In the first round, at least.

Ty Lawson scored 26 points, including a jumper in the lane with 9.3 seconds left, and the Denver Nuggets clinched home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs with a 112-111 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday night.

Wilson Chandler added 21 points for the Nuggets, who are 37-3 at home and have a 22-game winning streak at home. They can secure the No. 3 seed in the West with one more victory or two losses by the Los Angeles Clippers.

“I think it’s huge,” Denver coach George Karl said. “Don’t get me wrong. The teams we’re going to play in the first round are capable of beating us on our home court. I’ve always felt that home court, if it was an even series, it’s tough for teams to win twice on your home court. And our home court, I know teams don’t like to play there. Hopefully mentally they struggle with the thought of playing there.”

Milwaukee lost its season-high fifth game in a row despite Monta Ellis scoring 38 points, one shy of his season high. His six 3-pointers were the most he’s had this season, and he didn’t even attend the morning shootaround because he was sick.

“Now is not the time to throw a pity party,” Ellis said.

Ellis’ four-point play with 14.2 seconds left gave the Bucks a 111-110 lead. Ellis, who had 19 fourth-quarter points, drilled a 3-pointer from the right side and made a free throw after he was fouled by Evan Fournier.

“He’s been a warrior for us all year,” Milwaukee coach Jim Boylan said. “He’s played hurt, sick, he’s done everything. … I can’t say enough about him, he’s had a great season. Without him I don’t know where we would be.”

After a timeout, Lawson got the ball in front of Milwaukee’s bench with Ellis guarding him. Lawson drove to his right and pulled up in the lane to hit the winning shot.

“I just wanted to (isolate),” Lawson said. “I passed to Wilson, got it back, saw a clean side, started pushing real hard and I knew he was trying to bite and make sure I didn’t get to the basket. So I kind of stepped back and had all the time in the world to knock down a shot.”

J.J. Redick, who contributed 20 points for the Bucks, missed a 3-pointer from the center of the arc as time expired.

Milwaukee, which already had clinched the No. 8 spot in the East, finished with a 21-20 record at home.

“We were one defensive stop short,” Ellis said. “J.J. had a great look at it.”

Forward Kenneth Faried did not play because of the left ankle he sprained in Denver’s victory over Portland on Sunday.

That didn’t stop the Nuggets (56-25), who added to their franchise record for victories in a season by winning for the 22nd time in their last 25 games.

JaVale McGee came off the bench and finished with a season-high 17 rebounds and 10 points for Denver, which closes the regular season Wednesday when it hosts Phoenix.

Milwaukee is closing the regular season with no momentum at all. The team has just three victories in its last 15 games and will try to halt a nine-game road losing streak Wednesday at Oklahoma City.

“It’d be nice for us to taste a victory,” Boylan said.

John Henson had 14 points and 15 rebounds for the Bucks, who lost their fifth straight game to Denver.

Milwaukee held a one-point lead with about 1 minute left when Ersan Ilyasova grabbed a rebound off a missed shot by Andre Miller, but he lost the ball out of bounds.

Denver capitalized with a basket by Andre Iguodala for a 108-107 lead with 52 seconds remaining.

Mike Dunleavy missed a shot and Miller’s two free throws gave the Nuggets a 110-107 lead with 25.4 seconds left.

Earlier in the quarter, Denver held a 98-92 lead when Ellis scored eight points in a row. He drilled a 3-pointer, a jump shot and then another 3-pointer to give Milwaukee a 100-98 lead with 4:30 to go.

A slam dunk along the baseline by Ekpe Udoh with 9:20 left gave Milwaukee an 87-86 lead, its first since early in the first quarter.

Game notes

Milwaukee gave up a season-high 46 free-throw attempts; Denver made 32 of them. … Ellis recorded his ninth 30-point game of the season. … The Nuggets finished with a 19-22 mark on the road. … An MRI exam Monday morning showed that Faried sprained a ligament. Faried, who averages 11.5 points and 9.2 rebounds per game, also will miss the final game of the regular season and will be listed as day-to-day for the playoffs. … Center Larry Sanders missed his third game in a row for the Bucks with a sore lower back.

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It’s 40 minutes of trapping and shot challenging, of closing off angles, of trusting teammates.

“We showed,” senior guard Brandon Triche said, “that defense wins games.”

Yes, the Orange D certainly does.

