Dodgers resign NL Cy Young winner
The Dodgers faithful haven’t had a whole lot to cheer about as of late, but they can smile at least for today as the franchise was able to resign pitching star Clayton Kershaw. Los Angeles was scheduled to have a February 14th arbitration hearing if they were unable to sign the left-hander before that date. Kershaw and the Dodgers agreed on a two-year deal, worth $19 million. The team’s new general manager, Ned Colletti, said “It was a full-length process. We had one-year discussions, two-year discussions and four-year discussions. There were a lot of different things in play at the time.” Colletti said in the same interview. Kershaw proved to be the most dominant pitcher in the National League in 2011, playing on a $500,000 salary last season.
Ricky Williams retires from NFL
It’s been a long, strange road for running back Ricky Williams, but after 11 NFL seasons he’s calling it a career. Originally drafted by Mike Ditka’s New Orleans Saints in 1999, Williams had his best years with the Miami Dolphins, with three 1,000 yard seasons with the team. The 34-year-old rusher debated retiring after being suspended by the NFL for the 2006 season due violating the league’s substance abuse policy. The former Texas Longhorn went to the Canadian Football League that year, and then returned to the Dolphins the following year. Williams would rejoin the NFL in 2007 and just two seasons later posted his last career 1,000 yard season. He finished his career playing with the Baltimore Ravens in 2011, where he posted 444 yards in a contributing role to starting running back Ray Rice.
Jeremy Lim stepping up for Knicks
The New York Knicks might have found themselves a diamond in the rough, as second year point guard Jeremy Lin has recently blossomed into a star. After scoring just 32 points total in his first 22 games, Lin came off the bench against the Nets on Saturday and ended up scoring 25 points, while dishing out seven assists and grabbing five rebounds to boot. The Harvard grad then started Monday against the Jazz, and scored 28 points, to go along with eight assists and two rebounds. Originally undrafted, Lin bounced from summer league team to summer league team before signing with the Golden State Warriors in July 2010. After being waived by the team during the first week of training camp this season, Lin was signed by the Knicks in December. With Carmelo Anthony out for two weeks, and point guard Baron Davis still recovering from injury, Lin is going to be counted on more and more in the coming weeks, and he definitely seems up to the challenge and pressure of playing home games at Madison Square Garden.
Bryant moves up on scoring list
Kobe Bryant recently moved into fifth place on the NBA all-time scoring list, passing longtime teammate Shaquille O’ Neal. Bryant scored 28 points Monday night in a losing effort against the Philadelphia 76ers, putting his career total at 28,601. Bryant is the all-time leading average scorer in terms of average PPG averaging 29.4 points per game. Bryant now stands behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain in terms of total career points.
