SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2015
Sports shorts
NHL receives
expansion bid
from Las Vegas
(AP) Bill Foley has put
his money
down on
an NHL
expansion
team in Las
Vegas. And
Quebec
City is getting a second
chance at being a pro hockey
market.
The two cities moved
one step closer to joining
the NHL as expansion
teams after the league
announced Tuesday it has
received applications from
prospective ownership
groups in both markets,
a day after a deadline for
submissions.
The Las Vegas bid
was submitted by Foley,
a billionaire businessman
who has spent the past seven
months exploring the level
of interest for professional
hockey in the gambling
mecca. Montreal-based
Quebecor, a Canadian media
and telecommunications
giant, submitted the bid
for Quebec City, which
previously served home to
the NHL’s Nordiques.
Quebecor also has ties
to the NHL after its cable
network, TVA Sports, won
the rights to become the
league’s of¿ cial French-
language broadcaster last
year.
Peterson, Vikings
agree to redo last
3 years of deal
MINNEAPOLIS (AP)
— Adrian Peterson and the
Minnesota Vikings have
agreed to restructure the ¿ nal
three years of the running
back’s contract.
The Vikings
made the
announced
Tuesday, four
days before
players will
report to
training camp.
Terms of
Peterson
the revamped
deal weren’t
disclosed. In a statement
distributed by the Vikings,
Peterson said he appreciates
their willingness to address
his contract to provide
him “additional security.”
Peterson’s existing deal
called for a $12.75 million
salary this season, but
neither of the two years
beyond that was guaranteed.
Peterson was initially
hesitant to rejoin the
Vikings, but he said Tuesday
that continuing his career in
Minnesota was “important
to me.”
FACES
“Once my
board was gone
I thought that
was it. I was just
waiting for it to
come and take a
leg or two. I guess
I’m lucky it wasn’t
my time.“
— Mick Fanning
Professional surfer, on
being attacked by two
sharks on live television
during the fi nals of a
surfi ng competition in
South Africa last week.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1963 — Sonny Liston
knocks out Floyd Patterson
in 2 minutes, 10 seconds of
the ¿ rst round to retain the
world heavyweight title.
Liston took the title from
Patterson with a ¿ rst-round
knockout in Chicago on Sept.
25, 1962.
1998 — Jackie Joyner-
Kersee ends her brilliant
heptathlon career with a
victory at the Goodwill
Games. It’s her fourth
consecutive Goodwill title.
Contact us at 541-966-0838 or
sports@eastoregonian.com
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BMCC
M’s survive wild ride hires
Eighth-inning grand slam caps comeback win
softball
coach
MLB
By NOAH TRISTER
AP Baseball Writer
DETROIT — Franklin Gutierrez’s pinch-hit
grand slam in the eighth inning lifted the Seattle
Mariners to a wild 11-9 victory over the Detroit
on Tuesday, pushing the Tigers one loss closer
to a trade deadline that could have drastic conse-
quences in Motown.
The Tigers had come Eack from a -1 de¿ cit
and led 8-6 when Neftali Feliz
1- allowed ¿ ve runs in the Baseball
eighth. Feliz, who was picked
up by Detroit on July 11
after refusing a minor league
assignment from Texas,
Seattle
allowed a run on a wild pitch
before giving up Gutierrez’s
opposite-¿ eld drive. There
was no activity in the Detroit
bullpen as Seattle rallied.
Detroit
Joe Beimel (1-1) got the
win in relief, and Carson
Smith got four outs for his
eighth save.
Seattle’s Nelson Cruz and Detroit’s J.D.
Martinez each hit long home runs to center ¿ eld
in the third.
Yoenis Cespedes and Nick Castellanos also
homered for Detroit.
The Tigers entered the game facing a four-
game de¿ cit in the race for a wild card in the
American League, leading to talk they might trade
David Price, Cespedes and perhaps some other
big-name players before the July 31 deadline.
See MARINERS/2B
East Oregonian
11
9
AP Photo/Duane Burleson
Franklin Gutierrez celebrates as his hit clears the right
fi eld wall for a grand slam home run during the eighth
inning Tuesday in Detroit.
Blue Mountain Community
College has named its new
softball coach.
Steve Richards will start
immediately. He has 16 years of
coaching experience, including
most recently as head coach
of Newberg High School. He
was named 2013-201 Paci¿ c
Conference Coach of the Year
while leading the school.
“I’m extremely excited to
get the opportunity to coach
at BMCC,” said Richards. “I
have high expectations that
the softball program can be as
successful as the other women’s
programs on campus.”
Richards attended BMCC for
one year, on his way to earning a
Bachelor’s degree from Eastern
Oregon University. He is a
retired ¿ reman with more than
30 years of service. Richards
and his wife met in Pendleton
and said they are exited to be
returning to Eastern Oregon,
according to a press release
from BMCC.
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By TERESA WALKER
AP Sports Writer
NASHVILLE,
Tenn.
