Professional Sports Day

NFL Wildcard Playoff Betting Trends

admin — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 09:03:48 +0000

NFL Wildcard Playoff Betting Trends
NFL playoff Free Picks and handicapping trends for football bettors

PREVIEW-Golf-The beauty and beast of the Match Play Championship (Reuters)
As Tiger Woods knows only too well, the beauty and, for many, the brutality of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship lies in its uncertainty.

Say goodbye to Predrag Drobnjak and his Manjaks

admin — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 09:03:46 +0000

Say goodbye to Predrag Drobnjak and his Manjaks
NBA fans have seen many Europeans come to the league over the last decade without making a Nowitzkian or Gasolesque impact: Sarunas Jasikevicius
Sergei Monia
Jiri Welsch
Maciej Lampe
and Aleksandr Radojevic are just five of many. This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise — there are few true stars in the league
and foreign countries should be capable of producing uninspiring fringe prospects just like America can.Every so often
though
one of these players finds a way to distinguish himself in the league even as his career peters out. For Predrag Drobnjak
a native of Montenegro who spent four seasons as a big man with the Sonics
Clippers and Hawks from 2001 to 2005
that fame came in the form of what is undoubtedly the greatest individual player website of all time. It’s called Drobnjak’s Manjaks
and it features ramshackle Flash animation worthy of a Michel Gondry project. Drobnjak retired last week after 19 years in professional basketball. While he may not have lit the nba on fire
he had a great career
winning two gold medals at the World Championships with Yugoslavia. Despite those accomplishments
Drobnjak will be best remembered for his website
not his play.That’s perfectly fine. Because when you venture over to Drobnjak’s Manjaks
it’s impossible not to smile. You can listen to Peja’s Robert De Niro impression
or his advice to kids (“Stay in school … it’s free!”). There are also regular appearances by his cat Jinkies. It’s hard to explain any single part of Drobnjak’s Manjaks
but it all comes together to show that Predrag was one of the more lovable athletes in the league during his time with Seattle.There are few better ways to honor a retired player than by saying he brought every fan joy. With this website
Predrag Drobnjak did exactly that. May he spend the rest of his life on his couch with Jinkies and a pile of Robert De Niro DVDs.(Website link via @kpelton and @mhaubs)
Saints release TE Shockey (AP)
For flamboyant tight end Jeremy Shockey
the party is over — at least in New Orleans. Shockey was released Tuesday by the Saints
who appear ready to move on with promising second-year pro and 2010 third-round draft choice Jimmy Graham. Shockey was no stranger to the Big Easy social scene and also helped give the city a reason to celebrate like never before.

Kendall makes clutch birdie to clinch title in Colombia (PGATOUR.com)

