plus 4, Football team of decade: Asheville or Reynolds? - Asheville Citizen-Times

Football team of decade: Asheville or Reynolds? - Asheville Citizen-Times
Hendersonville motorcyclist inducted into AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame - Asheville Citizen-Times
A Race Changes Lives in Cambodia - New York Times
Speedskating: Apolo Ohno finds Stephen Colbert's antics amusing - Seattle Times
Marcos Ambrose Sydney press conferece - Motorsport.com

Football team of decade: Asheville or Reynolds? - Asheville Citizen-Times

Posted: 07 Dec 2009 09:26 PM PST

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WNC's Mathers is a Hall of Famer

Hendersonville resident Gary Mathers was inducted into the American Motorcycle Association Hall of Fame Saturday during a ceremony in Las Vegas.

Mathers has made his name as a team manager, producing dozens of championships in road racing, dirt track, Supercross and motocross. He was one of nine inducted Saturday.

"I realized this was more about others than me, all those who worked so hard and for so long," Mathers said during his acceptance speech. "Without those folks, this wouldn't have happened. When we think about racing, we think about riders. They are the stars, they get the big bucks, and they are the heroes.

"But for me, there are more heroes, the ones behind the scenes, the administrative people who make it all happen."

Why some guys are tougher than others

On Sunday night, Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre played in his 283rd consecutive regular season game, breaking the record for most games played consecutively of former Vikings defensive tackle Jim Marshall, who played in 282 and never missed a game in his 20-year career.

Technically Favre has the record for a non-kicker since Giants punter Jeff Feagles appeared in his 338th consecutive game Sunday. That's nice for Feagles, but he's not in the same Ironman category as Favre or Marshall.

As some readers know I did a book on the history of the NFL North, commonly known as the Black and Blue Division.

In "Black and Blue: A Smash-Mouth History of the NFL's Roughest Division" former Vikings coach Bud Grant talked about the special nature of players like Favre and Marshall, who retired in 1979.

"Durability is the greatest ability you can have," Grant said. "You can be the fastest guy in town, catch run and throw. But if you're not durable, 8-8 is not going to win it for you. So durability, regardless of any ability you have, is the most important ability you can possess.

"You say, 'Where do you get that.' Well, you have to have the right parents, that's the main thing. You have to have the right genes. Jim Marshall would get hit and he'd turn his ankle over and you could see it on film, his ankle would be turned right over.

"Well, he either broke his ankle or sprained his ankle so severely that some other guy would be out for the year. Jim Marshall would get a little swelling and in a week it would be gone or it would be gone enough so he could play. He had the mentality that if I'm hurt that means I have to play harder, I have to play better."

Grant went on to say that Favre had the same makeup as Marshall.

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Hendersonville motorcyclist inducted into AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame - Asheville Citizen-Times

Posted: 07 Dec 2009 09:12 PM PST

LAS VEGAS — Over the weekend, Hendersonville resident Gary Mathers was among nine individuals inducted into the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) Motorcycle Hall of Fame at the Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Over the weekend, Hendersonville resident Gary Mathers was among nine individuals inducted into the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) Motorcycle Hall of Fame at the Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The AMA Hall of Fame is located on the AMA campus in Pickerington, Ohio, and recognizes men and women who have made significant contributions to American motorcycling. Among its past inductees are Steve McQueen, Malcolm Forbes, Evel Knievel and Jay Leno.

The event was hosted by Hollywood actor and avid motorcyclist Perry King, and was attended by hundreds of motorcycling enthusiasts from across the country.

Mathers is well-known as a highly successful motorcycle race team manager. During his career, he produced dozens of championships in road racing, dirt track, Supercross and motocross for Honda and Kawasaki. His keen eye for talent discovered future Grand Prix World Champion roadracers Eddie Lawson and Wayne Rainey while he was with Kawasaki. In addition, Mathers' teams took a total of 48 championships in dirt-track, motocross, Supercross and roadracing, winning two championships in all but one of his 16 years at American Honda.

