot of experience here in recent years. he stayed away from watkins glen but had 16 top 10 finishes in 19 starts. he has 3 victories here. you have to look at the road

course specialists. i don't want to not include boris said. i don't think he will win. but you have to look at ambrose and montoya. they both have great road course experience. we should watch them on sunday. >> mantoyia was talking about practicing back in the day. angelique chengelis from watkins glen, new york, thank you. >> [silence]. >> track stars sack masters. add one of the founding owners you have an eclectic class into the pro football hall-of-fame. they be remembered for brovado. here's the gang at "nfl live". >> welcome to "nfl live". it's one of the great weekends

of the football year and it happens in pre-season. hall-of-fame enshrinement in canton, ohio this saturday. 6 members of the class of 2009. we have special players going in including the all time sack king bruce smith. >> you knew this would happen the day he call it quits. bruce smith did things that very few guys can do. he is a big man who can get on the edge and run on the inside. you would see him cutting off the outside edge and getting the corner. those are things that are innate. you either have them or you don't. he had them and piled up the sacks. >> he wrecked a lot of offensive coordinator plans. a corner and a safety. >> a 17 year career. 71 interceptions. an all around athlete. he played corner and safety. if you are building a corner, this is the guy that you want to

build it on. the way he played. he can cover. he can return punts and kicks and pass. a complete player. >> came back from the knee injury in the '95 season to get in the super bowl which they lost but won the super bowl with the raiders. bullet bob hayes. >> everyone wanted to run like him. he had a couple of gold medals. coming into the national football league. that kind of speed did not exist in the national football league before bullet bob. this is long overdue. the game is different. the bes numbers are not as big as you see now. what he could do and could do today, is get past the corners. he will run right by them. that breaks the defense. >> gold medal winner in the 1964

olympics in japan. bob hayesno longer with us and neither is derrik thomas. what a special linebacker. >> yes, he was really special. a guy that could change the complexion of the football game in the 4th quarter. he hada a lot of sacks. >> tragically taken far too soon. >> the thing that amazed about those 2 pass rushers if you would have a game plan going and say these are the guys we have to stop. they would get 5 sacks on you and just kill you. when he can do that, that's a great one. they belong in the hall-of-fame. >> also ralph wilson owner of the buffalo bills and randall mcdaniel. started 12 consectutive pro-bowls. you can see it saturday 7 o'clock eastern on espn.

>> coming up next on espnews: we will stay in the nfl. the new crew. are the 49er's going to take michael crabtree seriously? would he sit out the entire season and turn down million dollars? we will explore that. and tebow and irving teaming up to be number 1 again. we will break down the new poll coming up. (announcer) what does greatness taste like? miller lite. (announcer on call) off the glass, centered in front... oh what a great move, another great move... he skates in on goal... he scores! unbelievable! it's all over! oh my... (announcer) that's what greatness tastes like. triple hops brewed. great pilsner taste. miller lite. taste greatness.

♪

>> hit into the air to center deep. ellsbury going back. he's gone! it's a 3 run home run for posada. >> a called strike 3. 9 strikeouts for lee. that matches his season high. >> [cheers and applause]. >>. >> oh, nice play. andy. flashing the glove again. >> not only did he have to make the catch but had to hurdle. >> flyball. right field. and deep. he has done it again. do you believe that? ethier with his 3rd walk off home run of the year. oh doctor. the dodgers come from behind and win 5-4. they are waiting at him for home plate and will beat him to a pulp.

