Page 30 - 4-17-15 Friday's Edition

Sports
Jameis Winston
Bucks Jabari Parker Rehabbing Season- Ending Knee Injury
JABARI PARKER
Bucks forward Jabari Parker said he is making progress in his rehab from a knee injury, but is uncommit- ted on when he'll return.
"I don't know what my timetable is," Parker said. "I'm just getting better and im- proving. I don't measure my- self to where I was last year. I think I want to go far ahead, so who knows the ceiling to that. It's going to be a while of course, so I don't have any timetable."
Parker is three months re- moved from sustaining a sea- son-ending knee injury and said he's trying to be sensible with his comeback.
NBA Playoffs Start Saturday
Meets With Bears
SATURDAY
(4) Toronto Raptors vs. (5) Washington Wizards
Game 1 - Sat. April 18, Washington at Toronto, 12:30 PM, ESPN
(1) Golden State Warriors vs. (8) New Orleans Pelicans Game 1 - Sat. April 18, New Orleans at Golden State, 3:30 PM, ABC
(3) Chicago Bulls vs. (6) Milwaukee Bucks
Game 1 - Sat. April 18, Milwaukee at Chicago, 7:00 PM, ESPN
(2) Houston Rockets vs. (7) Dallas Mavericks Game 1 - Sat. April 18, Dallas at Houston, 9:30 PM, ESPN
SUNDAY
(2) Cleveland Cavaliers vs. (7) Boston Celtics
Game 1 - Sun. April 19, Boston at Cleveland, 3:00 PM, ABC
(1) Atlanta Hawks vs. (8) Brooklyn Nets
Game 1 - Sun. April 19, Brooklyn at Atlanta, 5:30 PM, TNT
(4) Portland Trail Blazers vs. (5) Memphis Grizzlies Game 1 - Sun. April 19, Portland at Memphis, 8:00 PM, TNT
(3) L.A. Clippers vs. (6) San Antonio Spurs Game 1 - Sun. April 19, San Antonio at L.A. Clippers, 10:30 PM, TNT
Jameis Winston had a pre-draft visit with the Chicago Bears on Wednesday.
The FSU quarterback flew to Chicago for the meeting Wednesday, 15 days before he is expected to be the first player drafted in the 2015 NFL Draft.
Chicago previously met with Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota.
The Bears own the seventh pick in the draft and despite public commitment to quar- terback Jay Cutler – a deci- sion driven in some part by the albatross contract Cutler signed in 2014 while the team was under the control of GM Phil Emery and head coach Marc Trestman – new gen- eral manager Ryan Pace and
JAMEIS WINSTON
head coach John Fox are keeping their options open.
The idea of the Bears get- ting either player starts with how they could move up. If Winston goes first overall to the QB-needy Buccaneers, the Bears would be in stiff compe- tition with other teams that covet Mariota, including the Cleveland Browns (who pick 12th and 19th) and New York Jets (sixth).
Steelers Vetertan CB Taylor Retires
College Bowl Games Payout $500M
Ohio State and Oregon in the championship game in January.
According to a report by the Associated Press, bowl games paid out more than a half billion to college football conferences and schools, the most ever and an increase of more than $200 million com- pared to last season.
The AP cites an NCAA re- port released Tuesday, which shows the 39 postseason FBS games distributed $505.9 mil- lion to participating confer- ences and schools. Schools spent $100.2 million to partic- ipate in bowl games.
During the 2013-14 season, the final season of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), 35 postseason games paid out $309.9 million while partici- pating schools spent $97.8 million on bowl expenses.
The AP notes that the rea- son for the uptick in revenue is because of the multi-million dollar media deal to broadcast the College Football Playoff games and the four other top- level bowl games.
ESPN signed an agreement in 2012 that shelled out about $470 million per year for the media rights to broadcast the three College Football Playoff games and the four of the other major bowl games through 2025.
In the 2003 NFL draft, the Pittsburgh Steelers took safety Troy Polamalu in the first round. Three rounds later, they took a lesser-known, lanky, fast cornerback out of Louisiana-Lafayette, Ike Tay- lor.
Teams who bring their cards to the podium at this year's draft hope to be as lucky as the Steelers were that year. Polamalu and Taylor be- came mainstays in the Steel- ers' secondary, coached from 2004 on by defensive coordi- nator Dick LeBeau, for the next 12 years. They won a lot of games and two Super Bowls together. And, within a week of each other, they both re- tired with the only team they ever played for in the NFL.
IKE TAYLOR
Taylor followed Pola- malu's retirement by step- ping away himself. Taylor was a free agent, but decided instead to walk away. It was announced via a statement on the Steelers' website.
“I wasn’t cut, I wasn’t re- leased. It was just my contract was up and it was time to re- tire. If you want to have pride, well that is the kind of pride I have, being able to play my contract out."
Tyus Jones' Departure Leaves Duke With A Major Hole To Fill
The Duke team that takes the floor next November will bear little resemblance to the one that captured the national championship nine days ago in Indianapolis.
The Blue Devils will have to replace four starters who accounted for 71.4 percent of their points, 58.6 percent of their rebounds and 76.7 per- cent of their assists this past season.
Point guard Tyus Jones became the third Duke fresh- man to leave the program Wednesday morning when he
TYUS JONES
joined classmates Jahlil Okafor and Justise Winslow in declaring for the NBA draft. Senior guard Quinn Cook is the fourth starter leaving the Blue Devils.
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