admin — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 04:54:05 +0000

Kendall makes clutch birdie to clinch title in Colombia (PGATOUR.com)
BOGOTA, Colombia—Skip Kendall rolled in a 25-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to win the Pacific Rubiales Colombia Championship, the first tournament on the 2012 Nationwide Tour schedule. Kendall needed only an even-par 71 at the Country Club of Bogota to claim his third career title. Kendall finished at 10-under 274 but had to wait to see if fellow third-round co-leader, and playing partner, Andrew Svoboda would make his 20-foot birdie putt that would have forced a playoff. Svoboda’s putt came up inches short putting Kendall back in the winner’s circle for the first time since the 2007 Chitimacha Louisiana Open. “It was one of those putts that you could get a good line on and I had a really good feeling over it,” said Kendall, who picked up a check for $108,000. “Fortunately I hit a good putt and to see it tracking towards the middle of the hole was pretty special. In a way, I’m glad I went first and made the putt.” At 47 years, 5 months and 10 days Kendall also becomes the fourth-oldest to win in Tour history. Svoboda held the lead during much of the final round after a birdie at No. 5 but couldn’t muster any more and played the final nine holes 2 over. His 1-over 72 left him at 9-under 275 and tied with Andres Gonzales, who shot a 3-under 68 and was done at 9-under and hoping for a playoff. James Hahn (70) and 49-year old Kirk Triplett (72) tied for fourth, two shots back of Kendall. Svoboda and Kendall began the final in a share of the lead with Triplett only one back. Kendall was forced to chase the lead after starting his day with back-to-back bogeys. “I was thinking about that when I was out there. In a way, it relaxed me because I figured I got my bogeys out of the way,” he said. “I thought, let’s just move on and try to hit solid shots. I knew Andrew was ahead of me all day at 11-under so I figured if I could hang on to his coattails and try to catch him that I’d be in pretty good shape.” Kendall, a veteran of 591 combined starts on the PGA TOUR and Nationwide Tour, hung tough and canned a couple of birdies to take sole possession of the lead midway through the back nine. “I was watching the leaderboards on the back nine and it was good to see that no one was going real low and I wouldn’t have to play catch up,” he said. “It was tough to get at some of the pins today. I played very solid all day. I think I only missed two greens.” Kendall stumbled with a bogey at No. 16 to drop into a tie. He and Svoboda came to the 570-yard, 18th still tied for the lead. “I knew Andres was in at 9-under and I knew I needed something,” he said after the threesome all laid up short of the water that guards the front of the green. “I was a little disappointed that my wedge came up that much short.” Fourth-Round Notes: • Sunday’s weather: Partly to mostly cloudy with light afternoon rain showers. Wind W-NW 5-10 mph. High of 66. • With his win today, Kendall becomes the fourth-oldest winner in Nationwide Tour history: • With his win today, Kendall also becomes the third consecutive player in his 40s to win this tournament: Oldest winners Player Age Event Kirk Triplett 49 years, 4 months, 29 days 2011 News Sentinel Open Steve Pate 48 years, 9 months, 11 days 2010 Pacific Rubiales Bogota Open Dick Mast 48 years, 6 months, 17 days 1999 New Mexico Classic Skip Kendall 47 years, 5 months, 10 days 2012 Pacific Rubiales Colombia Championship Allen Doyle 47 years, 3 months, 26 days 1995 Tour Championship Allen Doyle 47 years, 1 month, 1 day 1995 Texarkana Open 2010 Steve Pate—48 years, 9 months, 11 days 2011 Brenden Pappas—40 years, 9 monhts, 29 days 2012 Skip Kendall—47 years, 5 months, 10 days • Skip Kendall’s win comes in his 179th career start on the Nationwide Tour. He first joined the Tour in 1991. • Andrew Svoboda’s T2 finish his career best. Svoboda, in his third full season on Tour, had five previous top-10 finishes. His previous best were a trio of seventh-place finishes—2010 Knoxville News Sentinel Open (T7), 2010 Utah Championship (T7) and 2011 Midwest Classic (7). • Andres Gonzales matched his career-best finish with his T2. Gonzales was a playoff runner-up at the 2011 Soboba Golf Class. • Veteran Kevin Johnson fired a 3-under 67 to move into a tie for sixth place, his first top-10 since he won the 2009 Knoxville Open in a playoff. Johnson, a six-time Tour winner, did not have a top-10 in 26 starts on the PGA TOUR in 2010 nor did he have a top-10 in 14 Nationwide Tour starts in 2011. • Rookie Tom Hoge (Hoagie), making only his second career start, shot a 3-under 68 to finish at 7-under 277 and tied for sixth. Hoge, a 2011 graduate of TCU, missed the cut at the 2011 WNB Golf Classic (Midland, TX) in his only Nationwide Tour start. • Kirk Triplett was trying to add his name to the record book as the oldest winner in Nationwide Tour history, again. Triplett, who turns 50 on March 29, already owns the mark, thanks to his win at the News Sentinel Open in Knoxville last year. He won at the age of 49 years, 4 months and 29 days. • Six players were making their first Nationwide Tour start this week. Jeff Cuzzort 75-74—149 m/c Erik Flores 67-68-74-72—281 T20 Paul Haley 71-71-67-74—283 T33 Bio Kim 73-69-70-75—287 T58 Adam Long 76-72—148 m/c Hudson Swafford 68-69-70-75—282 T27 • Earlier in the week, former President Bill Clinton was in town to play in the Wednesday Pro-Am. D.J. Brigman, the Chairman of the Nationwide Tour Players Advisory Council, had the honor playing with President Clinton and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. Joining them were Jose Francisco Arata, the president and executive director of Pacific Rubiales Energy, the tournament sponsor, and German Calle, the tournament executive director. Brigman carded rounds of 69-69-70-75 and finished T33. • Best rounds of the day: 67—Kevin Johnson, Bronson La’Cassie • Lift, clean and place conditions were in effect for rounds one and two but NOT for round three or round four. • Scoring averages for the week: • The Nationwide Tour will take next week off before heading to Central America for the Panama Claro Championship Feb. 27 to March 4. Front 9 (35) Back 9 (36) Total (71) Cumulative Round 1 35.750 36.792 72.542 Round 2 35.307 35.978 71.285 Round 3 34.616 36.658 71.274 Round 4 35.969 36.014 71.973 71.831

