Newton: Good ol' Pocono

LONG POND, Pa. -- Pocono Raceway gets a bad rap.

All people want to do is complain about how long and boring the races are; how the track is stuck out in the middle of nowhere, far from civilization; how it can be raining in Turn 1 and sunny in Turn 3; how they would do a service to the sport by turning this into a natural preserve.

[+] Enlarge John Harrelson/Getty ImagesPocono fans are often passionate about the sport, not to mention creative.

As one person said on pit road during Saturday's qualifying, "The best thing about Pocono is leaving."

People forget about all the things there are to like about this track built along Long Pond Road. Between the tall pines, mountain lakes and hand-carved bears, the scenery around this 2.5-mile oasis is breathtaking, much more appealing to the eye than some of the cookie-cutter tracks that are in the middle of large concrete parking lots.

At what other track can you find a large collection of boulders painted with the car numbers of the sport's legends? At what other track can you find a large collection of boulders?

Then there are the unusual debris cautions, otherwise known as wildlife. A chicken that initially was identified as a turkey once got onto the track to bring out the yellow. Neil Bonnett once hit a deer so hard in practice that one of its legs became a permanent fixture in his grille.

Legend has it that a black bear once tried to get into the booth with a NASCAR official.

And then there was arguably the best story, the 1993 race in which a highly intoxicated fan wandered across the track, escaping over the wall just before Davey Allison and Kyle Petty turned him into roadkill. That brought on a manhunt into a nearby swamp, where the local man eventually was snagged and held on a $20,000 bond.

You don't get that at Charlotte or Texas, where humdrum hot-dog wrappers bring out the caution.

The dining experience is unique, too. You don't find much ostrich or elk in Miami or California. You may find steak on a stone in those places, but it's probably not from a stone found behind the restaurant.

It's more laid-back than most places, too. Drivers love it because a lot of big-time media members tend to skip the event, meaning they don't face the normal scrutiny of a normal race weekend. Richard Childress probably thanked his lucky stars when he saw the first stop after his attack of Kyle Busch was here.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was loose during his media session to the point of being downright comical, talking about hydrating with pickle juice last weekend at Kansas.

"It worked good," NASCAR's most popular driver said. "I hear it's good for hangovers, too. I could be wrong, but I felt a lot better on Tuesday than I normally do."

The track also has a unique triangle shape that no other does, and a spiffy nickname: "The Tricky Triangle," or the "Tricky Scalene," as Jeff Gordon referred to it. At how many other tracks are geometric terms a topic?

"No, I wasn't," Gordon confessed when asked if he was good in high school geometry. "Trust me."

Many drivers, such as Gordon and Mark Martin, refer to Pocono as one of their favorite tracks. What's not to like? Everything from side-by-side racing to fuel mileage racing to engine wear come into play here.

[+] Enlarge Al Bello/Getty ImagesThree distinctly different turns mean there's no perfect setup for Pocono.

The strategy of getting around each unique turn and everything else that comes into play confounds crew chiefs and drivers as much as any track on the circuit.

"It has three of the most challenging turns you will see," Gordon said after qualifying third to pole-sitter Kurt Busch and Paul Menard. "It takes a complete effort to be fast here. I love this place."

Despite all these positive things, people want to drag Pocono down, arguing that it should lose at least one race, perhaps two; that the race should be shortened from 500 miles to 400, maybe 300.

It seemed like half the questions on my Wednesday ESPN.com chat were about what could be done to make the racing better here. Many of you are hoping the return of shifting will make this a thrilling event, when really it won't change much at all except on restarts, which already were wild because the track is so open and wide.

So in an attempt to appease those who haven't bought into all that is good about Pocono, here are five suggestions the track might consider to improve the experience (Note: Shortening either race is not an option track owner Dr. Joseph Mattioli will consider).

1. Repave: There's no doubt that the roughness of the track, particularly in the Tunnel Turn, makes this a tough place to maneuver and helps spread things out. Repaving, perhaps adding more room to race two-wide in Turn 3, might help. You could add some banking in the turns that might change things as well.

2. Add restrictor plates: This might become necessary with a repaving, raising speeds to a level the governing body would have to keep cars from going into the turns at 230 mph. It could get wild if cars are bunched up like they are at Daytona and Talladega going into these tricky corners. The "Big One" would take on a whole new meaning.