>> 9 and 8 with an era over75. that's-- over 5. that's the best numbers for papllano in 5 seasons. he was sent to minnesota. >> david ortiz wants to get a better understanding of why he failed a drug test in 23 twa. he was the latest of the 104 anonymous names to leak out. tomorrow ortiz will address the matter before game 3 of the yankees and red sox series. he was already having a forgettable season when news of his positive test broke. ortiz's season has gotten worse here: he's batting under .200. and tomorrow when ortiz takes the podium to answer the questions about the steroids related issues from back in 2003, we will take you live and show you that in its entirety live here tomorrow. david ortiz's news conference on

espnews. >> ♪ >> tebow deep downfield. he makes the catch. touchdown! oh my. 66 yard bomb. >> touchdown. >> a beautiful run by tebow. >> 2 time national championship with the heisman trophy staying under center. florida was the easy vote as the team to beat in the college football. the gators were named the pre-season number 1 in the newly announced coach's poll. good news for gators nation. the other 3 times this happened, florida did not win the national championship. oklahoma state in the top 25. georgia was last year's pre-season number 1. 13th this year. utah the only undefeated in 2008

opens 18th. notre dame makes its first appearance since 2006. nebraska is also back in the pre-season poll after a 1 year hi8-- hiatus. >> michael crabtree thinks he was the best receiver and wants to get paid that way. the raiders disagree and being paid like the 10th pick is not sitting well. he has put out there he might be willing to sit out the entire season. and their receiver brandon jones has a small fracture in his shoulder. no surgery is required. >> what is the appropriate punishment for driving while intoxicated and killing a pedestrian? was 24 days in jail appropriate? the courthouse thought so. now roger goodell has a similar decision to make. how many games would be enough of a message?

stallworth released this statement: >> keeping you current on espnews: >> coming up here back to the bronx. red sox and yankees and the fall out of game 1 of that series.

♪ ♪ >> the world can change in the blink of an eye. these yankees and those red sox do not resemble the same foes who met 2 months ago. welcome to espnews. i am bram weinstein. today one nba star is blaming the magic dust for a blown drug test. and padraig harrington wants everyone to remember the tour is not all about tiger and phil. the red sox better recapture their yankees dominance quick. in the sport filled with debate, it's hard to argue who is number 1 headed into this college

football season. it's the gators world. while tiger and phil get the headlines for recovery super stars, padraig harrington is getting his groove back. ♪ ♪ >> they are 8 and 1 against the yankees and yet they are the ones panicking today. one column described the state of the red sox as a team preparing to hand out paper bags to the fans. boston is dealing with a steroids issue and with pitching woes and with a crippling injurey to the line-up. it's showing. as pedro martinez put it: we are playing like you know what right now. that was the bottom line. the yankees and red sox in game 1 of the pivotal august season. david ortiz first at-bats at

yankee stadium since the steroid stuff came up. they got through the inning. there was no score. bottom of the 2nd. 2 men on here for swisher. coming through. lines it into centerfield. sideline posada is wondering how did he not score on this play? top of the 3rd no score. here comes pedroia. this is just one of those deep flyballs in the old stadium that might have stayed in but this goes out. derek jeter at the plate. hit it high and deep. ellsbury tracks that down and crashes into the wall but hangs on. yankees down 1-0. here's johnny damon.

he golfs it but a line drive home run. kotchman golfs that one and it heads out. 3-1 sox. the flood gates open. melky cabrera long gone. 3 run shot. 11th of the year. smoltz would leave in the 4th inning after giving up 9 hits. same inning runners on the corners. posada making up for the mistake. left centerfield. 14th of the year. 9-3 bombers. top of the 8th and things get funny. 13-4 game. a 95 miles per hour heater over pedroia's head and then another message. the yankees win 13-6. for joe girardi the 4th was the charm. >> it was a nice inning. i am not going to lie. big hits all around from a lot

of different guys. it was an important inning for us. it gave us a little bit of a cushion. we kept adding on. >> better to be 1 and 8 than 0 and 9. obviously we are still not happy about it. but those are 8 games we can't get back. we played all right. we walked too many guys. we swung the bats okay. >> these are what the standings look like in the al-east: boston is closer to 3rd place than first place. >> times changed. the yankees beat the red sox for the first time this year and have a 3 and a half game lead on boston in the al-east race. eduardo perez from "baseball tonight" is here. they will play each other 9 more times but it's going the wrong way for boston. do they need to get a split at the very least or find themselves fighting for the wild card? >> they need to win tonight.

