LOCAL
Disc golf tournament in Pooler this weekend
The ninth annual Savannah Open Disc Golf Tournament will be held Saturday and Sunday at Tom Triplett Park in Pooler.
A field of 90 players is expected for the event, including defending champion Michael Johansen and four-time winner Brian Schweberger.
The tournament format will be two rounds of 18 holes on Saturday and one round on Sunday, followed by a six-hole shootout for the top four pros.
There will be competition in ten divisions and organizers are still seeking sponsors. Potential sponsors should contact George Shaw at 484-7821.
For more information on the tournament, go to savannahdiscgolf.com.
NATIONAL
BCS blowout hurts television ratings
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The BCS title game’s television rating was up from last season, but the lopsided score kept viewership down.
Alabama’s 42-14 rout over Notre Dame drew a 15.1 fast national rating Monday on ESPN, the network said Tuesday. The 26.4 million viewers were up 9 percent from last year’s game, another blowout Crimson Tide victory, 21-0 over LSU.
But that’s down from the 27.3 million for ESPN’s first BCS championship two years ago, Auburn’s win over Oregon that was decided in the final seconds. This year’s game posted the second-largest audience in cable history behind the 2011 championship.
The matchup between traditional powerhouses in Alabama and Notre Dame created the potential for a record-setting audience. But once the Crimson Tide went up 28-0 by halftime, viewers had reason to skip the second half. Ten previous BCS title games drew a higher rating.
Ratings represent the percentage of U.S. homes with televisions tuned into a program. The game was on in 17.5 percent of homes that get ESPN.
The first half was watched by 20.4 percent, significantly higher than 17.9 for Auburn-Oregon. Typically viewership increases throughout a game if it is competitive. But on Monday, the rating peaked between 9 and 9:30 p.m. EST — midway through the first half — and decreased from there as Alabama pulled away.
NHL owners to vote on agreement today
NEW YORK — NHL owners will vote today on the tentative labor agreement reached with the players’ union.
If a majority approves, as expected, the NHL will move one step closer toward the official end of the long lockout that began Sept. 16.
As of Tuesday afternoon, a memorandum of understanding of the deal hadn’t been completed, so the union has yet to schedule a vote for its more than 700 members. A majority of players also must approve the deal for hockey to return to the ice.
“We continue to document the agreement,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told The Associated Press in an email Tuesday.
If there are no snags, ratification could be finished by Saturday and training camps can open Sunday if approval is reached on both sides. A 48-game regular season would then be expected to begin on Jan. 19.
U.S. Doping chief claims Armstrong offered donation
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The chief of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency tells CBS’s “60 Minutes Sports” that a representative for Lance Armstrong offered the agency a “donation” in excess of $150,000 several years before a USADA investigation led to Armstrong being stripped of seven Tour de France titles.
In an interview on the show’s premier airing tonight, USADA CEO Travis Tygart said he was “stunned” when he received the offer in 2004 and USADA didn’t hesitate to turn it down.
Armstrong’s attorney, Tim Herman, denied such an offer was made.
“No truth to that story,” Herman wrote Tuesday in an email to The Associated Press. “First Lance heard of it was today. He never made any such contribution or suggestion.”
Tygart did not immediately respond to requests from the AP for comment.
SPORTS BRIEFS: Disc golf tournament in Pooler this weekend
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SPORTS BRIEFS: Disc golf tournament in Pooler this weekend