With a second suffocating performance at the East Regional, No. 4-seeded Syracuse shut down No. 3 Marquette 55-39 Saturday to earn coach Jim Boeheim his fourth trip to the Final Four — and first since a freshman named Carmelo Anthony helped win the 2003 NCAA championship.

“A tremendous, tremendous defensive effort,” Boeheim said.

Fittingly, a matchup between schools from the soon-to-break-apart, rough-and-tumble Big East became quite a struggle on the offensive end. Syracuse (30-9) was led by senior forward James Southerland’s 16 points. Michael Carter-Williams, a 6-foot-6 guard who is out front in the zone, was named the regional’s top player after accounting for 12 points, eight rebounds, six assists, five steals and only one turnover Saturday.

Marquette (26-9) hadn’t scored fewer than 47 points all season — and, indeed, put up 74 in a victory over Syracuse on Feb. 25. But this time, Marquette kept turning the ball over, seeing its shots blocked or just plain missing.

The Golden Eagles’ 39 points were a record low for a team in an NCAA tournament regional final since the shot clock was introduced in 1986.

“They beat us from start to finish. We collectively tried everything we knew to try,” Marquette coach Buzz Williams said. “It is the zone, and it is the players in the zone.”

Much like what happened Thursday in the regional semifinals, when Syracuse knocked off top-seeded Indiana by limiting it to a season-low output, too.

“I don’t think we’ve played as good defensively as these last two games,” Triche said. “We held some good teams down.”

Marquette’s 39 points Saturday were the fewest in the shot clock era for an NCAA tournament regional final. Here’s a look:
Points Team Year
39 Marquette (Syracuse, 55-39) 2013
45 Memphis (UCLA, 50-45) 2006
47 Oklahoma (Syracuse, 63-47) 2003
50 Navy (Duke, 71-50) 1986
51 Arizona (Utah, 76-51) 1998
— Associated Press

All told, Marquette made only 12 of 53 shots — 23 percent — and was 3 for 24 on 3-pointers. Vander Blue, who carried Marquette to the round of eight, was held to 14 points on 3-for-15 shooting.

“They cover ground really good. You’ve got to get the ball in the middle, you’ve got to play inside out, you’ve got to get to the free-throw line and wear them down with the 3-pointer when you can,” Blue said. “They’re really good at what they do in that zone.”

Consider these numbers through four games in the tournament: Syracuse is averaging 6.5 blocks and 10.8 steals, while forcing opponents into 29 percent shooting, including 15 percent on 3-pointers.

“We couldn’t get one to drop in from up close,” said Marquette’s Jamil Wilson, who was 0 for 5 on 3-pointers, 1 for 9 overall. “We couldn’t get one to drop in from outside.”

The next team to try to solve that defense will be the winner of Sunday’s South Regional final between Florida and Michigan. Syracuse is 3-0 in national semifinal games under Boeheim.

And to think: Exactly three weeks ago, in this very same building, Syracuse wrapped up its final Big East regular-season schedule before heading to the Atlantic Coast Conference with a bad-as-can-be performance in a lopsided loss to Georgetown. Syracuse’s 39 points that day were the Orange’s tiniest total in a half-century.

That was Syracuse’s fourth loss in a span of five games, a stumbling way to head into tournament play.

That night, Boeheim forgot to adjust his alarm clock to account for daylight saving time, and so showed up late for a pre-practice coaches’ meeting. His players, turned out, had organized their own session without supervision, starting the work it would take to get going in the right direction.

“I watched them for a few minutes and it was really a good thing. I thought our practices were really good after that,” Boeheim said. “You can turn things around in this game.”

Since then, Syracuse has won seven of eight.

“When you bounce back like that, that says a lot about your kids, your team and your character,” Boeheim said. “This is a heck of a bounce back.”

And the secret to success? Defense, naturally.

“We got the right personnel for each key position,” C.J. Fair said. “We got big long guards, we got big long forwards that can cover ground and our centers do a good job holding down the inside.”

Because of that, Syracuse really needed only one run on offense in the second half, making five shots in a row during a spurt that gave it a 41-28 lead with 9½ minutes left.

Last season, Syracuse fell a victory short of the Final Four, losing to Ohio State in the round of eight.

“We wanted to get over the hump,” Southerland said. “That’s what I told the guys: We’ve still got two more to go.”

