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Hall of Famers Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Orlando Cepeda are regular visitors around the San Francisco Giants.

But when Muhammad Ali showed up in the clubhouse Tuesday to tout his Athletes for Hope charity campaign, players, coaches, clubbies and even the general manager and owner stood in line for photos with the 68-year-old former heavyweight champion.

“I thought he was going to react and give me a right hand in the chin,” catcher Bengie Molina said jokingly. “I was afraid.”

Right-hander Matt Cain put his pitching fist up to Ali’s left fist. Mays greeted Ali in an adjacent conference room before leaving the ballpark following the closed-door meeting.

“I know Ali,” Mays said afterward, refusing to speak further about their friendship.

Ali, who lives in Scottsdale, suffers from Parkinson’s disease. He rarely talks in public and speaks in a barely audible whisper.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

Evgeni Nabokov, above and below, had a game to forget, yielding six goals to Canada.

Yeah, sure he did. In the comfortable one-thing-always-leads-to-another world of the modern conspiracy theorist, whatever failings he might demonstrate in the Stanley Cup playoffs will be directly attributable to Nabokov’s six-goal pummeling by the Canadians in the quarterfinals.

In his world, well, let’s put it this way: The Sharks’ first goaltender was polite when asked if he worries about any lingering hangover from the Russian Olympic flameout, as the 7-3 loss to Canada can be fairly termed, because his answer was always, “I hope not.”

In fact, what he would have said if he weren’t measuring his words was, “Are you kidding? I’m 34 years old. I’m not a kid. I’m not fragile. I’ve been through this dozens of times. Calm the hell down, will you?”

This is the tale to tell as the Sharks begin the final sprint to the postseason – what the Olympics did for, and to, their chances to do more than what they usually do, which is underachieve. And though Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley, Dan Boyle and Patrick Marleau hit it big, and Joe Pavelski hit it almost big, Nabokov’s last memory of the Olympics was getting mauled by the Canadians on Wednesday.

Click here to read the full article – By San Francisco Chronicle

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The Kings have salary-cap space and, for the first time in years, have won enough games to be considered buyers as Wednesday’s NHL trade deadline approaches.

“Everything we’ve done the last three, four years has been methodical,” Lombardi said. “I had to make some adjustments – but there’s clearly been a sense of direction. It makes no sense for me to go this far and do something out of character.”

So what kind of a trade would be in character for a team that sits in fifth place in the conference standings, and has won eight of its past 10 games?

Probably not a blockbuster.

The only trade rumor linked to the Kings at all this season happened to be the biggest name on the market – high-scoring forward Ilya Kovalchuk, an impending free agent whom the Atlanta Thrashers eventually traded to the New Jersey Devils.

Lombardi said he wasn’t close to making a deal for Kovalchuk, which he called an “easy” decision.

“I didn’t want to give up the two players out of my lineup,” he said. “I made that clear from day one. The players they wanted out of my lineup were non-negotiable.”

With few glaring weaknesses in their NHL roster, any trade with the Kings is more likely to involve their trove of prospects and draft picks.

Click here to read the full article – By Los Angeles Daily News

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It won’t fully sink in for days or months or perhaps even decades in quiet moments or at a reunion of men forever bonded by one of the greatest afternoons in their sport’s and nation’s history.

A golden afternoon they created.

Yet even with Team Canada’s 3-2 sudden death overtime victory Sunday against the United States in the 2010 Olympic Games gold medal final still only minutes and the nationwide celebration just beginning to pick up steam, Canada forward Corey Perry already sensed that he and his teammates had assured themselves of a place in hockey and Canada’s history.

“Just to be a part of it is special and it’s a great feeling right now,” Perry said, gold medal around the neck.

Perry and his Anaheim teammate Ryan Getzlaf, who will be in Ducks uniforms again on Wednesday night, were more than just a part of Team Canada’s dramatic and record-setting victory.

“That was a great hockey game out there,” Getzlaf said.

Click here to read the full article – By Orange County Register

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Team togetherness ended Sunday.

For nine days, it’s rest and relaxation. It’s every man for himself and his family — with some limits (no downhill skiing, please) and exceptions (injured players whose names are on an NHL-approved list can report for treatments).

Rob Blake and his family might head to Southern California. Jed Ortmeyer and his wife are going to Maui. Ryane Clowe is off to Newfoundland to visit family and friends. Even coach Todd McLellan is off to Lake Tahoe for a few days.

The idea is to stay away from Sharks Ice and HP Pavilion — until 2 p.m. Feb. 24. At that moment, the NHL allows practices to resume and McLellan plans to have strenuous daily sessions for everybody not in Vancouver.

