Projo Sports Blog

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. (AP) -- John Thorrington and Cuauhtemoc Blanco scored as the Chicago Fire advanced to the Eastern Conference final with a 2-0 win over the New England Revolution on Saturday night.

Chicago entered the match trailing in the two-game, total-goal semifinals series after a 2-1 defeat at New England on Sunday.

Thorrington scored in the 35th minute of Game 2 with Marco Pappa and Brandon Prideaux getting assists. Blanco sealed the win with six minutes remaining in regulation.

It's the second consecutive season in which Chicago has eliminated New England from the playoffs, and fourth in eight all-time postseason matchups.

Chicago will host Real Salt Lake, which beat Columbus 4-2 on aggregate two days ago, next Saturday.

This will be the Fire's third consecutive appearance in the conference final, where they've lost each of the previous two.

Chicago outshot New England 17-12, but also had 10 shots on net compared to four for the Revolution.

I thought Charlie Weis, after serving as offensive coordinator on the Patriots' three Super Bowl championship teams, would be a terrfiic head coach at Notre Dame.

Boy, was I ever wrong.

For 43 consecutive seasons, from 1964 through 2006, the Fighting Irish defeated Navy in what is the longest, continuous intersectional rivalry in college football.

Now the Midshipmen, who lost last Saturday to Temple in Annapolis, have won two of the last three over ND, both of their victories coming in South Bend -- the latest a 23-21 upset yesterday afternoon.

The loss drops Notre Dame to 6-3 and puts them out of contention for a BCS bowl bid for the third consecutive year.

Weis took the Irish to BCS bowls his first two seasons, but the program has since slumped badly.

The 2007 season, Weis' third, may have been the worst in Notre Dame's storied history, as the Irish finished 3-9, losing 9 of their first 10 games.

Notre Dame was only 7-6 last year, losing 5 of its last 7 regular-season games before beating Hawaii in Honolulu in the Hawaii Bowl. Among those defeats were a shutout loss at Boston College, a blown, fourth-quarter lead in a home loss to a Syracuse team with a lame-duck coach that had lost 8 games -- the first time in Irish history they were beaten by a team with 8 losses, and a 38-3 rout at Southern Cal in which Notre Dame didn't make a first down until late in the third quarter.

The 15 losses in 2007-08 are the most-ever over a two-year period in Notre Dame history.

This season, the Irish are 6-3, and have needed late-game heroics against Michigan State, Purdue, Washington, and Boston College to pull out narrow victories.

There was considerable debate over Weis would be brought back to coach this season, or whether his contract would be bought out. Those talks will intensify now, as the program continues to flounder in his fifth season at the helm.

BOSTON - The Celtics have been able to count on three things so far this season - the solid play of their second unit, their ability to dominate the third quarter, and their tenacious defense.

When the Celtics starters have struggled, Boston's second unit had always been there to pick them up.

Then, after an emotional halftime speech by one of the Celtics, they would come out and dominate the third quarter, using their ferocious defense to spark the offense. That formula had gotten the Celtics off to a 6-0 start.

But last night was different. Playing a Phoenix Suns team that felt like it had something to prove after being embarrassed by the Orlando Magic in their previous outing, the Suns made sure that the Celtics could not rely on any of their constants.

Boston's second unit struggled, the Suns, who owned a six-point halftime lead, played well in the third quarter, and they were not fazed by Boston's defense or the deafening sellout crowd of 18,624 in the Garden.

The result was a 110-103 victory by the Suns, who handed the Celtics (6-1) their first loss of the season.

The Celtics only trailed by two points entering the fourth quarter, but the Suns opened up the final stanza with an 11-2 run which Jared Dudley capped off with a short jumper that gave the Suns a 96-85 lead with 7:56 remaining in the game.

The Celtics did their best to rally. After back-to-back Rasheed Wallace baskets, the Suns turned the ball over and then called a timeout to try to stop Boston's momentum.

It didn't work.

The Celtics got the ball to Ray Allen out of the timeout, and he buried a 3-pointer with 5:24 left to cut the Phoenix lead to 96-92.

The two teams would go back-and-forth exchanges buckets over the next three minutes which were highlighted by an Allen one-handed jam.