With President Barack Obama — a basketball fan who picked Indiana to win the title — and NFL Rookie of the Year Robert Griffin III of the Washington Redskins sitting in the crowd, Syracuse harassed Marquette into missing 14 of its first 15 tries from beyond the 3-point arc.

Marquette started 1 for 10 overall on field-goal tries, with Blue’s 3-pointer about 1½ minutes in the only make. He celebrated as though it came at the end of the game, not the outset, punching the air and tapping defender Triche on the back while heading to the other end of the court.

After Blue’s 3, Marquette missed its next seven shots. There would be other such stretches. Six misses in a row. Six misses in a row. Even nine in a row.

The Golden Eagles also went nearly 6½ minutes without a single field-goal attempt in the first half. Forget about putting the basketball through the net; Syracuse was so smothering, Marquette did not even manage to shoot.

When Southerland hit a 3, off a pass and screen by Carter-Williams, the Orange led 24-18 at halftime.

After helping cut down the net to celebrate Saturday, Southerland was asked whether he thought this sort of thing was possible when his team was leaving the same arena on March 9 after losing meekly to Georgetown.

“We just did a good job of recovering from that,” Southerland explained, “and not sulking.”

The post Syracuse smothers Marquette with 2-3 zone, reaches Final Four appeared first on IdealCapper.

Following the San Francisco 49ers’ 34-31 loss to the Ravens in Super Bowl XLVII, Gore claimed that Baltimore “got away with one.”

“It’s tough,” the Niners star running back said. “I just feel like we [were] the better team. They got away with one today. We showed we were the better team. It was just a couple plays here, a couple plays there.”

Gore, who rushed for 110 yards and a touchdown, was instrumental in San Francisco’s second-half rally. The Niners nearly overcame a 22-point deficit, which would have been the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history.

But the Ravens ultimately held on thanks to a defensive stand deep within their own territory.

“I think we’re the better team,” Gore said. “[I’m] just happy the way we kept fighting. Any other team probably would’ve just laid down, and we let people know what type of guys we’ve got in the locker room, type of warriors we are. It just didn’t happen for us today.”

The Niners gained 468 yards of total offense, including 182 rushing yards on 29 carries — an average of 6.3 yards per attempt. Gore, who averaged 5.8 yards per carry, did not complain about getting just 19 touches in the contest.

“We could’ve ran on them all day,” he said. “We called plays that we thought [were] good, and things didn’t happen.”

Gore also did not second-guess the 49ers’ play calling on their final offensive series.

The four-time Pro Bowler did not receive one carry on the decisive goal-to-go series as the Niners handed off to rookie backup LaMichael James on first down before passing the ball on the final three plays, including Colin Kaepernick’s incompletion to Michael Crabtree on fourth down.

“That’s why we’ve got coaches,” Gore said. “Every player wanted the ball at that time, but coach [Jim Harbaugh] made a decision, and we tried our best to make it happen.

“You can’t say [anything] about it. Our coach did a great job of calling plays all game. Those were the plays he called and it just didn’t happen.”

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When the game resumed 34 minutes later, the San Francisco 49ers were the ones playing lights out.

Instead of a blowout, the blackout turned the big game into a shootout.

The Ravens survived the frenzied comeback by the 49ers for a thrilling 34-31 win at the Superdome on Sunday night and their second NFL championship in 11 years.

“How could it be any other way? It’s never pretty. It’s never perfect. But it’s us,” coach John Harbaugh said after winning the sibling showdown with younger brother Jim. “It was us today.”

Barely.

Leading by 22 points when most of the Superdome lights and the scoreboards went dark early in the third quarter, the Ravens used a last-gasp defensive stand to hold on after the momentum strangely swung to the 49ers. San Francisco receiver Michael Crabtree was bumped in the end zone on the 49ers’ final offensive play — the contact appeared incidental — but coach Jim Harbaugh insisted a penalty should have been called.

“There’s no question in my mind that there was a pass interference and then a hold,” Jim Harbaugh said.

As for the foul-up at America’s biggest sporting event, officials revealed that an “abnormality” in the power system triggered an automatic shutdown, forcing backup systems to kick in. But no one was sure what caused the initial problem.

Everything changed after that, though, until Ray Lewis and Co. shut it down. But there were plenty of white-knuckle moments and the Ravens (14-6) had to make four stops inside their 7 at the end.