3. Texas IndyCar Series approach: Since the Mattiolis won't shorten the races here in the name of maintaining tradition, how about do what the INDYCAR is doing at Texas on Saturday and run two 250-mile events on the same day and give half points for each? It'll still be the same number of total miles but might seem shorter with the break between events.

Here's a twist. Invert the field to start the second race instead of having a separate qualifying.

4. Dale Earnhardt Jr. rule: Give him a one-lap lead to start the race and see if anybody can catch him. It'll at least keep the attention of 35 to 45 percent of the fan base -- that is, barring a wreck or engine failure for him.

5. Open season: Release deer and/or other wildlife across the track every 50 miles and put deer stands in each turn to give fans selected through a lottery system a crack at bagging dinner. You might also consider giving bonus points to the driver that hits one. Either way, people would watch.

Or they could just leave things alone and hope that one day people appreciate Pocono for what makes it unique and stop giving it such a bad rap.

David Newton covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. He can be reached at dnewtonespn@aol.com.

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Comparing Event 16 to the rest

The World Series of Poker has finally landed its marquee final table. Event 16, the $10,000 buy-in 2-7 Lowball World Championship, will conclude on Saturday and with nine players left (only seven will make the official WSOP final table), Phil Hellmuth is in contention to win his 12th WSOP bracelet.

Unfortunately for Hellmuth, he has one tough path to navigate as it is filled with some of the best in the game.

Here are some interesting notes and trends that we've seen so far at the 2011 WSOP:

• All 14 bracelet winners this year had never won a WSOP bracelet or even played heads-up for one.
• Seven of the 14 bracelet winners this year earned their first WSOP cash in the event.
• Only Eugene Katchalov didn't surpass his previous WSOP earnings with his win. He had $963,275 in previous earnings, and took home $122,909 for his win.
• Eight of nine players remaining in the 2-7 Lowball event have a bracelet, and five of the nine have more than $1 million in previous WSOP earnings.
• The 14 bracelet winners this year combine for 48 previous WSOP cashes. Two players remaining in Event 16 have more: Phil Hellmuth has 79 and John Juanda 55.
• The 14 bracelet winners had a combined $1,426,706 in earnings. The 2-7 remaining nine have a combined $22,093,650..

Each of the remaining nine in the Lowball World Championship have had incredible success in the game. Here's a look at the stats that make them stand out from the crowd. They are listed in order of chip count entering Day 3 and the cash so far in this event is not included.

NameBraceletsWSOP CashesWSOP Earnings0 (Best previous finish - fourth)

It's a tale of two stories when you compare the first 14 winners to the final nine in Event 16. Category14 2011 WSOP bracelet winnersRemaining 9 in Event 16

Action resumes at 6 p.m. ET. First place in this event will be awarded $367,170.

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Cassano to stay on with AC Milan - agent

Antonio Cassano will not be departing AC Milan, despite consistent reports to the contrary, according to his agent Beppe Bozzo.

GettyImagesAntonio Cassano has spent plenty of time on the AC Milan bench this season

Cassano has reportedly been on the radar of both Fiorentina and Napoli in recent weeks after falling behind the other strikers at the San Siro in terms of playing time.

Milan, current Scudetto holders, have many options up front and with Cassano keen for regular football ahead of the European Championship in 2012, it was thought a parting of ways was on the cards.

However, Bozzo denied that his client is looking for the exit door.

"This is a broken record that has been going on for a long time," agent Beppe Bozzo told Mediaset Premium Calcio. "There is no reason to change club and Vice-President Adriano Galliani reiterated Cassano is not for sale, as he fits in perfectly with Milan.

"Competition with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Alexandre Pato and Robinho is not a problem so close to the European Championship. I think a coach should look to quality of performance rather than quantity."

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Pastore: "I never said I want to quit Palermo"

Palermo star Javier Pastore insists he never said he wanted to quit the Serie A club amid interest from Premier League duo Manchester City and Chelsea.

GettyImagesJavier Pastore scored 11 goals for Palermo last season.

• Palermo defiant over Pastore

Pastore was quoted by Fox Sports Argentina as saying: "I feel that the time to leave Palermo has arrived." But the Albiceleste playmaker has issued an official statement to deny the report.

