Giants take 2-0 series lead on Bumgarner’s gem

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The San Francisco Giants are halfway to a World Series title after shutting down the Detroit Tigers 2-0 for a two games-to-none series lead.

Madison Bumgarner outdueled Detroit’s Doug Fister in a classic pitchers’ duel. Bumgarner and two relievers combined on a two-hit shutout. Bumgarner struck out eight in his seven innings. Santiago Casilla and Sergio Romo finished the gem.

The Tigers were shut out just twice in the 162-game regular season. They now have been blanked twice in the postseason.

In their opening game win, the Giants used three homers by Pablo Sandoval to bash the Tigers. In Game 2, the Giants used small ball to win their fifth straight postseason game.

They broke a scoreless tie with a run in the seventh inning without an RBI. Hunter Pence scored on a double-play groundout by Brandon Crawford. The Giants added an insurance run in the eighth without a hit, scoring on a Pence sacrifice fly.

Fourteen of the last 15 teams that have won the first two games have gone onto win the World Series.

Today is a travel day. The series resumes Saturday night in Detroit. The Giants send out 14-game winner Ryan Vogelsong against Anibel Sanchez.

Commissioner to step aside

NEW YORK (AP) — David Stern spent nearly 30 years growing the NBA, turning a league that couldn’t even get its championship series on live prime-time TV into a projected $5 billion a year industry.

Confident the NBA is in good shape and certain he has found someone who can make it even better, the 70-year-old Stern is ready to end one of the most successful careers in sports history.

Stern will retire as commissioner Feb. 1, 2014, 30 years to the day after taking charge of the league. He’ll be replaced by Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver.

At the news conference Silver said Stern will “be remembered as the best of all-time.”

The Board of Directors also approved the sale of the Memphis Grizzlies to a group headed up by a California technology entrepreneur. The sale still must be finalized, and the Grizzlies say that is expected soon.

Lakers’ Bryant iffy for opener

UNDATED (AP) — The Los Angeles Lakers are not sure if Kobe Bryant is going to play in Tuesday’s opener against the Dallas Mavericks.

Bryant is nursing a bruised and strained right foot.

Upset in the Metrodome

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have posted their most impressive victory under rookie coach Greg Schiano.

Rookie Doug Martin racked up 214 total yards and two touchdowns, and the Bucs routed Minnesota 36-17 to hand the Vikings their first home loss of the season in the Metrodome.

Martin ran 29 times for 135 yards. He also caught a screen pass 64 yards for a score, one of three touchdowns thrown by Josh Freeman. Adrian Peterson had a season-long 64-yard run for a score that brought the Vikings to 30-17, but his lost fumble in Minnesota territory in the second quarter led directly to a touchdown by the Buccaneers.

The Bucs improved to 3-5 while Minnesota fell to 5-3, in second place in the NFC North behind Chicago.

“Honey Badger,” 3 other LSU players arrested

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Police say they arrested four former LSU football players, including one-time Heisman Trophy finalist Tyrann Mathieu, after finding them with marijuana at Mathieu’s apartment. Baton Rouge police say they also arrested ex-LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson, and former defensive backs Derrick Bryant and Karnell Hatcher.

Mathieu is a cornerback known as the “Honey Badger.” He was dismissed from the Tigers in August for failing a drug test.

When Huskers head coach Bo Pelini spoke to the media after his team’s practice yesterday evening, he sounded resigned to the absence of senior running back Rex Burkhead for Saturday’s game against Michigan. Burkhead sat out practice for the fourth straight day, limited by a left knee injury. Pelini says he remains confident in his running game even without his star. The 20^th ranked Wolverines rank second in the Big Ten in total defense but are seventh in the conference against the run. Kickoff at Memorial Stadium is scheduled for 7 PM.

To listen to Bo Pelini’s post-practice remarks, press play below.

Jordan Hooper and Lindsey Moore earned preseason All-Big Ten honors, while Nebraska was picked as the No. 2 team in the Big Ten Women’s Basketball Preseason polls announced by the conference on Thursday morning. Hooper was voted to the conference’s preseason team by both the coaches and the media. Moore added preseason All-Big Ten recognition from the media, but was not included on the coaches All-Big Ten list. The Huskers were picked the No. 2 team in the preseason by both the Big Ten coaches and media, behind defending Big Ten regular-season champion Penn State.

The fourth-ranked Husker volleyball team is back on their home floor tonight as they host the twentieth-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. The Huskers have won nine straight matches to improve their record to 17-2 and 9-1 in Big Ten play. Nebraska defeated the Buckeyes as a part of that streak, knocking them off in Columbus on September 22. First serve tonight is scheduled for 7 PM. The match can be seen statewide on NET.