But with 2:41 remaining, the Celtics still trailed by six after a Steve Nash free throw.

A Garnett reverse layup made it 104-100 with 2:29 to go and the Celtics forced the Suns into a bad shot on their ensuing possession, but the Celtics never pulled within four after that.

Amare Stoudemire blocked a Rajon Rondo layup, and a Rasheed Wallace 3-pointer with 1:08 remaining rattled around the rim and then bounced out.

Nash ended any hopes of a Boston comeback when he knocked down a 3-pointer from the left wing to make it 107-100 with 50.9 seconds left.

Jason Richardson led all scorers with 34 points and 10 rebounds.

Garnett (26 points, 8 rebounds) and Kendrick Perkins (12 points, 7 rebounds, 4 blocks) dominated the paint, where the Celtics outscored the Suns, 60-36.

SOUTH KINGSTOWN -- Akeem Richmond scored a team-high 19 points, including 5-for-8 on 3-pointers, as he led the University of Rhode Island to a 93-54 exhibition victory over Concordia University of Montreal at the Ryan Center.

BOSTON -- Both Boston coach Doc Rivers and Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry expect a run-and-gun, high-scoring game.

Rivers said that the Celtics want to play a fast-paced offensive game tonight while slowing down Phoenix's high-paced offense.

Gentry said that he has been very impressed with the way Boston center Kendrick Perkins has been playing defense this year and he won't be surprised if Perkins gets a lot of votes for the NBA All-Defensive team.

Rivers has been equally impressed with Suns center Channing Frye, who, he says, is dangerous both in the post and on the perimiter.

Boston backup forward Brian Scalabrine will not play tonight. He is having back spasms, Rivers said.

Welcome to the TD Garden where the 6-0 Boston Celtics are preparing to take on the 4-1 Phoenix Suns.

Here are some quick notes before the locker room opens:

The Celtics won the season series 2-0 last year with Rajon Rondo leading the Celtics with 27.5 points per game.

Steve Nash averaged 15.5 points per game in the two matchups. It marked the first time since the 2000-01 season that the Celtics had swept the season series.

The Celtics lead the all-time series, 61-47, with the C's holding a 35-17 advantage at home.

It's not Alabama-LSU, and certainly not Patriots-Dolphins, but the Breeder's Cup races to be telecast Friday and Saturday afternoons on ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC are well worth watching.

I'm preaching to the converted by saying this to fans of thoroughbred racing, so it's in hopes of finding converts to what, these days, is a vastly underappreciated sport that I encourage people to tune in and watch at least some of the Breeders Cup races, which are being contested, for the second straight year, at Santa Anita.

The Arcadia, California, track -- it's near L.A., not far from Pasadena -- calls itself "the great race place," and anyone who's ever been there knows that label is justified. There has been great racing at Santa Anita since it opened in 1934. WIth the San Gabriel Mountains as a backdrop, the track seems like a Hollywood set for a movie about horse racing.

The marquee event is the Classic, to be run Saturday at 6:45 (ESPN) over 1-1/4 miles on Santa Anita's synthetic "Pro-Ride" surface for a purse of $5 million. The big story line for the race is whether undefeated Zenyatta, a 5-year-old mare who's never raced against males, can become the first female to win the Classic and, by doing so, improve her career record to 14 wins in as many starts.

It's unfortunate that Rachel Alexandra, the 3-year-old, super-filly who not only won the Preakness, but then beat older horses in the Woodward Stakes at Saratoga this summer -- becoming the first filly ever to beat older males in a two-turn, Grade I dirt race -- is not competing in the Breeder's Cup.

But she's already clinched Horse of the Year honors, and, while she won eight races this year on seven different tracks, her owner, wine magnate Jess Jackson, wants her to run only on natural dirt, not artificial surfaces.

Despite Rachel's absence, there is an abundance of talent entered this weekend, with six races on tap this afternoon (starting at 3:30), and eight more tomorrow (beginning at 1:45).

There will be no shortage of interesting story angles involving the horses, jockeys, trainers, and owners, and the races are sure to be thrilling.

Try it! You'll like it!