Steelers’ Ward offers to rework contract (AP)

admin — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:18:13 +0000

Steelers’ Ward offers to rework contract (AP)
PITTSBURGH (AP)—Steelers’ wide receiver Hines Ward wants to finish his career in Pittsburgh, offering to restructure his contract to do it. Ward posted on his Facebook page Saturday that he’s already told the Steelers he’s willing to work with them on altering his deal so he can remain with the team. Ward’s comments came after NFL.com reported the team was planning to cut the franchise’s all-time leading receiver. The 35-year-old Ward is scheduled to make $4 million in 2012. He’s coming off a season in which he finished with 46 receptions for 381 yards and two touchdowns, the lowest totals in each category since he was a rookie in 1998. Ward became the eighth player in league history to reach 1,000 career receptions in the regular-season finale against Cleveland.

‘Doritos Girl’ Ali Landry shares scars from Super Bowl commercial

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:18:11 +0000

‘Doritos Girl’ Ali Landry shares scars from Super Bowl commercial
Ali Landry in 1999 (L) and 2012If you’re looking for a textbook example of overnight celebrity, you couldn’t do much better than Ali Landry. Landry became a sensation in 1998 when she starred in an ad for Doritos that aired during the Super Bowl and also starred a pre-”Will & Grace” Sean Hayes. The ad featured Landry performing stunts in a laundromat, much to the delight of her male admirers. To say it helped launch Landry’s career would be a huge understatement; the ad changed everything. We caught up with the onetime Miss USA, who has since become a successful businesswoman, to talk about her memories of that famous ad, the scar it left behind, as well as what she’s up to now. The Doritos commercial is one of the iconic ads in Super Bowl history. How did it happen? I hadn’t had many auditions. I’m from a small town in Louisiana. Los Angeles was very overwhelming. I remember walking into this room with wall-to-wall gorgeous girls. And I remember thinking, “I’m not up for this today.” I looked at the storyboards. They said, “You sort of have to dance around and do these tricks to James Bond music and pretend you’re catching something with your mouth.” [ More on Yahoo!: Full coverage of the biggest Super Bowl parties ] I was into dancing and gymnastics my entire life. And I think this is where my experience played a big part. And I got the job. I couldn’t believe it. It was my very first commercial. They told me it was going to be on during the Super Bowl. I don’t think I’d ever watched the Super Bowl before. My father’s a big football fan, but I didn’t know the commercials during the Super Bowl were a big deal. So, we shot the commercial, and it was great and really fun, and I just thought it was really cool that I got a job. And then literally the next day, I had people calling me to see if I could sing, because they wanted to offer me a record deal. It was that crazy. So there was a series of commercials. Right. The first one was in a laundromat, and the next was on a tennis court. When we shot the one on the tennis court, they had to glue, with surgical glue, a chip to my forehead, and then they pulled it off with fishing wire. And then, for the commercial, they ran the footage in reverse. Well, I still have that scar from the chip. So, I always say, “I will be forever scarred by Doritos.” So you knew the commercial, the first one, was going to air during the Super Bowl? I had heard that, but it didn’t really faze me because I didn’t know the significance of it. I didn’t know that these were coveted roles. I didn’t know people waited every single year to see what commercials were great. I had no idea. I remember being at a Super Bowl party, and I didn’t tell anyone that the commercial was going to be on. I just really didn’t think it was such a big deal. So when it came on and I’m sitting with people who didn’t know I was going to be on a commercial during the Super Bowl, and I saw everyone’s reaction, it was a bit shocking for me. Is there anything you regret about those commercials? No, no, I loved it. It’s fun when you’re involved with something that people really respond to. Even four or five years after the commercials, people would still say, “Doritos girl.” And I didn’t mind, because I really had such an incredible experience. People look back on that commercial with really fond memories. For me to be a part of that, it’s a good thing. And I’ve done so many things since then, I’m grateful. So, you went to L.A. to become an actress. The Doritos commercials must have sped up the process quite a bit. Actually, I never had aspirations to be an actress. I was in college in Louisiana. I was determined to not have my job be one where I bring somebody coffee. That was really important to me. I was not cut out for that. I wanted to compete in Miss USA because I figured I could meet some great people and get a good job. After Miss USA, that brought me out to L.A. I wasn’t even really interested in signing with an agency, but a friend of mine from Louisiana worked at William Morris. I met the agent, and I remembered I totally botched up the interview, because I said I wanted to be a businesswoman. Then, after the Doritos commercial aired and I started getting all these calls, it forced me to re-evaulate my goals and look at the opportunities that were in front of me at the time. That’s when I decided to get into acting. Even as a child, I’ve been involved with everything. I performed, and I danced, so it was definitely something I always enjoyed, but it wasn’t my goal. And what are you up to now? You now have a children’s clothing line, correct? I do have a children’s clothing line. I just sold my very first television show. That’s going to be on the TV Guide Network. I have a product review website I’m about to launch, called “Spokesmoms.” I feel like, over the past two years, I’ve come into my own. I have a family now. I feel like I’m doing exactly what I was meant to do. It sounds like you were right when you said you wanted to be a businesswoman. Because that’s what you are today. Yes. I do love that. But I also love creating things. It’s very exciting to me to go out and sell a project, pitch a project. It’s fair to say your life has changed dramatically since the Doritos days. Yes, dramatically. But I would have to say Doritos really opened the door for me. Would you ever consider doing another commercial for Doritos, a sequel? If they would have me, I would absolutely do it.