josh beckett is their horse. he has to come out and show how good he is for the boston red sox. their pitching hasn't been able to hold. josh beckett's record is 7 and 1 with a 2.99 era after the red sox lose. the way he's been able to pitch against the yankees, this season with a record of 2 and0, he will have to be better. they are not scoring runs like they were earlier in the season. he has to put out a statement. it's all on this guy and his arm josh beckett. >> we will look into the pitching match up with burnett in a moment. i want to go back to last night. i don't know what they were expecting from smoltz but it wasn't what has been happening here. 24 earned runs in 20 innings. what can they expect going forward? >> i would put him in the bullpen. obviously he doesn't have the

same pitches he had earlier in his career which was the flable,-- fastball and flired and the split finger fastball. you cannot go through the line-up twice. in the 4th inning he's been horrible this season. 13 earned runs and teams are hitting .474 in the 4th inning. that tells you he can't get by the line-up twice with just 2 pitches. smoltz will have to just take his assignment to the bullpen. that will make the red sox better. >> we will see if they find, wakefield or dice-k. they get burnett get beckett tonight. how do you see the pitching match up? >> josh beckett, i alreadies what he can do. i expect a low scoring game. a.j. burnett ever since his last

outing in june against the red sox where he was horrible, losing that game 7-zip. the first time he ever lost against the red sox. he turned it around. he knocked out his era 1 point since then. he's aggressive. and throwing strikes but not against teams like the red sox. that curveball will open up various locations and guys chase off of it. age burnett will be the key. he could take a lot of pressure off the yankees. >> let's get to everybody else for a moment. >> the field. >> let's get to one of the names that was a prominent figure in the series for a long time. giambi is released today by the oakland a's. 38 years old. is his career over? >> it's tough.

i was in that position, not the same stature of giambi. but he still feels he can play. he can help out the team off the bench with his presence in the clubhouse. i don't see a team going after a guy that hit sub.200. he was playing in a place where he felt comfortable. he might take time off and call it a year and decide what he will do. right now as another organization, i don't see how you can take a roster spot on someone hitting .190. >> been on the dl since late july. we will see what happens. there was another name in the yankee stadium and red sox series for the wrong reasons. papllano could not get on the mound for the yankees. he came back and has been semi-productive and he became tradable.

paparrazi-- the minnesota twins got him? >> a big deal for the minnesota twins. this is a guy that has 500,000 left on his contract. he threw well for the cleveland indians in a small market team. that's the key want not a lot of pressure on him in minnesota. and kevin is done for the season and they needed an extra arm. liriano is not the guy they thought they would have earlier. they need a guy who can give you 6 to 7 solid innings and take a lot of pressure off the offense and their bullpen. >> espn's eduardo perez, we didn't get away completely from the yankees and red sox. thank you. >> how they got there is brought to you by: >> is what happened to tiger at the open an anomaly?

is phil's head back into playing golf? the 2 megastars of the sport. lost in the shuffle is gite who won more majors than both of them: padraig harrington. he tinkered with his swing and saw his results go south. now he might be back. this is what it looks like on the scoreboard at the second round of the bridgestone invitational. woods and mickelson, tiger is done for the day want even par 70. 5 shots off the pace. and phil mickelson started his round with an eagle on number 2. he has given one back. through 11 he is 1 under par. 6 shots off the leader board. >> for more on what is happening, bob harig joins us from the course. let's talk tiger. in striking distance of the lead. how has his game carried over

from a week ago when he won on the tour? >> he is within striking dance, although he is farther back through 36 holes than he's ever been and won. he has work to do. it's more of the same really. there are 2 different courses. last week you had to make a lot of birdies. this week he only made 5 in 2 rounds. but he is fighting the same issues. having some spotty play and scrambling around. today he got it in at 70. that's a good score. it's not an easy course they are playing here. >> tigers woods has won this 6 times. i want to get to padraig harrington. he is a very interesting story line. the depending pga champ. he tinkered with his swing and suddenly he was a nonfactor. he was missing cuts. is this a sign he figured this