"I never said I wanted to leave Palermo," Pastore said. "Many people asked me via Twitter if I said that it was time to leave Palermo. The truth is that I never said that because, as I always point out, I am happy at Palermo.

"What I repeat every time is that if I receive an interesting offer that is good for both the club and for me, then we will evaluate it along with Palermo and my agent."

The Italian club have always been desperate to keep hold of the 21-year-old amid all the transfer speculation, but on Friday club owner Maurizio Zamparini appeared resigned to losing his star player.

"I give up on Pastore," Zamparini said to Sky Italia. "He speaks more to his agent than he does with me. I am not offended.

"It's logical that at the most he would have played one more season at Palermo but at the same time if he did, he would have more pressure and he wouldn't be the same Pastore we know.

"There are big clubs that want him. We are talking about one of the top talents in current football and I will not sell him on the cheap. I paid for him €19 million when he was 18."

Pastore, who has also attracted interest from Inter Milan and Real Madrid, is contracted to Palermo until 2015.

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Greinke bests Carpenter as Brewers near 1st

41,930 (100.1% full) - % is based on regular season capacityHome Plate - Angel Campos, First Base - Andy Fletcher, Second Base - Derryl Cousins, Third Base - Ron Kulpa

Lance Berkman: 13th HR on the road this season leads MLB. Of his 16 HR overall this season, half have come against the NL Central. It's the most HR he's hit on the road since the 2008 season when he hit 13 for the entire year.

MILWAUKEE -- The last time Zack Greinke put together a winning streak like this, he finished his season with a Cy Young Award. The Milwaukee Brewers are looking to ride him a lot further than just an individual accolade.

Greinke outpitched fellow Cy Young winner Chris Carpenter for his sixth consecutive victory and Rickie Weeks hit a go-ahead, two-run homer to lift the Brewers over the St. Louis Cardinals 5-3 on Saturday night. "So far, it's better than I ever could've imagined. We're playing great, it's fun to watch us play and it's been working out good," said Greinke, who was traded in the offseason after being the ace for seven losing years in Kansas City. "We're scoring a lot of runs, I haven't put up a bunch of zeros, but it's been good enough to keep us in the game."

Zack Greinke spent Saturday showing the Brewers that the ace they traded for this summer is still there, writes ESPN.com's Troy Patterson. Blog

Milwaukee is the hottest team in baseball since Greinke won his first game on May 9 and the Brewers have pulled within a half-game of St. Louis for the NL Central lead. "I know it's close," Greinke said. Prince Fielder hit his seventh homer in the last eight games and Corey Hart added a two-run double for the Brewers, who keep improving on their major league-best home record. "That's what's great about this place, it gets rockin' and rollin' and it's nice to see on June 11th what it's like. Hopefully we'll give them something on September, October 11th to see how loud they can get," Brewers third baseman Casey McGehee said. "Win this series, sweep this series, get swept, there's still a whole lot of baseball left." Lance Berkman homered off Greinke (6-1) to give St. Louis a 2-1 lead in the sixth, but Milwaukee scored four times in the bottom of the inning off Carpenter (1-6) on Weeks' shot and Hart's double. Daniel Descalso's run-scoring double cut Milwaukee's lead to 5-3 in the seventh, but reliever Kameron Loe pitched a quiet eighth and John Axford converted his 14th straight save opportunity and 17th overall in the ninth. "Whether it's because they're in first, whether it's just because they're a great team we're playing, it's just a little different atmosphere," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. Milwaukee is off to its best start in franchise history at Miller Park at 24-9. St. Louis came into town with the most road wins in the majors at 20, but the Cardinals will try to avoid being swept out of first place on Sunday. "The good thing is we've still got a lot of time left in the summer, so we have got to keep on playing hard," Cardinals right fielder Jon Jay said. "There's a bunch of games left. There is still plenty of baseball to be played, and there are going to be more close games like tonight, so we just have to stay positive." Greinke, the 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner who started 6-0 that year, missed the first month of the season with a cracked rib and lost his first start against Atlanta. Since then, he's 6-0 in his last seven appearances coinciding with Milwaukee's ascent in the standings. Greinke was sharp again with nine strikeouts over seven innings, helping the Brewers (37-28) reach nine games over .500 for the first time in more than two years. "He's an exciting player," Hart said. "The fans see him out there, they get into it a little more and we play well behind him. I don't know if it's a coincidence, but we all know since he got here we've been a really good team." Fielder put Milwaukee ahead in the second on a 420-foot solo homer, his 18th this season. The ball ricocheted so hard off the outfield railing that shortstop Ryan Theriot retrieved it in shallow center field. Greinke has been impressed by Fielder's power surge. "If you're being consistent, and then you have hot streaks, too, that's pretty unheard of. That's what he's done so far," Greinke said. "Prince is just good and then better so far." St. Louis answered with Yadier Molina's two-out, run-scoring double in the fourth and Berkman's solo shot in the sixth to go ahead 2-1, setting the stage for Milwaukee's big inning. Greinke started with a single and Weeks followed with an opposite-field homer to right. Hart's two-out double made it 5-2 after Carpenter uncharacteristically walked Fielder and McGehee. Carpenter, the 2005 NL Cy Young Award winner, has lost his last four decisions and is off to his worst start since beginning his career 1-7 in Toronto in 1997. "I'm fine," Carpenter said. "I've been around too long to concern myself with what my record is and what I'm doing." Jay made an over-the-shoulder diving catch near the right-field wall to end the fourth, banging awkwardly into the lower padding. The extraordinary effort left Carpenter with a smile of disbelief as he walked toward the dugout, but the good times for the Cardinals wouldn't last long. "We scrapped all the way," manager Tony La Russa said. "It was well-played, well-pitched. They pitched a little better, they hit a little better. That's the difference." Game notes
Brewers SS Yuniesky Betancourt is expected to return to the lineup Sunday after Craig Counsell got two straight starts. Betancourt is hitting .230 with three homers and 20 RBIs. ... Cardinals 1B Albert Pujols doubled in the first to extend his hitting streak to nine games. ... Both teams wore special uniforms as part of the sixth annual Cerveceros Day to honor the Hispanic community. The Brewers wore gold jerseys with the Spanish translation "Cerveceros." The Cardinals' uniforms said "Cardenales." ... Greinke's bobblehead day is Sunday. Copyright by STATS LLC and The Associated Press

