Jol downplays Dempsey loan to Fulham speculation

Fulham manager Martin Jol downplayed rumors suggesting American midfielder Clint Dempsey is in line for a winter loan to the London club.

"It’s unbelievable speculation, which is nice," he told reporters. "I never talk about players, especially when they are not here."

Dempsey starred for Fulham between 2007 and 2012 before moving to Tottenham in the summer of 2012. He spent less than a year with Tottenham before returning to the United States in August 2013 to join the Seattle Sounders as the highest-paid player in Major League Soccer.

Kevin Durant says he’s not so obsessed with winning a championship this season

For basketball fans of a particular age, Michael Jordan represents the ideal of superstar comportment and attitude. That belief extends to his quality of play, certainly, but primarily focuses on his single-minded focus and take-no-prisoners approach to winning. For Jordan, everything related to himself and the team had to lead towards winning a title. If it didn't, it did not suit his aims.

To a certain extent, any great player who does not evince this same level of determination (like, say, LeBron James) is thought to be lacking. Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Kevin Durant, however, has never thought to be less than intensely focused on his goals. While Durant has a deserved reputation as a nice guy, he's also one of the fiercest competitors in the NBA.

However, it's possible that Durant has occasionally let his intensity get the better of him. In an interview with Darnell Mayberry for The Oklahoman, Durant explains that he's trying not to be quite so obsessed about winning a title in 2013-14:

Redskins name protestors approach team bus in Denver

Protests of the Washington Redskins name are following the team around the country. This past weekend in Denver, protestors got up close and personal with the team.

As the Redskins team bus approached Sports Authority Field at Mile High, some of the estimated hundred-plus protestors approached the bus, bearing signs and seeking to get attention for their cause.

“We caused those players on the buses to have to stop," Glenn Morris of the American Indian Movement of Colorado told the Washington Post. "Those players had to stop and take notice that there are Native people in Denver, Colorado, who are opposed to what they’re doing ... And we were saying to them as predominantly African American players, you should understand the history of this team. And you should understand your own personal role in continuing racism through this team. And we hope that we piqued their conscience and got them to think a little bit about that, and their own personal role in this national debate.”

Minnesota Vikings Flop on Primetime Once Again

COMMENTARY | The final score of Sunday night's fiasco between the Minnesota Vikings and the Green Bay Packers was about the only thing that was respectable from the standpoint of the purple and white. Those who didn't watch the game may believe that the Vikings played an inspired game in the 44-31 Packers' victory, but nothing could be farther from the truth.

 

The Vikings were dominated offensively and defensively and if not for two garbage touchdowns against the Green Bay reserves, the final score would have been much more indicative of how the game was actually played.

 

Yes, Christian Ponder was ineffective for the most part, and the team's final two drives definitely padded his stats, but the real story on Sunday night was the defense, or lack of, as the Packers scored on all eight possessions and never punted once.

Three Pitchers the Chicago Cubs Should Acquire (And David Price Isn't One)

COMMENTARY | It's not what Chicago Cubs fans want to hear, but 2014 is probably not going to offer much respite from the doldrums of mediocrity of the previous few years.

The only thing keeping Cubs fans from flipping their proverbial lids is the hope/promise/presumption that this rebuilding plan of Theo Epstein and company is finally going to bring the Cubs to relevance, and eventually to a World Series championship.

The beginnings of that relevance are loosely presumed to be around 2015, when the Cubs' current set of up-and-comers -- think Albert Almora, Javier Baez, Jorge Soler, Kris Bryant, etc. -- are projected to start contributing en masse to the big-league club.

Don't blame Urban Meyer for Ohio State running up the score

There was Penn State coach Bill O'Brien's long, seemingly bothered, stare across the Ohio Stadium field. There was O'Brien and Urban Meyer engaging in something that looked like a dead-fish postgame handshake.

There was a three-second pause when O'Brien was asked whether he was bothered when Meyer, who, after Ohio State was already up 49 points in the third quarter, decided to challenge a ruling on the field Saturday night.

"He didn't think we had a first down, so he called time out to challenge it," O'Brien said after the Buckeyes' 63-14 annihilation of the Nittany Lions. "I have no thoughts on that."

This year's Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup defies predictability

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service

Distributed by The Sports Xchange

The 2013 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup has no respect for conventional wisdom.

Think about it. Matt Kenseth led the standings by four points midway through this year's championship battle, as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series headed to Talladega for the sixth Chase race.

Kenseth has embraced restrictor-plate racing, having won the 2009 and 2012 Daytona 500s as well as the 2012 Chase race at Talladega.

Johnson, on the other hand, has said he'd gladly take a 10th-place finish at Talladega and watch the race from his couch.