whole thing out? >> yes. he has gotten a lot of weird looks and questions, why would you mess with success? he had won 3 of the last 6 majors and went through this process of overhauling his swing. i think he would admit it took longer than he thought. he is one of those guys who feels that you sometimes have to take a few steps back to move forward. i don't think he is quite there confidence wise yet. this is just 2 rounds. not that long ago he missed 5 cuts in a row. i think he feels like he needs to make small steps. he talked today like a guy who is in the lead. he played cautiously and was trying to protect it. he needs to get out of that mindset. >> we will see what happens for the weekend for padraig harrington defending his pga

championship title. bob harig from the bridgestone invitational, thanks. >> coming up next on espnews: hitting the scales for a weigh in. we will take you there. - hi. - crowd: hi! i hate my phone. what do i do? ( shouting ) this is crazy. you. let's run a free upgrade check. see if you're due for a new smartphone. don't i need to go to my carrier's store for that? no, you don't have to. we sell phones and plans on all the major networks. ok. well, is time travel possible? yes, i am from the future. announcer: phones, plans, and advice from thousands of people eager to help.

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this is the weigh in special in philadelphia, pennsylvania. the fighters weighing in for ufc 101. silva taking on boris griffin. the lightweight championship of the world. >> a great fight. it will be very interesting. he could potential steal the title away. >> kenny's moto: drag him into deep water. >> you have 2 champions but only one belt on the line. silva's is not. he moved up to 20 5. boris griffin a different opponent than the last guy he faced. >> everyone is questioning silva's motivation. i think he will be motivated

against griffin who is very aggressive. >> he is another one who has something to prove. he's taken a lot of heat for his last performance but it wasn't his thought. it's hard to fight a guy not engaging you. he wants to prove something and take care of business. >> anderson silva did take the bulk of the criticism. you have to think anderson silva has a golden opportunity tomorrow night against a guy we know will push the pace. >> the style of griffin suits the kind of fight that silva wants. he will push and step into the range and allow him to do his foot work and land those kicks and punches. boras is a huge guy. >> and the strategy will be to use that size, strength and weight to wear silva down.

>> surprised at where the vegas odd makers sloted this fight. boris griffin a 3-1 underdog. the money came in on silva. that surprised me. >> not me. anderson silva is the pound for pound best fighter in the world. you saw his last fight at 205. how he took care of business doesn't spride me. >> bores griffin a big light heavyweight about to get on the scale. we will see what happens. will he come right in at 205 isn't expectation is that anderson silva won't have any trouble. >> [crowd noise]. >> and forest griffin no surprise that the crowd will be in his corner.

>> yes. forrest is a likeable guy. >> you never know what he will say in interviews. i read his book this last week. i was laughing out loud on the plane. >> forrest griffin right on the number 205. looks good. >> he looks lean and ready to go. >> looks relaxed. in decent spirits as well. he knows he has nothing to lose. he is going up what many consider the best pound for pound. he is ready to bring it. he's in great shape. >> here's the ufc middleweight champion of the world anderson silva. a great demeanor. you talk about composure and he is the picture of it. >> even when he steps in the

cage, he doesn't look like he sweats. doesn't show a lot of emotion. very compose. >> [cheers and applause]. a tremendous athlete. great skills on the ground. uses his body effectively. a tremendous fighter. >> part of the reason considered the pound for pound best because he make its look so easy. he make its look like he is not even trying in there. >> forrest griffin taking full advantage of the extra 20 pounds coming in right at 200. >> like randy said, he has the frame to fight at 205. he is a big guy. >> who wants to see a fight? >> [cheers and applause]. >> it's all about cementing your legacy. >> [cheers and applause]. >> the best fighter. >> he's got to beat the [bleep] out of him. >> [cheers and applause].