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Pearce hits back at Spain jibes

Stuart Pearce has labelled Spain's pre-tournament taunts "irrelevant" as England prepare to meet the tournament favourites in their opening European Under-21 Championship match on Sunday.

GettyImagesStuart Pearce believes the Czechs are favourites

• Euro U-21 Champs preview
• Huguenin: Denmark play host to Euro feast

Thiago Alcantara, the Barcelona schemer who is viewed as the heartbeat of the Spain side, recently stoked the fires by claiming he had not heard of any of the English players.

Alcantara was quoted as saying in The Guardian: "The only ones we really know are Jack Wilshere and Micah Richards, but they are not here.

"That is good news for us because they are good players. Richards is a very good defender, while Wilshere is probably the best footballer in the whole team. The fact they will not be playing against us is a positive thing for us. We've not really heard of any of the other players.

"We expect to play well and win because we play the better football. We are very technical and pass the ball more, whereas the England team are very direct."

Pearce faced the media on Saturday, and instantly rebuffed the statement, before suggesting that Spain are not even the favourites in his eyes.

"The only concern we have is of the Spanish quality on a football pitch. That's what we concentrate on. Verbal innuendos are irrelevant to my squad," Pearce said.

The England boss was then asked if Spain's 'favourites' tag was disrespectful to the Czech Republic, who boast a striker in Tomas Pekhart who has scored 16 goals in 22 games.

"100% yes," Pearce answered. "The Spanish are decent, but they didn't win their group. We've come here as No. 1 seeds in Europe over a three-year period and we didn't win our group.

"The Czechs waltzed through their group against the holders (Germany), and also the Icelandics were in their group who are here as well. So that's a mark of how good the Czechs are."

Pearce would not name his captain for Sunday's clash, and he also rejected the suggestion that England should base their youth setup on the Spanish example.

"As a coach, you take lessons from all nations, the Spanish, the Germans, the French... ten years ago it was the French model being lorded. We have to take lessons from everywhere. But you also have to work to your own players' strengths. To ask an English individual to play a Spanish style, or an Italian to play an English style is not workable.

"We'll go with the personnel that I think will win the game. Everyone's fit. We may have one of the youngest squads here, but it's also one of the most talented."