—
Heisman Trophy winner Marcus
Mariota signed with the Tennessee
Titans on Tuesday, becoming the
last of the NFL’s ¿ rst-round draft
picks to ¿ nalize his deal.
The former Oregon quarterback
is expected to start immediately,
with the timing of the contract
keeping the No. 2 overall pick on
track to open the season Sept. 13 at
Tampa Bay against Jameis Winston
— the No. 1 overall selection from
the draft.
The Titans started three quarter-
backs while going 2-14 in coach
Ken Whisenhunt’s debut season.
They were so excited about adding
Mariota that Whisenhunt began
tweaking his offense to ¿ t the
quarterback’s skills weeks before
the draft.
“I am very grateful and honored
to have this opportunity,” Mariota
said in a statement. “I look forward
to the future with my teammates,
and I’m truly excited to be part of
this team.”
Mariota left Oregon after his
redshirt junior season. In 2014, the
6-foot-4 222-pounder from Hawaii
directed the most ef¿ cient offense in
the country and led all quarterbacks
with a 90.9 rating. Mariota threw
for 4,454 yards and 42 touchdowns,
while rushing for 770 yards and 15
scores. He was only intercepted four
times last season.
That combination of size,
AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File
In this June 18 fi le photo, Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota passes during the team’s
minicamp in Nashville, Tenn. Mariota signed with the Titans on Tuesday, becoming the last of the
NFL’s fi rst-round draft picks to fi nalize his deal.
mobility and ef¿ ciency prompted
the Titans to make him their third
quarterback drafted within the ¿ rst
eight selections since 2006, and a
franchise with only one winning
record in the past six seasons has
been busy selling Mariota since the
moment he was announced as their
newest player.
But the timing of Mariota’s
contract caused a bit of apprehen-
sion for fans of the team. Whether or
not the Titans would have Mariota
signed in time for the ¿ rst practice
of camp July 31 had been a hot topic
on talk radio the past few weeks.
“We look forward to him starting
his career on time with his team-
mates when we open camp next
week,” general manager Ruston
Webster said. “This is an exciting
time for the Tennessee Titans orga-
nization, and we look forward to a
bright future.”
Froome releases data as Tour de France enters ¿ nale
SISTERON, France (AP) — The
team of Tour de France leader Chris
Froome bowed to pressure Tuesday
and released data about his riding
power, heart rate and pedaling
rhythm, hoping to quell speculation
about doping ahead of an increas-
ingly likely victory in Paris.
On the Tour’s second rest day,
Team Sky presented the ¿ gures
after comments on French TV
raised questions about Froome’s
performance and incidents in which
spectators have booed, spat upon
and thrown urine on the rider and
his teammates — behavior attributed
in part to the unfounded speculation
about his speed on the way to victory
in Stage 10.
With a 3 minute, 10 second
lead on his closest rival, and his
mountain-climbing nearly unpar-
alleled, Froome said he’s in “a
great place” as the three-week race
resumes Wednesday with Stage 17’s
161-kilometer (100-mile) jaunt over
four climbs from Digne-les-Bains to
an uphill ¿ nish at Pra Loup mountain
resort.
It’s the start of four grueling
days in the Alps. The climax comes
Saturday with an uphill ¿ nish at
AP Photo/Peter Dejong
From bottom left at the table, a technical data performance ana-
lyst, Britain’s Chris Froome, team director Sir Dave Brailsford, and
Britain’s Geraint Thomas, attend a press conference Tuesday at the
Tour de France.
Alpe d’Huez, a day before a largely
ceremonial ride for the race winner
on the Champs-Elysees in Paris.
“The third week of the Tour is
always unpredictable. You never
know how anyone is going to
respond,” said American rider Tejay
van Garderen, the BMC team leader
who is third overall, 3:32 behind of
Froome.
Van Garderen said the British race
leader, who won the Tour in 2013 and
has never tested positive for doping,
has had to deal with “the aftermath”
of doping cheats of the past.
“It was clear that he dealt with the
heat and dealt with the (¿ rst) rest day
better than other people did,” Van
Garderen said of Froome’s Stage 10
victory. “I think it’s very unfair for him
to have to deal with all the scrutiny.”
Froome, a Kenya-born Briton,
said his team wants to address doubts
about Sky’s performances with the
release of his rider data.
“I’m not sure if numbers are
going to ¿ x everything, but certainly
I feel as a team and myself, we’re
de¿ nitely trying to be as open and
transparent as possible,” he said.
Sky performance analyst Tim
Kerrison presented ¿ gures including
Froome’s power output, cadence and
heart rate on the climb to the Stage 10
¿ nish. The ¿ gures showed the rider’s
ability to generate vast amounts of
power, hitting a top speed of 27.7 kph
going uphill.
Kerrison said Froome produced
414 watts and a pedal cadence of 97
revolutions per minute on average
on the climb. Froome’s heart rate
hit 174 beats per minute the highest
rate that the team has tallied from
him in any recent Grand Tour race
and Kerrison called that a sign that
Froome had arrived “very fresh” at
the foot of that ascent.