Mayer, Souza advance at Vina Del Mar (AP)

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:36:25 +0000

Mayer, Souza advance at Vina Del Mar (AP)
VINA DEL MAR, Chile (AP)—Leonardo Mayer of Argentina and Brazil’s Joao Souza advanced to the second round at the VTR Open on Monday. Mayer defeated Santiago Giraldo of Colombia, 7-6 (5), 6-1 on the red clay courts, while Souza won over Filippo Volandri of Italy, 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5). The top four seeds in the tournament have byes into the second round. Argentine Juan Monaco is seeded No. 1 and countryman Juan Ignacio Chela is No. 2. Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci is No. 3 and Pablo Andujar of Spain is No. 4.

Rose’s 35 carry Bulls over Wizards 98-88 (AP)

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 04:00:16 +0000

Rose’s 35 carry Bulls over Wizards 98-88 (AP)
WASHINGTON (AP)—Derrick Rose scored a season-high 35 points, Carlos Boozer had 18 and Kyle Korver added 17 to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 98-88 win over the Washington Wizards on Monday night. One day after a four-point loss in Miami, the Bulls rebounded to improve their Eastern Conference-leading record to 18-5. They had lost two of their last three. Meanwhile, the Wizards have lost 16 of 20. Washington won two of its previous three games—both against the woeful Charlotte Bobcats, who have the worst record in the NBA. Rose, who was 10 for 20 from the field and 14 of 15 from the free-throw line, had 34 points in his previous two games. He had 13 in the first quarter for the Bulls, who never trailed. John Wall led the Wizards with 20 points, while Nick Young had 17 and JaVale McGee scored 16. Chicago quickly opened up a 21-10 lead and had a 26-16 advantage after the first quarter. Midway through the second, the Wizards scored seven straight to cut the lead to 36-30, but the Bulls stretched their lead to 51-40 at halftime. Korver had 14 in the first half, including four 3-pointers. Chicago ran off 11 straight points in the third quarter to take a 70-49 lead with 5:24 left. Rose had 15 of the Bulls’ 25 points in the third. Rose was upset about Chicago’s loss on Sunday—when he missed a pair of key throws and a potential tying jumper in the final 30 seconds—and vowed not to let it happen again before Monday’s game. “If I ever get in that position again, I know it will be totally different. Yesterday isn’t going to do anything but make me stronger as a player,” Rose said. Against Washington, Rose came out quickly—hitting six of eight from the field in the first quarter. When the teams last met on Jan. 11, the Wizards scored just 64 points— fewest in franchise history. They lost that game by 14. This game was slightly more competitive for Washington, but it never seriously challenged in the second half. Early in the fourth, the Bulls led by 19, but Washington cut it to eight with 6:50 to play. Boozer hit three straight baskets, and Chicago led 92-78. Notes: Wizards F Andray Blatche will miss three-to-five weeks with a strained left calf, coach Randy Wittman announced before the game. … Washington recalled C Hamady Ndiaye from Iowa of the D-League. … The Bulls played without G Richard Hamilton (right thigh) and F Luol Deng (left wrist). It was the fifth straight game Deng missed. … This was the second of a nine-game road trip for Chicago—its longest since 1992-93. … The Bulls have won seven straight between the teams. … The attendance was 18,357—highest of the season.

