Blackhawks' Patrick Sharp combats 'untrue' rumors about personal life

Patrick Sharp of the Chicago Blackhawks has been the subject of a variety of rumors in recent weeks and the winger is none too pleased about it. It's not the recent trade rumors that his name came up in, but a series of more serious rumors that involved his personal life. Despite these rumors originating from less-than-credible sources, they have spread enough that Sharp felt the need to respond publicly.

Sharp spoke with local media after the team's practice Sunday in Chicago to combat the rumors.

More from the Chicago Tribune:

"It's been tough," Sharp said Sunday at Johnny's IceHouse West. "As a hockey player, as a professional, you're out there and you're up for grabs for on-ice play. I'm OK with that. Trade rumors, talk about my play on the ice — I'm fine with that, I can handle that. But when people delve into your personal life and make up rumors and things that are completely false and untrue, it takes a toll on you. And it takes a toll on your family, your friends, and it's completely unnecessary. It's been tough, but I know I've got a strong group of teammates here, we're going to stick together.”

The rumors have ranged from infidelity to rifts with teammates and have spread like wildfire on social media and the Intenet. One Web site listed numerous alleged incidents. Sharp said he is considering legal action to stop the spread of the rumors.

“You hear things said about people all the time, it's like anybody can type something on a computer and get away with it and not be held responsible or accountable,” Sharp said.

Sharp's name also surfaced in trade rumors over the weekend as well with the Blackhawk reportedly discussing a potential deal with the Washington Capitals. However, as Elliotte Friedman reported on Hockey Night in Canada Saturday, Sharp had not been asked to submit a list of teams he would accept a trade to. According to Friedman, Sharp's limited no-trade clause requires that the team approach him 48 hours before making a trades. Having not done that by 3 p.m. ET Saturday, he can't be moved.

It has been a trying season for Sharp, who missed significant time with an injury earlier in the year. On top of that, his per-game production is at its lowest point since his first full season with the Blackhawks in 2006-07.

The veteran forward admitted to reporters that he felt the off-ice distractions caused by the rumors have impacted his play on the ice.

Sharp has 32 points in 49 games. Despite his production struggles, he remains a vital piece of Chicago's top six and is only more important now that Patrick Kane is on the shelf long-term.

Rangers land Yandle, Coyotes receive Duclair, first-rounder

The New York Rangers made a big splash on Sunday, acquiring Keith Yandle from the Arizona Coyotes for Anthony Duclair, John Moore and a first-round pick. The Rangers also received a fourth-round pick and Chris Summers as part of the trade, according to ESPN’s Katie Strang.

The first-round pick is for the 2016 NHL Draft, HNIC’s Elliotte Friedman reports.

Various outlets including TSN’s Darren Dreger point out that the Coyotes will also retain 50 percent of Yandle’s salary, with Friedman pointing out that the retention will take place in 2014-15 and 2015-16.

(Note: Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos recanted an earlier report that Daniel Girardi was part of the trade. That turned out to be untrue.)

Yandle, 28, boasts a deal that carries a $5.25 million cap hit through the 2015-16, so it’s more than a mere rental for the Rangers.

Critics will point to his -32 rating this season (and general complaints about his defensive play), but there’s no denying that Yandle is a potent offensive weapon. He has 41 points in 63 games in 2014-15 and already has two 50+ point seasons to his name.

Duclair, 19, was the 80th pick of the 2013 NHL Draft. He already has some NHL experience under his belt after generating seven points in 18 games while also producing 25 points in 19 contests with the QMJHL’s Quebec Ramparts.

More than a few people think that Duclair will end up being the gem of the deal.

Moore, 24, was the 21st pick of the 2009 NHL Draft by Columbus. He already has 211 regular season games and 33 playoff contests under his belt, so he provides some respectable depth to Arizona’s blueline.

Summers, 27, could probably be best described as a journeyman defenseman at this point (despite being the 29th pick of the 2006 NHL Draft).