“I think it speaks to our resolve, speaks to our determination, speaks to our mental toughness,” John Harbaugh said. “That is what wins and loses games.”

For a Super Bowl with so many subplots, it almost had to end with a flourish.

Flacco’s arrival as a championship quarterback coincides with Lewis’ retirement — with a second Super Bowl ring no less. The win capped a sensational month since the star linebacker announced he was leaving the game after 17 Hall of Fame-caliber years.

At 4 hours, 14 minutes, it was the longest Super Bowl ever.

The loss of power left players from both sides stretching and chatting with each other. It also slowed Baltimore’s surge, and that was considerable after Jacoby Jones’ 108-yard kickoff return and Flacco’s three touchdown passes made it 28-6.

Flacco’s big start boosted him to the MVP award.

“They have to give it to one guy and I’m not going to complain that I got it,” said Flacco, who soon will get a rich new contract. His current deal expired with this win.

Down by three TDs, back came San Francisco (13-5-1) in search of its sixth Lombardi Trophy in as many tries.

“As far as the power going out, that didn’t change anything for us,” tight end Vernon Davis said.

Yet they got back in the game almost immediately.

Michael Crabtree’s 31-yard touchdown reception on which he broke two tackles made it 28-13. A couple minutes later, Frank Gore’s 6-yard run followed a 32-yard punt return by Ted Ginn Jr., and the 49ers were within eight.

Ray Rice’s fumble at his 24 led to David Akers’ 34-yard field goal, but Baltimore woke up for a long drive leading to rookie Justin Tucker’s 19-yard field goal.

San Francisco wasn’t done challenging, though, and Colin Kaepernick’s 15-yard TD run, the longest for a quarterback in a Super Bowl, made it 31-29. A 2-point conversion pass failed when the Ravens blitzed.

Tucker added a 38-yarder with 4:19 remaining, setting up the frantic finish.

Kaepernick couldn’t get the 49ers into the end zone on the final three plays, and Ravens punter Sam Koch took a safety for the final score with 4 seconds left. Koch’s free kick was returned by Ginn to midfield as time ran out.

The Harbaughs then met at midfield amid the Ravens’ confetti-laden celebrations.

“It’s very tough,” John Harbaugh said, referring to their conversation. “It’s a lot tougher than I thought it was going to be. It’s very painful.”

Only one other championship game in the NFL’s 80-year title game history, Pittsburgh’s 35-31 win over Dallas in 1979, featured both teams scoring at least 30 points.

In the first half, Flacco was as brilliant as Tom Brady, Joe Montana or Terry Bradshaw ever were in the NFL’s biggest game. The only quarterback to win a playoff game in each of his first five seasons — his coach holds the same distinction — was nearly perfect. Overall, Flacco threw for 11 touchdowns to tie a postseason record, and had no interceptions.

The Ravens stumbled into the playoffs with four defeats in their last five regular-season games as Lewis recovered from a torn right triceps and Flacco struggled. Harbaugh even fired his offensive coordinator in December, a stunning move with the postseason so close.

But that — and every other move Harbaugh, Flacco and the Ravens made since — were right on target. Just like Flacco’s TD passes of 13 yards to Anquan Boldin, 1 to Dennis Pitta and 56 to Jones in the first half, tying a Super Bowl record.

New Orleans native Jones, one of the heroes in a double-overtime playoff win at Denver, seemed to put the game away with his postseason record 108-yard sprint with the second-half kickoff.

Soon after, the lights went out — and when they came back on, the Ravens were almost powerless to slow the 49ers.

Until the final moments.

“The final series of Ray Lewis’ career was a goal-line stand,” Harbaugh said.

Lewis sprawled on all fours, face-down on the turf, after the end zone incompletion.

“It’s no greater way, as a champ, to go out on your last ride with the men that I went out with, with my teammates,” Lewis said. “And you looked around this stadium and Baltimore! Baltimore! We coming home, baby! We did it!”

It was a bitter loss for Jim Harbaugh, the coach who turned around the Niners in the last two years and brought them to their first Super Bowl in 18 years. His team made a similarly stunning comeback in the NFC championship at Atlanta, but couldn’t finish it off against Baltimore.

“Our guys battled back to get back in,” the 49ers coach said. “I thought we battled right to the brink of winning.”