Mattek-Sands, Tecau win mixed doubles (AP)

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:36:15 +0000

Mattek-Sands, Tecau win mixed doubles (AP)
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP)—American Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Romanian Horia Tecau won the mixed doubles title at the Australian Open on Sunday, beating Elena Vesnina and Leander Paes 6-3, 5-7, 10-3. It was the first Grand Slam victory for the 26-year-old Mattek-Sands, known as much for her eccentric on-court attire as her tennis. For the final, she wore a lime, one-sleeve top, black skirt, black knee-high socks, purple streaks in her hair and her regular eye black on her cheeks. Tecau also captured his first Grand Slam title. He has lost twice before in the men’s doubles final at Wimbledon. Paes, a 38-year-old doubles specialist from India, was playing in his second championship match in as many days. He won the men’s doubles trophy with Radek Stepanek on Saturday night.

Top 20 Countdown: No. 16 Jeff Burton (Yahoo! Sports)

admin — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 02:00:07 +0000

Top 20 Countdown: No. 16 Jeff Burton (Yahoo! Sports)
Editor’s note: Yahoo! Sports is counting down the top 20 drivers of the 2012 season, as predicted by the Yahoo! Sports NASCAR staff: Jay Hart, Jay Busbee, Nick Bromberg and Geoffrey Miller. The countdown will conclude Feb. 17 with the unveiling of the No. 1 driver. 2011 statistics Finish Poles Wins Top 5 Top 10 20 0 0 2 5 The countdown No. 20: Marcos Ambrose | Career stats No. 19: Kurt Busch | Career stats No. 18: Martin Truex Jr. | Career stats No. 17: Juan Pablo Montoya | Career stats No. 16: Jeff Burton | Career stats No. 15: Revealed Monday, Jan. 30 2011 finish: 20th Our 2012 predictions:• Jay Hart: 14th• Jay Busbee: 20th• Nick Bromberg: 18th• Geoffrey Miller: 13th Crew chief: Drew Blickensderfer Offseason action: Lost Clint Bowyer as a teammate; gained Blickensderfer as his new crew chief. 2012 outlook: Was anyone more excited for the 2011 season to end than Burton? Without question, 2011 was one of the worst seasons in Burton’s 18-year Cup career. His first top 10 didn’t come until Aug. 15, he only had four more after that and wound up 20th in the standings – his lowest finish since his sophomore season back in 1995. In short, it was a nightmare from beginning to almost the end for a driver used to running up front. The “almost the end” part is the good news for Burton. Because while the first eight and a half months were miserable, Burton posted top 10s in four of the final five races of 2011, including a near win at Talladega in October. To get back to running up front, Burton must gel with new crew chief Drew Blickensderfer, who’s a bit of an enigma himself. Blickensderfer won his first two races as a Cup crew chief, including the 2009 Daytona 500 with Matt Kenseth, but since then has experienced a rocky road. Jack Roush yanked him from Kenseth’s pit box just one race into the 2010 season, relegated him to the Nationwide Series, then gave him another Cup opportunity with David Ragan. Now Blickensderfer is on the move to Richard Childress Racing, which is one car lighter with the departure of Clint Bowyer and the No. 33, which presumably means Burton and the 31 will get that much more attention. The question Burton faces in 2012 is whether 2011 was an aberration or, at 44, are his skills on the decline? Considering he’s made the Chase in four of the last six years, Burton deserves the benefit of the doubt. Point of interest: Burton’s winless streak sits at 113 races. His last win came at Charlotte on Oct. 11, 2008.