>> it's all over! >> the lightweight title. >> when he called pb penand said he is the paster and it's time to kill the master. he believes that. >> bj is a decent 165. i will kill that beast. >> ♪ ♪ >> since the fight with george saint pierre he has a whole other attitude about training. you will see the 22-year-old prodigy. >> am doing this for me. >> the ultimate fighter. it's unbelievable how much this kid has grown. ♪ >> since losing his shot at the title 2 years ago, he's gone undefeated 6 fights and stopped everyone of those guys except for roger. >> penn is at his best at 165.

that's the guy they want to fight. >> i may finish him in the 1st round. >> did he really say this [bleep]? >> [shouting]. here we go, ladies and gentlemen. the ufc light heavyweight championship of the world. kenny florian. >> [cheers and applause]. >> here he is. getting the 2nd title shot. he's won. >> he's been on a mission. let it all hang out in each and every one of those fights. very, very impressive. a well deserved shot at this title. >> trained with florian a lot. i have never seen anyone as meticulous about their preparation. each traininging session has a purpose and a strategy. >> we see the champion penn.

training now at the california sports science lab with the father of the former ufc and oakland raiders quarterback. more of a physical specimen. >> that's been the knock against bj. he is dangerous early on and fades. he doesn't take advantage of his talent. >> the question is whether or not he has done the work, he can do what it takes with florian? >> these guys-- let's hear him talking to kenny. >> you can't see what is happening. i am staring face to face with somebody. it's michael crabtree. will we take his threats seriously? we will explore that. and tim tebow. who is staring him down this year? he's number 1 coming. ( shouting ) anybody want a beer?

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>> the florida gators are number 1 to oach open up the season to be the top team in the land. that's the first coaches poll: bad news, that happened 3 other times. they did not win the national championship any of those years. oklahoma state in the pre-season top 2005 for the first time since 2003. georgia this year 13th.

utah opens 18. notre dame back in the pre-season poll the first time since 2006. and nebrasca returns. >> michael crabtree can't let go of draft day. he thinks he was the best receiver available. but reality is the raiders disagreed and now being paid like the 10th pick is not sitting well with him. he is giving off the impression he might sit out the entire season. there was more bad news for the 49er's. brandon jones suffered a small fracture in his shoulder. he will be out 8 weeks. no surgery is expected to be required. >> coming up next on espnews: the red sox are leaning on their ace josh beckett. they need him as the yankees ended their drought against boston. a preview comi

♪ ♪ ♪ >> the sports world can change in the blink of an eye. the yankees and red sox do not resemble the same foes who met 2 months ago. welcome to espnews. i am bram weinstein. today 1 nba star is blaming the magic dust for a blown drug test. padraig harrington wants everyone to remember the tour is not all about tiger and phil. first, in the span of a couple of months times have changed. the sox better recapture their yankees dominance quick.

in a sport filled with debate it's hard to argue who is number 1 headed into the college football season. it's florida. and while tiger and phil get the headlines, 3 time major champ paddy is getting his groove back. ♪ ♪ >> they are 8 and 1 against the yankees. and yet they are the ones panicking today. one boston column described the red sox as a team preparing to hand out paper bags to the fans. in 2 months it's boston dealing with the steroids issue and with pitching wes and with a crippling injury to the line-up. it is showing. as mvp pedroia put it: we are playing like you know what right now.

game 1 between the red sox and the yankees. the yankees had not beaten them this year. david ortiz stepping to the plate for the first time since the steroids stuff came up. swisher made the catch. no score. bottom of the 2nd no no score. swisher lines into it the middle. ellsbury comes up with. posada will try to score but martin tags him out. posada has to know better. why aren't you sliding? top of the 3rd no score. now pedroia at the plate. here comes dustin. a flyball. in the old yankee stadium this one would not go out. but in the new one it gets over the wall. 8th home run of the year. 1-0 sox. bottom of the 3rd derek jeter. ellsbury sliding into the wall. one more look. he hangs on to it.