During the induction ceremony, AMA President and CEO Rob Dingman presented Mathers with an engraved AMA Hall of Fame ring.

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A Race Changes Lives in Cambodia - New York Times

Posted: 07 Dec 2009 10:02 PM PST

SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA — At first, San Mao thought he had been shot in the leg.

It was a reasonable assumption on that day, nearly 20 years ago, given that Khmer Rouge soldiers were forcing him to carry ammunition across the Cambodian countryside. But when Mr. San Mao, then 17, found he was unable to get up from the forest floor, he realized that the lower part of his right leg was gone — blown off by one of the millions of land mines planted across the country during its decades of conflict. Many mines still lurk dangerously in rural areas.

After he lost his leg, Mr. San Mao was unable to resume his work clearing fields for farming. People looked down on him, he said, and no one would give him a job.

But on Sunday morning, any sense of despair seemed well behind him. Against the majestic backdrop of the Angkor Wat temple ruins, Mr. San Mao, 35, grinned broadly as he climbed a podium to be crowned the champion of the 10-kilometer, or 6.2-mile, race for athletes with artificial legs, held as part of the Angkor Wat International Half Marathon.

Mr. San Mao, who is now married with a 7-year-old daughter and works as a motorcycle taxi driver in Phnom Penh, was one of almost 3,500 disabled and able-bodied athletes from around the world who competed in various divisions.

The races for disabled people, which have been part of the Angkor Wat half marathon since its inception 13 years ago, are part of a campaign to help them gain acceptance in Cambodia, which has one of the world's highest concentrations of people with disabilities, many of them land mine survivors.

"Many of our athletes have gone from being the most marginalized in society to national heroes," said Christopher Minko, the founder and secretary general of the Cambodian National Volleyball League (Disabled), a nongovernmental organization.

While demining efforts have been under way across Cambodia for more than 15 years, the violent aftereffects of three decades of war are still being felt.

Last year, 47 people were killed and 222 injured by land mines, according to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.

Since 1979, land mines have killed 19,476 Cambodians and injured 43,926. Nongovernmental organizations say the victims are usually farmers.

One of the national heroes Mr. Minko referred to is Van Vun, 23, a Cambodian wheelchair-racing champion in multiple categories who hopes to qualify for the marathon at the London 2012 Paralympics.

Mr. Van Vun has been unable to walk since contracting polio when he was 18 months old. Growing up, he would shuffle around on his hands before he got his first wheelchair, at the age of 15.

Before he started competing, he said, people used to ignore him. Now, people stop him in the streets and neighbors in his home village near Phnom Penh ask to see his trophies.

"The situation is much better than before," he said. "It makes me feel happy. I'm proud because I'm No. 1."

With his legs tucked tightly underneath him, Mr. Van Vun rode his broad shoulders and muscled forearms to victory in the 21-kilometer wheelchair division Sunday at Angkor Wat, in a chair donated by Canada's national volleyball team for the disabled.

The Cambodian volleyball league organizes both volleyball and wheelchair racing programs for more than 250 people each year, most of whom are land mine victims.

Honored by the United Nations Development Program in 2006, the group runs a national volleyball competition with 10 clubs and trains 50 wheelchair athletes like Mr. Van Vun.

The league has worked with about 2,000 people with disabilities since it was established in 1999, but Mr. Minko, an Australian, said it had nowhere near enough funds to meet Cambodian demand for sports for the disabled. "We have only touched the tip of the iceberg," Mr. Minko said.

The success of the national volleyball team — which finished seventh at the Sydney 2000 Paralympics, beating the host nation — has helped raise the profile of disabled athletes in Cambodia.

The team, which will compete in the World Organization Volleyball for Disabled World Cup 2009 in Phnom Penh later this month, is ranked third in the world and is aiming for the top spot.