If you want to simplify the outlook of this trade, think of this way: the Rangers are going all-in now while the Coyotes are loading up for the future. Arizona also received a hefty package for forward Antoine Vermette, after all.  This might also open the door for a Mats Zuccarello contract extension, as TVA’s Renaud Lavoie reports that they’re closing in on a deal.

Dustin Penner pulled from TSN trade deadline coverage

Dustin Penner has been pulled from TSN’s Monday trade deadline coverage, TSN confirmed to Yahoo Sports via email.

On Saturday night, Penner, who most recently played for the Washington Capitals made a joke about rape on Twitter, which wasn’t exactly funny. Penner was slated to provide coverage on TSN with "Cabral ‘Cabbie’ Richards to give a different-type of take on the deadline.

When he played, Penner was known as a guy with more of a funnier outlook – and poked fun at himself on getting injured while eating pancakes. His twitter handle can be found here.

Sometimes it’s hard to walk that line of being funny and edgy, and clearly that was crossed Saturday by the 32-year-old Penner, who is currently a free agent and most recently played with the Washington Capitals.

Ronda Rousey destroys Cat Zingano in just 14 seconds at UFC 184

It used to be that Ronda Rousey needed a minute to finish her fights. Now, she's getting two of them done in half of that time.

The most dominant fighter in the world continued her mind-boggling run of destruction Saturday, submitting previously unbeaten top contender Cat Zingano in just 14 seconds – the quickest finish in UFC championship history – in the main event of UFC 184 at Staples Center to retain her women's bantamweight title.

Rousey blew away Alexis Davis in just 16 seconds at UFC 175 in July in what seemed to be a ridiculously easy manner. But it was done even quicker on Saturday.

Zingano raced out of her corner and threw a flying knee at Rousey. She then flung Rousey down. But Rousey, the vastly superior grappler, quickly reversed position and got on top.

She extended Zingano's arm toward her and then turned her hips to the right, putting incredible pressure on the joint and forcing the tap.

"We expected she might come out flying," Rousey said.

It was over so quickly, Zingano seemed stunned. She didn't know what to say and several times uttered an expletive as she was being interviewed in the cage by UFC broadcaster Joe Rogan.

"She had my arm and I saw her leg," Zingano said. "I thought to grab a hold of it and all of a sudden, I was tapping."

Rousey has now beaten each of the women ranked 1-5 in the bantamweight division, including Miesha Tate twice. Tate actually made it to the third round at UFC 168 in 2013, but since then Rousey needed 1:06 to stop Sara McMann, 16 seconds to dispose of Davis and only 14 seconds to end it against Zingano.

Against McMann, Davis and Zingano, fighters who entered their bouts against her with a combined record of 32-5, Rousey is 3-0 with three first-round finishes in a combined time of one minute, 36 seconds.

There is literally no one for her to fight. Tate appears to be the only opponent currently in the UFC who is even remotely competitive with her.

Former Strikeforce champion Cristiane Justino, who defeated Charmaine Tweet on an Invicta card Friday in Los Angeles, wants to come to the UFC to face Rousey, but there is question if she can make the bantamweight limit of 135.

And even if she makes it, even Justino would appear to be a long shot to beat the 2008 Olympic judo bronze medalist.

"Holly Holm is a world champion boxer and I want to test myself against that striking," Rousey said. "And Bethe Correia is undefeated and I'd like to take that '0' away from her."

Zingano was believed to be Rousey's biggest test, but she entered as a 9-1 underdog. It's hard to believe that either Correia or Holm would be any better than a 20-1 underdog against Rousey.

In the co-main event, Holm, a former boxing champion, made her UFC debut a successful one, outworking Raquel Pennington to claim a split decision. Judges scored it 30-27 and 29-28 for Holm and 29-28 for Pennington.

Holm's debut was made amid much media fanfare and its effects showed. She had a lot of pressure on her and didn't seem to be able to relax.

"The nerves were there and because of the hype, I didn't feel I could live up to it," Holm said. "There was a lot of talk."