it looked like a pitcherer's duel. here's johnny damon. right off smoltz. the flood gates would open. ties the game at 1. top of the 4th same score. kotchman hits it out to right. his first home run with the red sox. boston showing the dominance. in the bottom of the 4th. the yankees down 3-2. this is when it opened up. melky cabrera striking it deep to right off smoltz. 3 run shot. 11th of the year. smoltz would go out after giving up 9 hits. the yankees led 6-3. bottom of the 4th. jorge posada crushing this one to left center. 14th of the year. 9-3 now. top of the 8th. yankees up 13-8. pedroia at bat. a 95 miles per hour over his head and then drills him. things getting heated and the yankees win by 7. for girardi the 4th was the

charm. >> a nice inning to put together. big hits all around from a lot of guys. it gave us a cushion. we just kept adding on. >> better to be 1 and 8 than 0 and 9. obviously we are still not happy. but those are 8 games we can't get back. we played all right. we walked too many guys. we wung okay. -- we swung okay. >> in the 4th inning they had a 3 run lead did boston. the 8 running innings the yankees biggest innings against the red sox since june of 2000. smoltz was on the other end of that. what is up with that? >> i am not making any excuses. when i go out there i feel like the pitch i am going to make is the right one. it happens to not be in the position i want to be in. i want to wake up and go to work tomorrow and see what happens. reality is that smoltz comeback

story is not happy. he allowed 8 home runs in the last 15 innings pitched and has yet to go deeper than 6 innings. >> ♪ >> sometimes you can't go home again. less than a year into his return, giambi released by oakland hitting .193 on the season. the 38-year-old has been on the disabled list with a strained right quadricep. the best numbers from hurler carl pavano and he was sent to minnesota for a player to be named later. >> we have news study on smoltz who was lit up last night by the

new york yankees in game 1 of the series. andrew marchand 1050 espn radio in new york. what is going on with smoltz? >> well, i am standing outside of terry francona's fress conference. he anounced they are designating smoltz for assignment. he flew here to talk to john and tell him of his decision. he flew in from boston and told smoltz that he should go home to atlanta and cool down and figure out what to do next. when you are designated for assignment, you have to 10 days to be traded or if he got waivers he could go to the minor leagues. smoltz i doubt would want to go back to the at 42 years old. >> did you get a sense last night with what happened to him last night he felt he had anything left in the tank? >> guys always feel like they have a little bit left.

i don't think that smoltz thought he was done. from some of the things he said, he was very disappointed. i think the mind was telling him one thing and his body another. he could not perform the way he wanted to and the way we were all accustomed to seeing smoltz perform. now he goes down. back to atlanta and has to decide: does he want to try to still go at it to find another team? or is this the end? last night was the final time we will see smoltz in a major league uniform. >> the performance, it's not surprising they would make this decision. but with daisuke matsuzaka and wakefield not pitching, is there any sense of surprise? >> i think it has more to do with smoltz forgetting their other possibilities. wakefield will comeback eventually. it has to do with smoltz.

the red sox are a matter of fact operation and smoltz doesn't have it anymore. what you saw last night was the smoltz in 2009. it's not the smoltz from 1999 or even 2 years ago. they didn't want to put him in the bullpen. after coming off the surgery on the shoulder. i think it has to do with what they saw from john smoltz or didn't see which was the old smoltz. he looked older. >> it's not what they expected when they brought him in on a one year deal. andrew marchand at the stadium after terry francona announces that smoltz will be designated for assignment. thank. >> you is what happened to tiger at the open championship an anomaly? is phil's head back into playing golf? the 2 megastars of the sport. but lost in the shuffle is the guy who won more majors over the last couple of years. padraig harrington who tinkered

with his swing and saw his results go south. now he might be back. 2nd round action at the bridgestone invitational. he is done and headed into the weekend. he is the lone leader in the clubhouse. tim clark through 13. mickelson and woods, phil is through 13 and 1 under. tiger in the clubhouse. shot an even par 70. 2 under. currently 5 shots off the pace. >> coming up next on espnews: are the 49er's going to take michael crabtree's threat seriously? we will ask colleen domingez from 49er's camp. the new coach's poll is out. no debate about who is number 1. when your engine's running clean... you feel it. ...and pennzoil motor oil actively cleans out up to 15 percent of sludge the first time you use it.