The 49ers couldn’t have been sloppier in the first half, damaging their chances with penalties — including one on their first play that negated a 20-yard gain — poor tackling and turnovers. Rookie LaMichael James fumbled at the Baltimore 25 to ruin an impressive drive, and the Ravens converted that with Flacco’s 1-yard pass to Pitta for a 14-3 lead.

On San Francisco’s next offensive play, Kaepernick threw behind Randy Moss and always dependable safety Ed Reed picked it off. A huge scuffle followed that brought both Harbaughs onto the field and saw both sides penalized 15 yards for unnecessary roughness.

Reed, also a New Orleans native, tied the NFL record for postseason picks with his ninth.

Baltimore didn’t pounce on that mistake for points. Instead, Tucker’s fake field goal run on fourth-and-9 came up a yard short when Chris Culliver slammed him out of bounds.

The Ravens simply shrugged, forced a three-and-out, and then unleashed Jones deep. Just as he did to Denver, he flashed past the secondary and caught Flacco’s fling. He had to wait for the ball, fell to the ground to grab it, but was untouched by a Niner. Up he sprang, cutting left and using his speed to outrun two defenders to the end zone.

Desperate for some points, the 49ers completed four passes and got a 15-yard roughing penalty against Haloti Ngata, who later left with a sprained knee. But again they couldn’t cross the goal line, Paul Kruger got his second sack of the half on third down, forcing a second Akers field goal, from 27 yards.

When Jones began the second half by sprinting up the middle virtually untouched — he is the second player with two TDs of 50 yards or more in a Super Bowl, tying Washington’s Ricky Sanders in 1988 — the rout was on.

Then it wasn’t.

“Everybody had their hand on this game,” 49ers All-Pro linebacker Patrick Willis said. “We point the fingers at nobody. We win together and we lose together, and today we lost it.”

The post Ravens overcome power outage, survive rally to win Super Bowl appeared first on IdealCapper.

Browns offensive coordinator Norv Turner worked well with Smith in San Francisco when he was the team’s offensive coordinator in 2006 and Chiefs coach Andy Reid has expressed an interest in Smith in the past, making Cleveland and Kansas City two possible destinations.

There’s one other factor to consider: If San Francisco deals Smith instead of cutting him, it would save the $1 million or $2 million roster bonus it would have to pay if he is released.

Smith, the 2005 No. 1 overall draft pick, lost his starting job to Colin Kaepernick while sitting out with a concussion but has been professional at every turn and has continued to mentor his replacement.

In fact, coach Jim Harbaugh has indicated that Smith spends more time than he does coaching Kaepernick.

Before his injury, Smith had completed 26 of his last 28 passes — including going 18-of-19 for 232 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions (good to a 157.1 passer rating) in a “Monday Night Football” win at Arizona on Oct. 29.

He then sustained a concussion in the second quarter of the 49ers’ next game, a 24-24 tie against St. Louis on Nov. 11. Smith sat out the next game as Kaepernick dazzled in his debut as an NFL starter, beating the Bears handily at home on “Monday Night Football.” Smith didn’t start again this season.

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Harbaugh’s message to the team was simple: This is the way we got to the Super Bowl, and this is the way we win the Super Bowl.

The San Francisco 49ers’ final meeting Saturday night, meanwhile, featured speeches from coach Jim Harbaugh and wide receiver Randy Moss, who knows the emotional pain of losing the Super Bowl, as he did with the Patriots in failing to complete a perfect season in 2007.

Jim Harbaugh also introduced the 49ers to Col. Jim Minnick, a friend he’s had since the eighth grade. Minnick encouraged the players to leave it all on the field for their teammates, play together and be prepared to overcome adversity because nothing ever goes as planned, offering examples from his military career.

Visitors for the Ravens included New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and newly-inducted Hall of Famer Jonathan Ogden, who played for the Ravens from 1996 to 2007.

Christie met with quarterback Joe Flacco in the team hotel. Both are New Jersey natives and graduates of the University of Delaware. Ogden’s visit generated a lot of excitement in the lobby from fans and players alike.

One 49ers player told ESPN that everybody is well prepared and ready for the game.

“There is nothing but pure excitement,” the player said.

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“I’m sorry if I offended anyone. They were very ugly comments,” Culliver said during an hour-long media session. “Hopefully I learn and grow from this experience and this situation.”

