Morning Briefing April 28, 2010
Miscellaneous
University of Washington president Mark A. Emmert became the NCAA’s new chief executive on Tuesday, ending the search that began in November.
Emmert succeeds Myles Brand, who died last September from pancreatic cancer. Brand was the first ex-university president to lead college sports’ largest governing body and the first chief executive to die in office. Jim Isch served as interim president since Sept. 22 and will continue to do so for the next several months.
Emmert will begin his duties Nov. 1. NCAA officials said Emmert was given a five-year contract.
Football
The NFL draft has become such a popular television event that the first round on ESPN seemed to steal viewers from some of the biggest networks’ Thursday shows.
An estimated 7.3 million watched the draft Thursday, its ratings up 23 percent from 2009, the Nielsen Co. said. ESPN’s three days of draft coverage, two of them in prime time, drew the biggest audience this event has ever received.
Meanwhile, CBS’ “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” had the third-smallest audience in the show’s history. NBC’s “Community” and “Marriage Ref” had series lows, and “The Office” had its smallest audience since moving to Thursdays in 2006, Nielsen said.
American League
Twins 2, Tigers 0: Francisco Liriano pitched eighth scoreless innings, leading Minnesota at Detroit.
Indians 9, Angels 2: At Anaheim, Calif., Austin Kearns homered and drove in five runs, leading Cleveland past Los Angeles.
Rays 8, Athletics 6: At St. Petersburg, Fla., Pat Burrell and Reid Brignac homered, helping Tampa Bay beat Oakland.
Red Sox 2, Blue Jays 1: Clay Buchholz pitched eight strong innings, leading Boston at Toronto.
Orioles 5, Yankees 4: Cesar Izturis had three RBIs, leading host Baltimore past New York.
Rangers 4, White Sox 2: At Arlington, Texas, Matt Treanor had a homer and a two-run double, leading Texas past Chicago.
National League
Padres 4, Marlins 1: At Miami, Jon Garland had 10 strikeouts, leading San Diego past Florida.
Pirates 7, Brewers 3: Ryan Doumit hit a grand slam and Pittsburgh won at Milwaukee.
Giants 6, Phillies 2: Aubrey Huff and Matt Downs each hit solo home runs, leading host San Francisco past Philadelphia.
Rockies 12, Diamondbacks 1: At Denver, Ubaldo Jimenez pitched six shutout innings, leading Colorado past Arizona.
Nationals 3, Cubs 1: Livan Hernandez pitched six-hit ball into the eighth inning and Washington won at Chicago.
Reds 6, Astros 2: Ryan Hanigan drove in three runs to lead Cincinnati at Houston.
Cardinals 5, Braves 4: Chris Carpenter pitched six solid innings, leading St. Louis past visiting Atlanta.
Mets 4-10, Dodgers 0-5: David Wright drove in four runs and host New York beat Los Angeles for a doubleheader sweep.
In the opener, former North Idaho College standout Jason Bay hit a homer for New York.
Basketball
Accepting a backup role for the first time in his career, Atlanta Hawks guard Jamal Crawford was rewarded for his unselfishness by being named the NBA Sixth Man of the Year.
Crawford won the award going away with 580 of a possible 610 points, including 110 out of 122 first-place votes. Jason Terry of the Dallas Mavericks finished second with 220 points and Anderson Varejao of the Cleveland Cavaliers (126 points) finished third.
— The Associated Press