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Kotchman ties game in 9th, Rays tip O's in 11th

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Mark Reynolds has homered twice off David Price in Saturday's game in Baltimore. Entering Saturday, Price had allowed one career home run to the Orioles in 39 1/3 innings. The only Orioles player to homer off Price before Reynolds was Miguel Tejada, who did so on April 14, 2010 also in Baltimore.

BALTIMORE -- Joe Maddon almost ran out of breath trying to pass around the credit for a Tampa Bay victory that required two late comebacks and an inspired 11th-inning uprising.

Ben Zobrist got four extra-base hits and scored four runs, including the tiebreaker in the 11th on a single by Evan Longoria, leading the Rays past the Baltimore Orioles 7-5 on Saturday night. Longoria had three RBIs and Casey Kotchman went 4 for 6 with two RBIs for the Rays, who forced extra innings with a run in the ninth off Baltimore closer Kevin Gregg. But the list of stars went much deeper than that. Justin Ruggiano and B.J. Upton made great catches in the outfield, Matt Joyce unselfishly advanced runners on the bases and John Jaso did a solid job handling six different pitchers. "Just go around the field," Maddon said. "Whether it was Ruggiano going over the wall, B.J. doing the Willie Mays thing, Matt moving runners, Jaso really good game behind the plate ... every player contributed tonight to that win." Especially Zobrist, whose four extra-base hits tied a club record. His four runs matched a career high. "I feel good about spraying the ball around the field," Zobrist said. "But the story was just the way our team battled back." Zobrist had three doubles and a triple. He started the 11th with a double off Jeremy Accardo (3-2) and took third on a groundout. After Longoria hit a soft liner to center, Kotchman followed with an RBI double. Juan Cruz (4-0) got two outs in the 10th and Kyle Farnsworth worked the 11th for his 14th save. Baltimore took a 5-4 lead in the eighth when Joel Peralta forced in a run by walking rookie Brandon Snyder with the bases loaded and two outs. Tampa Bay tied it in the ninth against Gregg, who has four blown saves. After Zobrist hit a one-out triple and Joyce walked, Longoria popped out. But Kotchman followed with an RBI single up the middle. "We needed it," Longoria said. "The bats seemed to have been hit or miss this year. ... That was a big win for us." Johnny Damon got two hits and scored twice for the Rays. He has reached base in 36 consecutive games, a career high and one short of Ben Grieve's club record. His fifth-inning double lifted him into a tie for 54th place on the career list with Al Kaline and Bill Buckner. Mark Reynolds homered twice and drove in three runs for the Orioles, whose four-game winning streak ended. "We had our chances. That's what we are trying to do," Baltimore starter Jeremy Guthrie said. "We have been so good closing out games recently that it's tough. We're not going to always have everything go well for us and perfect. And tonight we let them back in the game." Rays starter David Price gave up four runs and eight hits in six innings, striking out six and walking one. He lost a three-run lead and yielded both of Reynolds' homers. Guthrie allowed three runs and eight hits in six innings. He has only one win in his last 12 starts despite owning a respectable 3.77 ERA for the season. Reynolds' second home run, a drive to center with a man on, put Baltimore up 4-3 in the sixth. But the Rays pulled even with an unearned run in the seventh against Jim Johnson. Zobrist led off with a double and was at second with two outs when Kotchman hit a bouncer up the middle. Second baseman Robert Andino caught up to the ball, but his throw to first was wild, enabling Zobrist to score. In the Baltimore half, J.J. Hardy greeted J.P. Howell with a drive to left that a leaping Ruggiano caught at the wall. That began a perfect inning for the struggling Howell, who came in with a 15.75 ERA. Tampa Bay got a first-inning run when Damon singled and scored on a two-out double by Longoria. It became 3-0 in the fifth when Damon and Zobrist hit successive doubles and Longoria added an RBI single. Reynolds led off the bottom half with a drive over the wall in right-center and Adam Jones added a run-scoring double with two outs to bring Baltimore to 3-2. Game notes
After the game, the Rays activated infielder Elliott Johnson (left knee sprain) from the disabled list and designated infielder Felipe Lopez for assignment. ... Baltimore has been outscored 29-14 in the first inning. ... It was the 10th multihomer game of Reynolds' career. He leads the Orioles with 12 homers for the season. Copyright by STATS LLC and The Associated Press

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