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Speedskating: Apolo Ohno finds Stephen Colbert's antics amusing - Seattle Times

Posted: 07 Dec 2009 07:17 PM PST

Speedskating

Seattle's Ohno isn't sure why Davis is upset with Colbert: Short-track superstar Apolo Ohno of Seattle doesn't think Stephen Colbert is a jerk.

Responding to criticism of the mock pundit by U.S. long-track standout Shani Davis, Ohno said Monday he is amused by Colbert's antics — including a contrived feud with 2010 Olympic host Canada — and is glad Colbert stepped on board as the primary sponsor of the U.S. team.

That effort has raised more than $250,000, nearly making up a shortfall that resulted when the previous sponsor, Dutch bank DSB, went bust.

Last week, Davis, a 2006 gold medalist, called Colbert "a jerk," apparently in reference to the comedian making light of actual complaints that Canada has limited training time for foreign athletes at the Vancouver venues in hopes of gaining a home-ice advantage during the Olympics.

"I have not talked with Shani about that yet," Ohno said. "I don't know what his reasons were for saying that. I can't speak on his behalf, but it was an interesting comment."

Ohno, a two-time Olympian who has won five medals, said he is a fan of Colbert.

"I think he's funny," Ohno said. "Our country is kind of in need of some humor right now, and it's all for a good cause."

What about Colbert's shots at Canada, which have included calling the neighbor to the north "syrup suckers?"

"It was a joke," Ohno said. "It was all in good fun. I just enjoy it."

Auto racing

Patrick reportedly will drive in NASCAR's Nationwide Series: Part — but not all — of the plans IndyCar Series driver Danica Patrick has to enter NASCAR will be revealed today.

Patrick, whose flirtation with NASCAR has been the subject of speculation for months, has agreed to a contract with JR Motorsports to run a limited schedule in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, beginning next season, The Charlotte Observer and ThatsRacin.com have learned.

Patrick, open-wheel racing's most popular driver, will join forces with NASCAR's most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr., one of four owners of JR Motorsports.

Golf

Merritt wins PGA Tour Q-school tournament: Troy Merritt shot a 3-under-par 69 to win the PGA Tour qualifying tournament, finishing the six-round event in West Palm Beach, Fla., at 22 under and one shot ahead of Tour veteran Jeff Maggert. Merritt earned $50,000 for medalist honors.

The top 25 finishers earned 2010 PGA Tour cards. Thirteen players who have won at least one Tour event failed to earn cards.

Jess Daley, a Kentwood High graduate, was among 52 players who had scores between 2 under and 8 under to earn fully exempt status for the first 12 events on the 2010 Nationwide Tour. Daley, 31, closed with a 69 to finish at 4 under.

Former Washington Huskies player Troy Kelly (72) finished at 5 over.

Blumenherst wins LPGA Tour qualifying event: Former Duke standout Amanda Blumenherst, a three-time NCAA player of the year, closed with a 4-under 68 to be medalist at LPGA Tour qualifying in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Blumenherst finished the 90-hole event at 9-under 351. The LPGA Tour has a priority list for filling tournament fields and the top 20 Q-school finishers will be in priority-list category 11.

Kim Welch (75), a former Washington State player, tied for 38th place at 4 over and will be among the players in priority-list category 20.

Olympics

IOC reportedly will keep Jones' gold from Thanou: Olympic leaders are ready to distribute individual medals stripped from American Marion Jones for doping — but withhold the 100-meter gold from another drug-tainted athlete.

Officials with direct knowledge of the plan spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the decision hasn't been announced. Nine years after the 2000 Games, the International Olympic Committee is set to allocate some of the five medals — three gold and two bronze — that Jones won in Sydney with the aid of performance-enhancing drugs.

At a two-day meeting starting Wednesday in Lausanne, Switzerland, the IOC executive board will decide to hand out Jones' gold in the 200 meters and bronze in the long jump but not give disgraced Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou the 100-meter gold, officials told the AP.