The North Platte Lady Knights topped Southeast in the first round-robin match at the Region IX Division II volleyball tournament last night. North Platte won in three sets, 25-16, 25-17, 25-19. The Lady Knights play Dawson Community College on Friday at 11 AM and then play Central at 7 PM. The two teams with the best records at the end of round-robin play will face each other Saturday at 1 PM in the championship match.

Panda-monium as Giants clobber Tigers

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Pablo Sandoval sure picked a great time to become the first San Francisco Giant to homer three times at AT&T Park.

Sandoval’s three round-trippers powered the Giants to an 8-3 pounding of the Tigers in Game 1 of the World Series in San Francisco. He put the Giants ahead with solo shot in the first, added a two-run blast in the third and crushed another solo homer in the fifth.

Babe Ruth, Reggie Jackson and Albert Pujols are the only other players to homer three times in a World Series game. Sandoval is the first to do it in his first three at-bats of a World Series opener.

The only other player to homer three times at AT&T Park was Dodgers shortstop Kevin Elster, who did it in the first-ever game at the stadium more than 12 years ago.

Two of Sandoval’s three homers came off Justin Verlander, who entered the game with a 3-0 record and a 0.74 ERA this postseason. The Giants tagged Verlander for five runs and six hits in four innings.

NLCS Most Valuable Player Marco Scutaro continued his hot hitting, going 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored. He’s hit safely in 11 straight games since the NLDS and has collected at least two hits in seven of his last eight games.

The Giants also showcased some strong pitching by Barry Zito and Tim Lincecum. Zito blanked the Tigers over the first five innings and allowed only a run and six hits before leaving with two out in the sixth. He received help from left fielder Gregor Blanco, who made two diving catches.

Zito also chipped in an RBI single to make it 5-0 in the fourth inning

Lincecum struck out five while retiring all seven hitters he faced before the Giants needed three relievers to get the final three outs.

The Tigers’ scoring came on Miguel Cabrera’s RBI single in the sixth and Jhonny Peralta’s two-run homer in the ninth.

The series continues tonight in San Francisco, where Madison Bumgarner will start for the Giants against Doug Fister.

Union wants Tags to take a hike

UNDATED (AP) — The NFL Players Association will file a motion in federal court in New Orleans trying to get former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue out of a position to hear the appeals of the four players suspended in the Saints bounties case. The players’ union wants Tagliabue to recuse himself because of a conflict of interest.

Commissioner Roger Goodell removed himself from hearing this set of appeals and appointed Tagliabue last week. The players and their union say Tagliabue should be disqualified because of his employment by a law firm which has handled bounty-related matters for the league and represented Goodell in Jonathan Vilma’s defamation lawsuit against him.

The hearings are scheduled for next Tuesday.

Meanwhile, former Saints tight end Jeremy Shockey says he was not a whistle-blower in the bounties case, and that Warren Sapp’s accusation he was has made it difficult for him to go back to New Orleans. Shockey said on Showtime’s “Inside The NFL” that he would never have done that, adding that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell “even came out and said I wasn’t the person who did it.” Shockey says he confronted Sapp about the report the former defensive lineman made on NFL Network and Sapp replied he “wanted to stick by his source.”

Chiefs running back Peyton Hillis back in practice

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Chiefs running back Peyton Hillis was back at practice on Wednesday and could play this weekend against Oakland. It’d be his first game since Week 3.

Hillis sprained his right ankle in the Chiefs’ win over New Orleans on Sept. 23. The bye week helped him get back on the practice field.

Chiefs coach Romeo Crennel says he wasn’t sure whether Hillis will play against the Raiders until he saw him practice in pads, but Hillis says he thinks he’ll be ready to go.

Elsewhere around the NFL:

— The Browns are placing starting linebacker Scott Fujita on injured reserve with a neck injury, ending his stormy season and maybe his football career. Fujita is one four players suspended by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for his role in the New Orleans Saints’ bounty scandal. The 11-year-veteran was inactive the past two games.

— Browns starting guard Jason Pinkston has been released from the hospital after being treated for blood clots in his lungs. Pinkston was admitted to the Cleveland Clinic last week with the life-threatening condition. The 25-year-old was placed on injured reserve earlier this week, ending his second NFL season.

— Cowboys linebacker Sean Lee has been placed on injured reserve and will miss the rest of the season because of a right big toe injury. Lee calls defensive signals for Dallas and is also the team’s leading tackler.