“They’re going to have to rest physically and mentally,” he said, “and when they come back, they better bring their work boots, because we’re going to go through a little mini-training camp.”

McLellan said he isn’t worried about any of his players showing up on Feb. 24 in poor shape.

Click here to read the full article – By San Jose Mercury News

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Kings defenseman Jack Johnson returned to Los Angeles about 2:30 a.m. Saturday, his whirlwind trip to Vancouver for the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics leaving him both exhausted and inspired.

“It was a great experience. Probably the coolest thing I’ve ever done,” said Johnson, the first American NHL player to take part in the opening ceremony in Winter Olympics history. “It was worth every minute of it to get there. It was everything I thought it would be. And more.”

But making it there required some sacrifice — and a good deal of planning. Less than seven hours after the Kings’ shootout loss to Edmonton on Thursday, Johnson was heading to the airport for a two-hour charter flight to Washington state with his parents and younger brother. From there, a hired driver took them 50 miles across the border to the Olympic Village.

Johnson said he marched in the opening ceremony alongside snowboarder Shaun White, then sat in the stands with members of the U.S. speedskating team. Once the four-hour festival finished, he made the drive back to Washington and caught a charter flight home to make the Kings’ 10 a.m. practice Saturday.

“The whole ceremony was incredible,” said Johnson, who had the team’s blessing to participate even though it meant missing Friday’s workout. “From start to finish there wasn’t a dull moment in the entire thing. I took as much video and photos as I could.

Click here to read the full article – By Los Angeles Times

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There are a lot of healthy NHL players who’d like to play as well as Ryan Getzlaf did on Sunday night with his wobbly left ankle.

The Anaheim Ducks centre saw his first in-game action in six days on Sunday against the Edmonton Oilers, scoring two goals — including a beauty in the third period — and adding a pair of assists in the Ducks’ 7-3 win at Rexall Place.

His dominant performance boosted his season point total to 61 (17 goals, 44 assists) in 2009-10.

More important, for the time being at least, is that the Regina native still hopes to play with Team Canada at the Olympics in Vancouver, as it prepares for its opening game on Tuesday against Norway. Getzlaf said he’d rest Sunday night after arriving in Vancouver and see how his ankle reacted this morning before making a concrete decision with Canada executive director Steve Yzerman.

Click here to read the full article – By Edmonton Journal

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Right-hander Tim Lincecum and the San Francisco Giants have settled their arbitration case, with the two-time NL Cy Young winner signing a $23 million, two-year contract ahead of Friday’s originally scheduled hearing, baseball sources tell ESPN The Magazine’s Buster Olney

For arbitration, the Giants filed for $8 million while Lincecum countered with $13 million. He earned $650,000 last season.

Lincecum, the reigning Cy Young winner, was 15-7 last season with a 2.48 ERA. He’s 40-17 in his three major league seasons with a 2.90 career ERA.

Click here to read the full article – By of ESPN.com

The Sharks are going on their longest trip ever to open a new season — and that says a lot considering they once flew to Tokyo to do just that.

The NHL made it official Tuesday: The Sharks will be one of six teams opening next season in Europe, with two games against the Columbus Blue Jackets in Stockholm on Oct. 8 and 9.

Other two-game series being played overseas involve the Boston Bruins and Phoenix Coyotes in Prague, and the Minnesota Wild and Carolina Hurricane in Helsinki.

The Sharks were asked to open the present season in Europe, but general manager Doug Wilson objected because of the extra travel in an Olympic year with an already compressed schedule. At the time, he said he would support a trip when the timing was better.

“It’s exciting, especially with friends and family be able to see us play,” defenseman Douglas Murray said. “My closest family come out to California, but I’ve got a lot of friends who haven’t made it.”

Click here to read the full article – By San Jose Mercury News

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The Kings’ winning streak ended Monday at a club-record nine games, halted not by lack of effort but by a more desperate effort by the playoff long shot Ducks.

It took every bit of determination the Ducks had to subdue the Kings, 4-2, at the Honda Center and set a record of their own with a 10-game home winning streak.

It took Scott Niedermayer frantically batting the puck away from Dustin Brown while on his knees near the net midway through the third period. It took Corey Perry contributing a goal and two assists despite losing his center, Ryan Getzlaf, to a sprained ankle in the second period. It also took Teemu Selanne adding a goal and an assist and goaltender Jonas Hiller weathering a barrage in the third period while the Kings outshot the Ducks, 18-7.

“I think we were tired of losing to them,” Niedermayer said after Ducks beat the Kings for the first time in six games stretching to last season and moved within three points of eighth place in the West.

Click here to read the full article – By Los Angeles Times

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