While Pauline Davis-Thompson of the Bahamas is to be upgraded from silver to gold in the 200, the IOC will not reward Thanou in the 100 because she was at the center of another drug scandal at the 2004 Athens Games.

Thanou and fellow Greek runner Kostas Kenteris missed drug tests on the eve of the opening ceremony, said they were injured in a motorcycle crash and were hospitalized. They were forced to pull out of the Games and were later banned for two years by the IAAF.

NHL

Brodeur ties shutout record: Martin Brodeur tied Terry Sawchuk's league record with his 103rd shutout, helping New Jersey beat host Buffalo 3-0. Sawchuk played from 1949 to 1970.

Sled-dog racing

Iditarod officials report loss in funding: Organizers of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Alaska say they have lost nearly $1 million in funding over the past year and that is forcing them to cut the prize money for the 2010 race by $100,000.

Executive director Stan Hooley estimated the total purse will be about $525,000 — down from a high of $925,000 in 2008.

Seattle Times news services

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Marcos Ambrose Sydney press conferece - Motorsport.com

Posted: 07 Dec 2009 05:44 PM PST

MARCOS AMBROSE & TONY COCHRANE SYDNEY TELSTRA 500 PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

QUESTION: Marcos, firstly welcome back to Australia. Just tell us a little bit about what you've been doing since you got back a week ago. You've been hiding down in Tasmania so give us an idea of what you've been doing?

MARCOS AMBROSE: Thanks, just great to be here in Homebush. It looks like a wonderful event. The Sydney market has always been very hard to crack for Australian motorsport. I think this event will solidify what the series is all about in this market.

There were a lot of people here yesterday (Saturday) and it was great to see the rock concert go off well as well last night so congratulations to Tony and all the guys that put this together because it's a pretty amazing event.

I myself have been back for about a week and a half from the US. I flew out the day after the last race in the NASCAR season and I had a film crew in Australia, in Tasmania on the west coast filming some outdoor stuff.

We've been in the bush for about six days getting leaches and spider bites and all kinds of things but we had a lot of fun doing that and it's going to run on the Outdoor Channel over there and hopefully push out what a great place Tasmania is and what wilderness and adventure you can have there.

QUESTION: Tell us about your year in NASCAR, how you have progressed there and it was a great season for you? Also what do you have planned for next year?

MARCOS AMBROSE: It's been a wonderful year for me. It was a year that was either going to work out how it has or I was going to pack my bags and come home.

I needed to have a breakout year. When you get to the Cup level full-time you really have to make an impression and I think I did that.

We ran well, we got better as the year went on. Finishing top 20 in points was big for us as a start-up team and our focus now of course is for 2010.

We feel like we can win a race and contend for the chase. We want to finish in the top 12 after 26 races to give ourselves a chance to race for the big bucks at the end.

It's been a great year, I can't complain. It's been a long season. It's my first time doing that many races at that intensity. It's been a challenge for me both physically and personally to try and balance personal life and racing life. But I'm surviving and doing OK.

QUESTION: It's been announced today that you've been awarded the Sir Jack Brabham Award by CAMS for outstanding international achievement. Just talk about the support you still receive from all the fans back here in Australia?

MARCOS AMBROSE: Firstly, the award is unexpected and I feel privileged to be given the nod for it. Sir Jack is obviously a hero of mine, as all the Brabhams are to be honest. It's a real racing dynasty. So I take that honour with pride.

I think raising awareness of Australia and Australian racing in the US is working really well. People are saying 'Marcos Ambrose - where did he come from? V8 Supercars'. So it's been great and the whole Australian thing and being an Australian in NASCAR has worked out great.

And vice-versa and we've really helped spread the word about NASCAR in Australia as well. So there is a lot of cross-promotion and integration going on and we're really excited to help on all those fronts.

It's been big for me. We're now rated on the fan popularity basis as the 12th most popular driver in the series. In my first year over there that's a pretty good achievement.

