Gordon’s Daytona 500 farewell party a bust

DAYTONA, BEACH, Florida (Reuters) - Jeff Gordon’s Dayton 500 farewell party ended in a bang but not the kind he had hoped as the three-time former winner waved goodbye to the Great American race with a last lap crash on Sunday.

After winning the pole and finishing second in a 150 mile qualifying race on Thursday, Gordon had set himself up as a favorite in the 57th running of NASCAR's showcase event.

A fourth victory, however, was not in the cards for the 43-year old, four-time NASCAR champion who announced that Sunday's 500 would be his last.

“That first half was amazing,” Gordon said. “I was enjoying that moment very, very much. Just being out front. Being in control of the race.

Patrick Kane heads to long term injured reserve, opens Chicago trade options

Patrick Kane’s reported bad upper-body injury appears to be quite as awful as feared for the Chicago Blackhawks.

The team put the NHL’s leading scorer on long-term injured reserve Wednesday and recalled Teuvo Teravainen from its American Hockey League affiliate it announced.

Though we still don’t have definitive detail on Kane’s problem, outside of the ever descriptive “upper-body” problem, this at least lends some further clarification on his timeline. For one, it’s going to be long, at least 10 games or 24 days.

Second, this gives the Blackhawks some flexibility as to what to do moving forward. According to Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times, the Blackhawks will have around $5 million of extra salary cap space because of the LTIR decision.

So if you’re a scoring winger, and you’re grumpy, and you want out – Chicago probably wants you. Or maybe you’ve just worn out your welcome where you are. Or maybe your name is Antoine Vermette, and you’re a decent rent-a-player until when Kane comes back.

Rajon Rondo suspended for shouting match with Mavs coach Rick Carlisle

When the Dallas Mavericks traded for enigmatic point guard Rajon Rondo in December, they must have known that they were getting a fairly difficult player to coach. Rondo is hard to figure out, performs his best when he has freedom to improvise, and can get ornery. The Mavs knew they were making a gamble in adding a stylistically unique player to the NBA's best offense (at the time), but they believed that the potential gains were worth it.The final results of that decision won't be known until the postseason and when Rondo becomes when free agent this summer, but they experienced some of the bad that comes with his good in the third quarter of Tuesday night's home game against the Toronto Raptors. As the Mavericks headed back to the bench just a few minutes into the third quarter, head coach Rick Carlisle and Rondo began to engage in a shouting match.

Josh Hamilton situation a reminder of the frailty of man

Josh Hamilton’s story was told with a beginning, a middle and an end. It was told neat like that. He was the gifted young ballplayer who fell about as hard as a man can fall and still get up, and then he did get up. Hooray for Josh Hamilton. Hooray for the human spirit.

That was his story. It was worth telling. With every home run, every day spent sober, every moment he held his wife and four daughters, it was worth re-telling, because none of that was guaranteed after he fell. And fell. And fell.

Judge overturns Adrian Peterson's NFL suspension

Let's go ahead and chalk up the Adrian Peterson suspension as another mistake for the NFL as it tries to police its own league.

The NFL suspended Peterson after the completion of his court case involving him injuring his 4-year-old son with a switch. On Thursday a federal judge said the NFL arbitrator who made that suspension decision overstepped his authority and applied the NFL's new conduct policy retroactively to Peterson's case, so he overturned the suspension. The Star-Tribune said Judge David Doty sent "the case back for further arbitration proceedings 'consistent with' the players’ collective bargaining agreement." The NFL said it is reviewing the ruling, and hasn't yet said whether it will reinstate Peterson, appeal or arbitrate again.

According to Doty's order (via the Star-Tribune), Peterson and the NFL agreed in writing on Sept. 18 that he would be put on the commissioner's exempt list until his court case was resolved. Peterson pleaded no contest to misdemeanor reckless assault in November. The NFL called a disciplinary hearing for Peterson, keeping him on the exempt list in the interim, and Peterson didn't show up because the NFL Players Association was upset about the process and that the league wasn't honoring what the union said was an agreement to reinstate him.

Lincecum credits Dad with turnaround

San Francisco's Tim Lincecum thanks his dad for his success. Tim said's that his dad has been his inspiration since childhood. And now he is one of the National Leagues best Pitchers after winning the MVP in the World Series and Cy Young winner after throwing 2 no hitters.

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