Darvish excited to be with Rangers (AP)

admin — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 09:36:04 +0000

Darvish excited to be with Rangers (AP)
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP)—Yu Darvish is coming to America to pitch, for the team he really wanted to join for his next challenge. Japan’s best pitcher will play for the Texas Rangers, who scouted him for more than two years and then needed nearly every minute of a 30-day negotiating window before finalizing a $60 million, six-year contract Wednesday. It is a total investment of more than $111 million with a record posting fee. “The Rangers more so than any other team showed great, not only interest in scouting him, but a lot of personal time in developing a relationship with him,” said Arn Tellem, one of Darvish’s agents. “That personal connection was very significant to Yu and his family.’ There is also the much-anticipated boost the 25-year-old Darvish could provide to the Rangers, who have been to the last two World Series without winning the title. “Yu is excited about helping a team that has not won achieve that goal,” Tellem said. “He’s really thrilled to be coming here. This is where he wanted to be.” In addition to the salary, the Rangers will pay a posting fee of $51,703,411 to the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters of Japan’s Pacific League. The last two numbers in that amount are the jersey numbers of Rangers President and Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan (34) and Darvish (11). “When you talk about those kind of dollars, it’s high risk, but I also think he’s probably the most upside player I’ve ever seen come out of Japan,” Ryan said. “Having a free agent of that age, and with the fact that he’s been durable and has such feel for the baseball, I just think that he’s extremely unique.” The Rangers’ window to exclusively negotiate with the pitcher began Dec. 19 when their bid was accepted by the Fighters. The contract was finally completed a few minutes before the 4 p.m. CST deadline Wednesday, or Darvish would have stayed in Japan. Rangers general manager Jon Daniels, who described the move as a “step-out deal” for the team, said negotiations were never contentious. He said there were good reasons for Texas to want a six-year deal. “How often do you get a chance to sign a 25-year-old free agent? It’s a pretty unique opportunity, so you tend to look at things a little differently when you look at somebody that age and the years of the deal take him into his prime,” Daniels said. “And secondly, with the nature of the posting process and the size of the post, size of our bid, it made sense to amortize it out over a longer period.” Darvish was home in Japan, where he returned for offseason training after his first and only visit to Texas two weeks ago. The Rangers plan to formally introduce Darvish on Friday night. On his website, Darvish posted a note acknowledging his new team. “I will have a press conference first in America and then come back to Japan at which point I will express my gratitude to my fans here in Japan,” he wrote. Darvish had a 93-38 record with a 1.99 ERA over the past seven seasons in Japan. The 6-foot-5 right-hander was a two-time Pacific League MVP and a five-time All-Star. He led the league in strikeouts three times, in ERA twice and won two Gold Gloves. “The thing that stood out probably is just his passion for the game and trying to be the best he can possibly be,” said Ryan, the major league strikeout king who pitched a record 27 seasons. The deal surpasses what Daisuke Matsuzaka got when he left Japan and signed with the Boston Red Sox just more than five years ago. Dice-K got a $52 million, six-year deal and the Red Sox also had to pay a $51.111 million posting fee that was the highest for a Japanese player before what the Rangers bid for Darvish. When Ichiro Suzuki used the posting system in 2000 to get to the major leagues, the Seattle Mariners won the right negotiate with a bid of about $13 million, then signed him to a $14 million, three-year contract. Through last season, 38 Japan-born pitchers had appeared in the major leagues. There were nine last season, including relievers Yoshinori Tateyama and Koji Uehara with the Rangers. Both are still on the 40-man roster in Texas. Matsuzaka is 49-30 with a 4.25 ERA in 106 games (105 starts) in five seasons with the Red Sox since his high-profile move from the Seibu Lions to Boston in December 2006 when he was 26 years old. He missed most of last season after right elbow surgery and is going into the final year of his contract, worth about $10 million. Darvish, the son of an Iranian father and a Japanese mother, went 18-6 with a 1.44 ERA last season in Japan, when he made the equivalent of about $6 million. He had 276 strikeouts to lead the Pacific League. Darvish, who turned pro at 18, pitched in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and was a member of the Japanese team that won the 2009 World Baseball Classic. The right-hander has superb control and throws as many as seven effective pitches.