We're going to try and grow that of course and my whole angle is the laid back Australian having a good time and just happy to be around. I don't pick up any snakes or Crocodile Dundee or Steve Irwin but I know how to have a good time and like to get my hands dirty.

QUESTION: Tony, obviously V8 Supercars exposure in the US has been helped by Marcos' racing in NASCAR but that now goes to another level next year with the new deal with SPEED TV.

TONY COCHRANE: Certainly, firstly welcome to all the media here this weekend. I thank you for your support. The coverage here in Sydney has been absolutely massive, easily the biggest coverage we've ever had in Sydney by a country mile. So we appreciate that and we thank you for that.

Look, the SPEED deal is a huge deal. People like my colleague sitting here know how big SPEED TV is in North America and Brazil. There are a lot of very good championships in the world that don't get on to it, the IRL being one, they don't have a presence on SPEED TV.

So for an Australian series to be on there starting from next year as is live on the same weekend, every week we race, to be on SPEED is a huge coup for us. It's a three-year deal and the money doesn't hurt either, but to be honest it was a deal that we were really excited about because of what it offers us. It gives us a huge international footprint and clearly we've been very encouraging of FOX Sports to have Marcos involved in the deal.

Marcos has been shooting some footage here this weekend. He's going to be the link to explain to American fans the difference between a NASCAR and a V8 Supercar and the different styles of the racing and other parts to the puzzle. So from out point of view it's a tremendous tie-up with the opportunity of having Marcos doing so well in the North American market.

NASCAR is a hell of a tough place to crack so the year Marcos has just had is a tremendous credit to him and certainly, from the championship point of view, we're really proud of what Marcos has achieved. We've got a great working relationship with Marcos and I for one will not be shocked in year's to come if Marcos returns to the championship in some sort of very pro-active way with quite a bit of longevity attached to it.

I often say in the V8 Supercar family, we let family members go away and do other things but we remind them that we want them back home one day. Mark Skaife is a good example of that. He's moved on from a fantastic career as a driver and now he's got a fantastic career with the championship.

QUESTION: Marcos, could you just reiterate what Tony mentioned about the SPEED TV deal? You are living with it every day over there in the US so you would know what a big deal it is.

MARCOS AMBROSE: Look, it's just an amazing deal for V8 Supercars. I think it really shows how far the series has come. It's going to triple the ratings of the IRL with the package that they have. So immediately it's going to have a huge impact on viewership.

I think it's just a great cross between NASCAR and V8 Supercars. I think it's got a lot of synergy to it. I'm going to do my very best to help the V8 Supercar series get on the map in the US. People already know about it but this is going to really push it to another level.

I've had discussions with SPEED in the US too. Once Tony and SPEED got their deal together it was just a real natural fit for me to come in and help to glue it all together and give the US fan some inside knowledge on what it's all about and how it works compared to NASCAR.

I'm really excited about it. I think it's a big boon for the sport here in Australia and I think it's going to turn a lot of heads. I think it's going to be a big, big deal.

I think it's nearly 80 millions homes that it's going to go into in the US. They're big numbers. A lot bigger than what you can probably fathom. It's a big, big deal.

QUESTION: Marcos, you've won over the other drivers and the fans over there in NASCAR, but what has amazed me is the talk coming from the media over there that the next big superstar is Juan Pablo (Montoya) and right behind him the next one is Marcos Ambrose. What has been your strategy and your way of being able to woo the media and to woo the fans so well?

MARCOS AMBROSE: Maybe I've learned from my mistakes too. This is my second time around at the professional level. So for every pit I fell into last time I've been able to steer clear somewhat.

I'm there because I feel privileged and lucky to be there anyway. I took on a huge challenge and I didn't expect it to work out. As it did I started to see blue sky in front of me and I am just having a good time. That reflects both on and off the race track and I think the NASCAR drivers have become very cookie-cutter, very generic and when you get somebody that clearly doesn't sound the same, it means I've been able to latch onto that point of difference and run with it.