— London Fletcher’s never-missed-a-game streak could be in jeopardy. The Redskins linebacker did not practice Wednesday because of a sore hamstring and a problem with balance that had him scheduled to see a neurologist. Fletcher has played in 231 consecutive games since entering the league in 1998. That’s first among active players, one ahead of Tampa Bay safety Ronde Barber.

— Buffalo Bills high-priced defensive end Mario Williams missed practice and did not attend team meetings while visiting a specialist to determine whether to have surgery to repair a nagging left wrist injury.

— Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blaine Gabbert expects to play Sunday at Green Bay despite an injury to his non-throwing shoulder that knocked him out of last week’s game. That’s good news for a team that just lost star running back Maurice Jones-Drew to a foot injury for an extended period.

— The Titans have signed veteran linebacker Xavier Adibi to the roster and placed linebacker Zac Diles on injured reserve with a broken leg. The 6-foot-2, 242-pound Adibi has played in 38 games over four seasons with eight starts. He was with Chicago in training camp this year.

— The NFL says officials will be using pink penalty flags for Sunday’s Dolphins-Jets game after an 11-year-old wrote Commissioner Roger Goodell with the suggestion. Some of the officials are already using pink whistles while players and coaches are wearing pink shoes, wrist bands and caps, among other things. The league has invited Marlboro, N.J. fifth grader Dante Cano and his family to MetLife Stadium to present the penalty flags to the officials before the kickoff.

Isles getting new home

NEW YORK (AP) — The NHL’s New York Islanders have agreed to move to the recently-completed Barclays Center in Brooklyn starting with the 2015-16 season. They’ve got a 25-year lease.

Officials in nearby Nassau County, N.Y., struggled for years to approve plans to either renovate or build a new arena to replace the Nassau Coliseum, which opened in 1972. Team owner Charles Wang had long threatened to move the team from its home in Uniondale after the club’s lease expired, citing a dilapidated building unsuited for a professional sports franchise.

Nebraska senior running back Rex Burkhead has been selected as one of 15 recipients of the National Football Foundation National Scholar-Athlete Awards presented by Fidelity Investments.

The honor is one of the top awards a college football student-athlete can earn and the honorees also comprise the list of finalists for the 2012 William V. Campbell Trophy, which recognizes an individual as the best football scholar-athlete in the nation.

Each member of the 2012 National Scholar-Athlete Class will travel to New York City to be honored Dec. 4 during the 55th NFF Annual Awards Dinner. They each receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship, and one member of the class will also be announced live at the event as the recipient of the Campbell Trophy. The winner of the Campbell Trophy will receive a $7,000 increase in postgraduate funds for a total scholarship of $25,000.

Burkhead is the 21st Husker to be honored as a NFF Scholar-Athlete, the most of any school in the country. Burkhead is Nebraska first honoree since defensive end Chris Kelsay was recognized in 2002.

A native of Plano, Texas, Burkhead has distinguished himself throughout his Nebraska career as one of the nation’s most complete student-athletes. On the field, Burkhead earned first-team All-Big Ten honors last season when he rushed for 1,357 yards and scored 17 touchdowns.

In 2012, Burkhead has remained a key part of the Nebraska offense despite battling a knee injury. He has rushed for more than 400 yards and scored four touchdowns to help the Husker offense rank among the top 15 nationally in rushing, scoring and total offense.

Off the field, Burkhead was a first-team CoSIDA Academic All-American in 2011, and is a strong candidate for repeat honors as a senior. He was also an academic all-conference pick each of the past two years, earning honors from the Big Ten in 2011 and the Big 12 as a sophomore in 2010. Burkhead carries a 3.43 cumulative grade-point average in history and is on track to earn his degree in December, completing his undergraduate work in just 3 ½ years.

Burkhead’s impact extends beyond the field and classroom, as he has done extensive outreach work in Lincoln and throughout Nebraska. A three-time member of the Brook Berringer Citizenship Team, Burkhead was also one of 11 FBS football athletes named to the 2012 AFCA Good Works Team. Burkhead was chosen as the winner of the Uplifting Athletes’ National Rare Disease Champion Award for his relationship with Jack Hoffman.

Burkhead is one of two Big Ten players honored with as an NFF National Scholar-Athlete, joining Northwestern offensive tackle Patrick Ward.

— Keith Mann, Nebraska Sports Information

The North Platte Lady Knights begin their quest for a third Region IX Division II volleyball title in four years tonight on their home floor. The four-team tournament will feature a round-robin over the next two days, with a championship match Saturday afternoon. The Lady Knights take on Southeast tonight, while Central faces Dawson on the adjacent court. North Platte defeated Southeast in both meetings this season. First serve is set for 7 PM.