A league official told ESPN NFL Insider Ed Werder that Culliver is unlikely to face discipline because of his inappropriate remarks.

Culliver on Thursday said he would welcome a gay teammate to the 49ers, a reversal of his remarks to Lange two days earlier during an interview at the Superdome.

“I treat everyone equal,” Culliver said. “That’s not how I feel.”

He added that he realized his comments were especially offensive to many people in San Francisco and the Bay Area, which is home to a large gay community.

“I love San Francisco,” Culliver said.

49ers CEO Jed York told reporters that he met with Culliver regarding his comments.

“All I said was, it’s up to you to live up to your apology,” York told reporters. “… He made a very bold statement that he wants to get to know the LGBT community. And I said, ‘it’s up to you. You can either live up to that, and if you don’t, people are going to vilify you and probably rightfully so.’ And I don’t think that’s what Chris is going to do. I think he’s going to step up and be a man about it.”

During the interview with Lange, Culliver responded to questions by saying he wouldn’t welcome a gay player in the locker room. He also said the 49ers didn’t have any gay players, and if they did those players should leave.

San Francisco coach Jim Harbaugh met privately with Culliver to discuss the remarks.

“I reject what he said,” Harbaugh said. “That’s not something that reflects the way the organization feels, the way the rest of the players feel.”

The coach would not discuss if Culliver would face discipline from the team, such as a fine or loss of playing time.

“He pledged to grow from it,” Harbaugh said.

Culliver’s remarks came one day after a pretrial hearing for former 49ers offensive lineman Kwame Harris, who was charged with felony domestic violence and assault charges from an August beating involving a former boyfriend.

The interview began with Lange asking Culliver about his sexual plans with women during Super Bowl week. Lange followed up with a question about whether Culliver would consider pursuing a gay man.

“I don’t do the gay guys, man. I don’t do that,” Culliver said during the one-minute taped interview. “Ain’t got no gay people on the team. They gotta get up outta here if they do. Can’t be with that sweet stuff.”

Lange asked Culliver to reiterate his thoughts, to which the player said, “It’s true.” He added he wouldn’t welcome a gay teammate — no matter how talented.

“Nah. Can’t be … in the locker room, nah,” he said. “You’ve gotta come out 10 years later after that.”

The 24-year-old Culliver, a third-round draft pick in 2011 out of South Carolina, made 47 tackles with two interceptions and a forced fumble this season while starting six games for the NFC champion Niners (13-4-1).

He had his first career postseason interception in San Francisco’s 28-24 win at Atlanta for the NFC title.

The 49ers participate in the NFL’s “It Gets Better” anti-bullying campaign. Three organizations working for LGBT inclusion in sports — Athlete Ally, You Can Play, and GLAAD — reacted to Culliver’s remarks and later acknowledged his apology.

“Chris Culliver’s comments were disrespectful, discriminatory and dangerous, particularly for the young people who look up to him,” said Athlete Ally executive director Hudson Taylor. “His words underscore the importance of the athlete ally movement and the key role that professional athletes play in shaping an athletic climate that affirms and includes gay and lesbian players.”

Meanwhile, Houston Texans linebacker Connor Barwin is adding his voice to the number of NFL athletes who are combating homophobia in sports. Athlete Ally announced that Barden would be the fourth NFL player on a roster of over 6,000 college and professional athletes who have pledged to support fellow athletes regardless of sexual orientation.

“My older brother is gay, and I was raised to respect and value all people. Embracing diversity is something I was always taught to do,” Barwin said. “Becoming an Athlete Ally Ambassador gives me a great opportunity to engage other players, coaches and fans about the importance of inclusiveness. It’s about sportsmanship.”

Other NFL players who have done the same are Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo, Cleveland Browns linebacker Scott Fujita and Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe. The goal of the group is to show that athletes like Culliver don’t speak for everyone, and to provide a voice for inclusion in the locker room.

“It’s disappointing to see Culliver’s remarks about gay rights, but it reminds us all that we need to continuously strive for compassion, tolerance, and respect toward everybody,” Kluwe said. “Hopefully we can use this as a learning experience to create a much better atmosphere in the league so every player can feel free to be who they are.”

Culliver had made it clear to Lange that he would not accept a gay teammate.

