2B SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2008
sports trivia of the day
Q: Who was the last NBA player to win the league's Most Valuable Player award three years in a row?
A: Larry Bird from 1983 to 1986. Bird's Boston Celtics won two NBA Championships in that span and had an overall record of 192-54 in the regular season.
— basketball-reference.com
sports fact of the day
Although no player has won three in a row since Bird, four players have won the award twice in a row. Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson accomplished the feat in the 1990s while Tim Duncan and Steve Nash have won four of the last six MVPs.
basketball-reference.com
sports quote of the day
Larry Bird
"I don't know if I practiced more than anybody, but I sure practiced enough. I still wonder if somebody somewhere was practicing more than me."
on tv tonight
Men's College Basketball:
-Pittsburgh at Notre Dame, 6 p.m., ESPN
-Massachusetts at Rhode Island, 6 p.m., ESPN2
-Michigan at Minnesota, 8 p.m., ESPN2
The French connection
Women's College Basketball:
-Nebraska at Missouri, 7 p.m.
FSN
-Miami at Houston, 7 p.m., TNT
-Seattle at Portland, 9:30 p.m.
TNT
NBA:
NHL:
-St. Louis at Los Angeles, 9:30 p.m., FSN
calendar
TOMORROW
Softball vs. Texas State, 11 a.m., Houston
Softball vs. Centenary College, 1 p.m., Houston
Baseball vs. Hawaii-Hilo, 5 p.m., Kona, Hawaii
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Lyon's Sebastian Squillac, left, is fouled by Manchester United's Wayne Rooney during their Champions League round of 16 soccer match at the Gerland stadium in Lyon, France, Wednesday.
NFL
League pushes Spygate investigation
BY MICHAEL MAROT ASSOCIATED PRESS
made of the St. Louis Rams' walkthrough before the 2002 Super Bowl.
INDIANAPOLIS — NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell hopes the NFL is close to an agreement that will allow former New England Patriots employee Matt Walsh to tell the league about the tapes he is said to have
"The lawyers are still talking and we're anxious to speak to him. We're anxious to get an agreement to get him to come forth." Goodell told the Associated Press on Wednesday before the start of the NFL combine.
"We hope to be able to talk to him shortly."
Herald reported that Walsh claimed he had taped the practice before the Patriots' 20-17 upset of the Rams, who were two-touchdown favorites.
Walsh, now a golf pro in Maui, did video work for the Patriots when they won the first of their three Super Bowls after the 2001 season. Three weeks ago, the Boston
NFL lawyers have been meeting with Michael Levy, Walsh's Washington-based lawyer, who is seeking further protection for his client if he tells what he knows.
Levy said last week that the NFL's offer of protection "is highly conditional and still leaves Mr. Walsh vulnerable. I have asked the NFL to provide Mr. Walsh with the necessary legal protections so that he can come forward with the truth
without fear of retaliation and litigation"
Goodell has said that Walsh was not interviewed as part of the NFL's investigation into Spygate, which involved the NFL confiscating tapes from a Patriots employee who recorded the New York Jets' defensive signals from the sideline during the opening game of the 2007 season.
As a result of that investigation, New England coach Bill Belichick was fined $500,000 and the team was fined $250,000 and forfeited its 2008 first-round draft choice.
engaging in a "pattern of racketeering." Three fans joined in the suit.
On Tuesday, Hugh Campbell, the Cincinnati lawyer who filed Gary's suit, said he wanted to add at least two new classes to the action: all employees and players of all NFL teams who were illegally videotaped by the Pats, plus all fans who bought tickets to any game that the Pats illegally taped. He also said he wanted to join with Sen. Arlen Specter, R.-Pa., who also is looking into the allegations.
Six confiscated tapes and other documents pertaining to the Patriots' taping were subsequently destroyed by the league. Goodell has defended the destruction of the tapes.
Goodell and Specter met last week in Washington.
Specter told The Associated Press on Wednesday that if Walsh is under subpoena in a suit, it might solve the problem of protection.
"I think now that the lawsuits have been started, that I got the ball rolling, and the plaintiffs' lawyers are picking it up." Specter said.
Last week, Willie Gary, who played seven games for the Rams that season, filed suit in New Orleans accusing the Patriots of fraud, unfair trade practices and
ASSOCIATED PRESS
National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell, right, is interviewed by Ryan Seacrest as he arrives at the Super Bowl XLI football game between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants at University of Phoenix Stadium on Sunday, Feb. 3, 2018 in Glendale, Ariz.
---