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enjoy refreshment at its peak. aaaaaahhh! frost-brewed coors light. the world's most refreshing beer. ♪ >> michael crabtree just cannot let go of draft day. he still thinks he was the best receiver available. but reality is the raiders disagreed with him. now being paid like the 10th pick is not sitting well with him. his advisors said he would sit out the entire season and reenter the draft if he doesn't get the money he wants. more for colleen domingez joins us from their camp. start with crabtree. how are they reacting to the threats of a holdout? >> the 49er's, they are not thrilled with the whole business that crabtree may sit out the season. most often players don't like to

get into another player's financial business. but the tight end vernon davis who is vocal told me, and i am quoting here: he needs to get his butt here and help this team out. he has a chance to be a big time player. he should take whatever he can get and get here." i think all of the postures on the crabtree camp is not wearing well with teammatesa. they are working hard. we heard about singletary's work ethic and they want him to participate. >> is the team taking this seriously? do they believe that he would go through with this threat? >> they have to ask john clayton or mort this question. from what i understand the 49er's own his rights which means he would not be able to go anywhere until draft day of next year. i think they all think he is going to show up. just when and if. now it's more of a pressing

issue. today brandion jones is out 8 weeks with a fractured right shoulder. singletary said there is no sense of urgency but we may need to bring in a wide receiver and look at someone else. losing jones doesn't make the situation any better. >> this situation with him happened in a drill? he was just laying out for a pass? no hit on him? >> exactly. they thought it was just a sprain. they did an extra. an extra. it was-- an x-ray. no surgery. it will heal in 8 weeks. the interesting note on crabtree, singletary said he doesn't know what the kid's learning curve is. he hasn't run 1 route with the 49er's. they held him out of ota's. they have not seen him in an nfl situation at all.

he said i hoach his learning curve is such that he can catch up. the interesting thing is crabtree doesn't have a playbook with him. he only has notes. >> he is dealing with that. year 2 for mike singletary. the first camp where he is running the show. how is it going for the new head coach? >> well, he said after week 1, he really likes the work ethic from these guys. he said we are working as hard as anyone. clearly for singletary the big question is: who will be the start be quarterback, hill or smith? sean hill had a good showing at the end of last season. and wisdom thinks he will get the starting nod. but singletary said he won't make that decision until the 3rd or 4th pre-season game. both quarterbacks told me they would like a decision sooner. the starter wants to get as many respiratory as possible. -- reps as possible.

>> a rough start to training camp for the new coach singletary. doesn't know who is the quarterback is and having trouble with all of the receivers. colleen domingez with the 49er's. thanks. >> camp confidential is brought to you by: ♪ ♪ tebow makes the catch. >> touchdown! oh my! 66 yard bomb. >> straight ahead. touchdown. >> a beautiful run by tebow. >> [cheers and applause]. 2 time the national champions the heisman trophy is still under center. florida was the easy vote as the team to be headed into the

college football. the pre-season number 1 team in the first coach's poll. the 4th time they open up the season ranked number 1. the bad news is other 3 times that happened, not one of those years did florida win the national championship. oklahoma state in the top 2005. georgia 13th. utah open up 18th. notre dame is back. charlie weis and company trying to stay off the hot seat. this year they are 23. and nebraska returning to the pre-season poll after a 1 year hiatus. >> coming up on espnews. yankees and red sox. first blood drawn by new york. we will get dialed in and hear reaction from fans coming up. >> this is jeff norman.ng up. he doesn't get health insurance from an employer, so he's been buying it himself for years.