Ayanbadejo, who made headlines this season with his vocal support of a gay-marriage initiative in Maryland, said Culliver’s comments to Lange were reflective of how many players in the NFL feel, even if they don’t express it publicly. He hopes the 49ers cornerback will learn from this experience and become a positive role model in the quest for equality.

“You can’t fight hate with hate,” Ayanbadejo said. “You’ve got to fight hate with love.”

Culliver, calling Lange’s questions “real disrespectful,” said he realized he was speaking to a comedian and not a journalist.

“That was pretty much in a joking manner,” the player said. “It’s nothing about how I feel.”

49ers linebacker Patrick Willis said Thursday he believed that Culliver’s apology was sincere.

“He said what he said yesterday and I know that’s not his heart. Culliver is a great kid, great guy. I love having him on our team. He’s really helped our team be what we are. He’s just young and it’s unfortunate that he came off the way that he came off. But like I said, I know he didn’t mean it in his heart,” he said.

Baltimore safety Bernard Pollard said Culliver should be allowed to express his views, even if some people found them offensive.

“The guy’s entitled to his own opinion,” said Pollard, who has acknowledged that he disagrees with Ayanbadejo’s stand on gay marriage. “I’m not going to sit here and knock him. I’m not going to sit here and judge him. It’s freedom of speech. If you don’t like it, don’t listen to it.”

The post Chris Culliver sorry for ‘ugly’ remarks appeared first on IdealCapper.

Swisher passed his physical with the Cleveland Indians on Thursday and signed the four-year, $56 million, free-agent contract he agreed to last month.

The 32-year-old Swisher, born in Columbus, Ohio, will be introduced at a news conference later at Progressive Field. Swisher’s deal includes a vesting option based on plate appearances for 2017.

After trading Shin-Soo Choo last month, the Indians were desperate for a proven right fielder. They pursued Shane Victorino at the winter meetings. But after he signed with Boston, the Indians turned their attention to Swisher, who batted .272 with 24 homers and 93 RBIs last season — his fourth with the New York Yankees.

A switch hitter, Swisher should provide power and versatility to new manager Terry Francona’s lineup. The Indians only hit 136 homers last season, second-fewest in the AL.

Swisher drew interest from several teams, but the Indians were the most aggressive and used his Ohio connections to convince him to come to Cleveland.

When Swisher and his wife, actress Joanna Garcia Swisher, visited Cleveland last month, the club rolled out the scarlet-and-gray carpet to impress them. Swisher attended Ohio State, where he played baseball. The Indians brought in former Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel to have lunch with Swisher, and the team also had recorded messages from coach Urban Meyer as well as Buckeyes basketball coach Thad Matta play on the giant scoreboard, urging him to come “home.”

Francona’s arrival in Cleveland also had an impact on Swisher.

Swisher’s father, Steve, managed Francona in the minor leagues. Francona has known Swisher since he was a kid.

Swisher is just one of three American Leaguers to hit at least 20 homers in each of the past eight seasons. He’s a career .256 hitter with 209 homers and 673 RBIs in nine seasons with Oakland, the Chicago White Sox and Yankees.

With New York concerned about avoiding the luxury tax in the future, the Yankees did not go after Swisher after he turned down a qualifying offer from them. Once Swisher signed with the Indians, New York general manager Brian Cashman said he thought “Cleveland got a bargain.”

Swisher made the AL’s All-Star team in 2010, when he batted .288 with 29 homers and 89 RBIs.

His signing is among many moves made this offseason by the Indians, who collapsed in August — going 5-24 — and finished 68-94 last season. The first change may have been the biggest as manager Manny Acta was fired and replaced by Francona, who won two World Series titles with Boston.

Cleveland also signed free agent first baseman Mark Reynolds and acquired center fielder Drew Stubbs and prized-pitching prospect Trevor Bauer in a nine-player, three-team trade with Cincinnati and Arizona.

The Indians have an agreement with right-hander Brett Myers on a one-year, $7 million contract pending a physical. Myers likely would take one of the openings in the club’s starting rotation.

Cleveland remains in the market for a designated hitter.

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Coach Jim Larranaga says Johnson is expected to be sidelined six to eight weeks.

A starter since his sophomore season, Johnson already has missed four games. He has played in seven games and is averaging 12.6 points and 10.1 rebounds.

The Hurricanes (8-3) host LaSalle on Wednesday and open ACC play Saturday at Georgia Tech.

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