I'm out there to have a good time. I'm not necessarily in it for any other reason other than that. I think the fans appreciated that too. They appreciate the honesty of what I'm all about.

On the race track it took a lot of time to actually gain the respect from my peers and I got picked on for quite a while, was able to hold my own and I didn't step out of line too much whilst I was trying to learn and get to the front and then once you do that of course the other drivers start talking about you and naturally it explodes onto the race commentators and so on.

It's been a long time coming and I think I've been lucky to be looked after like that. It hasn't been any master plan, it's just been keeping to the fundamentals.

QUESTION: Marcos, congratulations firstly on your stunning year this year. It's fantastic to see you do so well. Just touching on one of Tony's comments earlier, have you discussed the possibility at the end of your NASCAR journey coming back here and taking up an administrative role in V8 Supercars?

MARCOS AMBROSE: No, not that particularly, but my short to medium term focus right now of course is NASCAR. No doubt about that.

I have a young family, two and four (years old). I'm very keen to get them back to Australia to bring them through high school and let them make their own choices in their own lives after that, so they get a good balance.

NASCAR, with 40 races a year it's very hard on families and I'm pretty keen to one day put racing ... slightly less focus on it and have the family in the front of my mind. Not that I don't already but racing is a selfish business by nature and I'm very aware of that.

So long-term, I'm thinking that five years is a great position for me to take in NASCAR if I can do it in five, I'll feel very satisfied. I feel satisfied now to be honest with you that I've actually made it to some degree and if it all finished I wouldn't have any regrets leaving.

Between now and five years is my window to really get it done in the US and then of course I need to look at Plan B. You never know where Plan B will take.

TONY COCHRANE: Team owner with a Toyota V8 Supercar team? Something like that would be good I reckon. It's just an idea! (laughs)

V8 Supercars Australia Media Release -- 25 November 2009

FOX Sports USA to televise V8 Supercars to millions in North America on SPEED

V8 Supercars Australia, in association with FOX Sports USA, today announced an exciting new partnership for the next three seasons where SPEED™, a member of the FOX Cable Networks with more than 79 million subscribers in North America, will televise the Series to all North American subscribers the weekend after each event.

SPEED is the Motorsports Authority for NASCAR, Formula One MotoGP, AMA Supercross, the American Le Mans Series, the Rolex Grand American Sports Car Series and many other motorcycle and auto racing series. SPEED is the exclusive United States broadcaster of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the 24 hours of Le Mans, Petit Le Mans, the NASCAR Sprint Cup All-Star Race, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and the Gatorade Duel at Daytona.

"V8 Supercars is one of the most exciting forms of auto racing in the world today," said FOX Sports Chairman David Hill. "It is fabulous to watch and I'm happy that we've been able to develop this new partnership with SPEED."

V8 Supercars Australia Executive Chairman Tony Cochrane said the deal was a huge milestone in the ongoing and rapid success of V8 Supercars and its international recognition.

"This is a fantastic and exciting relationship for V8 Supercars," Mr Cochrane said.

"There is no question that SPEED in North America is the foremost network with regards to motorsport coverage and is the pinnacle platform in our sport - to be held in such regard by this highly professional organisation is a great testament to the quality of our television coverage and our racing.

"Each year we build our international presence and our TV reach next season will go to in excess of 135 customer countries in varied forms of live, delayed and packaged highlights.

"We are delighted to announce that the coverage will commence with next week's Sydney Telstra 500 being shown on SPEED over the weekend of December 12 and 13 in North America as a taste of what North American fans can view all of next season.

"I would like to thank David Hill personally and the entire FOX Sports and SPEED teams for showing their great faith in V8 Supercars. This is the first of many new international TV announcements that will be rolled out between now and our opening event at the YAS Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi next year."

Mr Hill was a guest of V8 Supercars Australia at this year's Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 and declared the sport amongst the best racing he had seen in the world. He believes the category will warm to the hearts of Americans who have made NASCAR the second biggest sport in the US.

-credit: marcosambrose.com

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