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>> track stars and sack masters. add a founding owner and you have the class for induction into the pro football hall-of-fame. they won't be remembered for brav ado. for more on induction saturday here's the gang at "nfl live". >> welcome to "nfl live". >> it's one of the great

weekends. hall-of-fame enshinement canton, ohio this saturday. 6 numbers from the class of 2009. we have special players going in. including the all time sack king bruce smith. >> you knew this would happen the day he decided to call it quits. the big man could get on the edge and run. you would see him cutting off the outside edge and getting the corner. those are things that are innate. have you them or don't have them. >> he recked a lot of plans with that move right there. a corner and a safety are talking about a guy a 17 year career. if you are building a corner, this is the guy you want to build it on. the way he played.

his style. he could cover and return punts and kicks and tackle. he was a coom plete player. >> came back from a knee injury in '95 to make it to super bowl 30. the steelers lost and went on to win the super bowl with the ravens. bullet bob hays. a guy you idolized? >> everybody wants to run like him. he had a couple of gold medals in the '64 olympics. that kind of speed did not exist in the national league until bullet bob ahead it possible. it's been long overdue. the game is different. the numbers are not as big as what you see now. what he could do, he would be able to do it in today's football game is get past the corners. >> gold medal winner in the 1964 olympics. he is not with us and neither is

derrik thomas. i man you coached in kansas city. what a special linebacker? >> yes. a guy that could change the complexity of the football game especially in the 4th quarter. he could come off the bench. a great football player and a great human being. >> taken tar too soon. >> way too soon. the thing that amaze them about those 2 pass rushers, you would have a game plan going in saying these are the guys we have to stop. he would get 5 sacks on you and just kill you. that's a great one. they belong in the hall-of-fame. >> also going if ralph wilson and randall mcdaniel. played in pro-bowl games. you can see the ceremony saturday 7 o'clock eastern on espn. >> from that hall-of-fame group to a potential hall-of-fame here.

9 hits and 8 earned runs. you may have seen the last of the potential hall-of-fame pitcher john smoltz. boston designated him for assignment today. they have 10 days to trade him or release him. his career could be over. the reality is the smoltz comeback story doesn't have a happy ending. it was the long ball that got him. 8 home runs in his last 15 innings pitched. he is yet to go deeper than 6 innings in any start this season. he may not get another chance. he allowed more than 1 earned run per inning. >> let's get you dialed into in on espn radio. >> ♪ >> i heard a lot of this today. maybe it's because the red sox just got absolutely pounded and the white flag was up in the 4th

inning. this notion of the red sox need to come out or beckett needs to come out and drill somebody whether it's teixeira or a-rod, you have to fight that way. i think that's the dumpest notion. >> the red sox don't need to worry about hitting play. they need to worry about playing well. to say we are taking out teixeira, forget that. just get wins. you are in jeopardy of really setting the tone for an ugly weekend series that may put you out of the race? >> it all went down in the 4th inning. boston red sox had a 3 run lead. they were in good shape and then 8 runs. jorge posada hit one of the 2 yankees home runs in that half of the inning. and john smoltz could not make it out. his career may be over. the streak ends and the yankees get their first win against the red sox and extend the lead in

the al-east. the pulse of the yankees fans from espn radio in new york. >> yankees are a better team than the red sox. they are. there is no other way to cut it. they are a better team. >> it did not look good. you could see him trying to think his way on the mound yesterday. he doesn't have the stuff. i think i heard you say last night that he knows how to do it but his body is not letting him do it. that was a good way of putting it. he is at a point. everybody gets to that point. he knows he has to execute his pitches. but he can't do it. the slider is getting pounded. maybe they can put him back together. i am not sure at the major league level. >> david ortiz wanted to get a better understanding of why he

failed the drug test back in 2003. the red sox slugger the latest of the 104 names that leaked out. tomorrow ortiz will address this matter before game 3 of the yankee stadium and red sox series. he was already having a forgettable season when news of the positive test from 2003 broke. his season has gotten worse. a lot of pressure on him: batting under .2-00. and david ortiz takes to the podium tomorrow, we will take you there live to are had the thoughts of big papi about the 2003 positive test. live tomorrow on espnews. coming up: more on the yankees and the red sox. game 2 mark morgan will have that for you on espnews.