It’s official: Horned Frogs going to Big 12
Colleges: TCU has accepted an invitation to join the Big 12 Conference.
Athletic director Chris Del Conte says the opportunity is “living proof that dreams do come true.”
Monday’s move could provide some much-needed stability to the Big 12, which lost Nebraska (Big Ten) and Colorado (Pac-12) during the summer and will lose Texas A&M to the Southeastern Conference next year. Missouri is also exploring a move to the SEC.
TCU currently competes in the Mountain West Conference and was set to join the Big East next July. Instead, the Big 12 went public with its interest in TCU last week.
Del Conte says TCU will pay an exit fee, but declined to confirm it was the $5 million required by the Big East policy.
Capitals hand out a little payback
NHL: Matt Hendricks and Alexander Semin scored shootout goals to give Washington a 6-5 home victory in the teams’ first meeting since the Lightning swept the Capitals in four games in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs last season.
The Capitals have won their first two games – one in overtime and the second in a shootout. Tampa Bay, which is playing its first five games on the road, has lost two of three.
• Ribeiro’s shootout goal lifts Stars: At Dallas, Mike Ribeiro beat Phoenix goalie Mike Smith with the final shot of the first shootout round, giving Dallas a 2-1 victory. Loui Eriksson’s first goal of the season tied it with 28 seconds left in regulation and he scored on Dallas’ first shootout attempt.
• Hejduk, Varlamov carry Avalanche: Milan Hejduk scored with 12:03 left in the third period and Semyon Varlamov stopped 30 shots for his fifth NHL shutout, lifting the Colorado Avalanche to a 1-0 win over Boston.
• Blue Jackets still winless: Alexandre Burrows’ power-play goal midway through the third period capped the visiting Vancouver Canucks’ 3-2, comeback victory that sent Columbus to its first 0-3 start in franchise history.
• In other games: Ilya Kovalchuk scored the deciding goal and added two assists, and Johan Hedberg made 24 saves in New Jersey’s first victory this season, a 4-2 win over Carolina. … At Uniondale, N.Y., Andrew MacDonald and Frans Nielsen scored first-period goals and the New York Islanders hung on to beat Minnesota 2-1. … At St. Louis, Alex Pietrangelo had a goal and an assist to lead the Blues to their first win of the season, 5-2 over Calgary.
Alouettes’ Calvillo sets CFL mark
CFL: Anthony Calvillo is the CFL’s career passing leader.
The Montreal Alouettes’ quarterback broke Damon Allen’s record of 72,381 passing yards with a 50-yard touchdown pass to Jamel Richardson. The milestone came on the final play of the third quarter against the Toronto Argonauts.
Allen was at Percival Molson Stadium, along with CFL commissioner Mark Cohon, to honor the 39-year-old Calvillo. After Richardson’s touchdown, play was stopped and Calvillo’s family came on to the field to mark the moment.
Calvillo entered the game needing 258 yards to eclipse Allen’s record.
China surprising third at Worlds qualifying
Gymnastics: Olympic champion China is in unfamiliar territory after finishing a surprising third in qualifying at the world gymnastics championships.
Still, even its less-than-inspired effort was enough to knock Britain’s men out of the running for one of the eight spots available in Tokyo for next summer’s London Olympics.
China scored 359.126 points, trailing Japan and the United States. It’s the first time since the 2004 Olympics that China, winner of the last four world titles, has qualified anywhere but first in a major competition. But scoring starts over in Wednesday’s team finals, when three gymnasts compete on each event and all three scores count.
Britain wound up 10th, and will have to go to the second qualifier in January.
Utah QB Wynn out for rest of season
Miscellany: Utah quarterback Jordan Wynn will have surgery on his left shoulder within the next 10 days and miss the remainder of the football season. Utah said last week that Wynn would be out at least two to three weeks because of the injury to his non-throwing shoulder from the first half against Washington.
• Woods becomes U.S. goalkeeper coach: Former English national team goalkeeper Chris Woods has joined the U.S. staff under new coach Jurgen Klinsmann. Woods has been Everton’s goalkeeper coach for 13 years, and Klinsmann says Everton manager David Moyes had given permission for Woods to take the U.S. job while continuing his role with the Toffees.
• U.S. wrestler Lorenz suspended for 2 years: U.S. wrestler John Lorenz has been suspended for two years for testing positive for a prohibited substance. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency announced Monday that Lorenz tested positive for Clomiphene in an out-of-competition urine sample taken July 11. Clomiphene is on the list of hormone antagonists and modulators. A female fertility drug, Clomiphene can be used to boost testosterone as part of a steroids cycle. The 31-year-old from Fountain, Colo., competed at 211.5 pounds at the U.S. Wrestling world team trials in Oklahoma City in June. He began his suspension last Tuesday.
• Autopsy inconclusive on marathon runner: Initial autopsy results were inconclusive in the death of a North Carolina firefighter who died after collapsing 500 yards from the finish line of the Chicago Marathon on Sunday. The Cook County medical examiner’s office reported further tests are needed to help determine why 35-year-old William Caviness died.