Holm circled quite a bit and fended off numerous takedown attempts by Pennington. Holm also managed to land a number of kicks, but Pennington for the most part neutralized her hands.

Derrick Rose starts post-surgery rehab, confident in return this season

Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose began rehabilitation work Saturday, just one day after undergoing surgery to remove the damaged portion of the torn medial meniscus in his right knee, and is reportedly fully on-board with the Bulls' stated timeline of a four-to-six-week recovery period that would allow the former NBA Most Valuable Player to return to the court before the end of the regular season.

The 26-year-old guard, who has now gone under the knife for surgical repair to his knees three times in the last 34 months, "displayed full confidence he will return to action this season" as he began post-meniscectomy rehab work at the Bulls' practice facility, according to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune:

Though Rose won't address the media formally for a while, he roamed the Advocate Center hallways in good spirits, walking fine, openly vowing to overcome his latest setback to play down this season's stretch. [...]

"He'll get past this hurdle," coach Tom Thibodeau said. "He has made it through two tough rehabs. This one will be much shorter, and he'll get back to being who he is." [...]

"When you're off the amount of time he has been off, there are going to be ups and downs," Thibodeau said. "Right before the [All-Star] break, he was finally getting into a real good rhythm. I think he's confident he'll get back to that. It may take a little bit of time. Obviously, he won't be playing the same amount of minutes when he does come back. But he knows he can get there. And that's the most important thing."

It's worth noting here that, as ESPN Chicago's Nick Friedell reports, Thibodeau described the Bulls' feeling on Rose's recovery as "cautiously optimistic," and that Rose starting his rehab work on Saturday represents only "the initial steps" toward a full on-court return that would see the former No. 1 overall draft pick available to participate in postseason play for the first time since the opening game of the 2012 playoffs. Given all the setbacks and stumbling blocks that Rose has faced over the past three years — all the times the Bulls and their fans have seen their hopes for a fully-operational-once-again Rose dashed, leaving Chicago without the offensive firepower to stand toe-to-toe with elite competition in late April and May — "caution" seems both an appropriate practical response and a reasonable emotional hedge.

Still, given the specific difference between this surgical procedure and the first two Rose experienced — the ACL tear was orders of magnitude more serious, and its recovery significantly longer-lasting, than the meniscus injury, and removal of the damaged piece of the meniscus carries a far shorter recovery time than attempting to repair it — and the fact that the procedure was "minor" enough to allow Rose to leave the hospital on his own two feet, it does seem like there's more cause to feel positive about his short-term possibilities than there's been before.

Plus, if Rose is indeed on the same page as the Bulls about his prescribed rehabilitation program and return timetable, then perhaps the potential skirmish that some of us have feared — with the Bulls deeming Rose fit to return to the floor, but Rose declining to do so until he feels "110 percent" healthy, as was the case late in the 2012-13 season — won't materialize after all. Where there has, in the past, been whisper-fueled tension, perhaps this time — with Rose better understanding and more comfortably undertaking the task before him with a pair of rehabs already under his belt — there will only be a uniform effort, all parties pulling in the same direction toward the hoped-for outcome of a healthy Rose able to return to game action with somewhere between three and nine contests left before the start of the playoffs.

If Rose — whose play this season was at best uneven prior to reinjuring his knee — can return to full health and rediscover enough rhythm during the balance of the regular season to look somewhat like the man who led a blowout of the Cleveland Cavaliers just before the All-Star break, he can give Chicago the sort of attention-demanding, defense-shifting, shot-creating playmaking force that has been largely absent during the Bulls' past two playoff appearances. Even if he's more akin to the often-underwhelming-but-still-capable-of-moments-of-explosiveness triggerman he was for most of the first four months of the season, he'd still offer Thibodeau more spice and spark than backups Aaron Brooks and Kirk Hinrich. As such, Rose represents perhaps the Eastern Conference's greatest X-factor; a Bulls team without him feels like a tough out that will still exit before the NBA's final four yet again, while a Chicago crew with him retains a puncher's chance of reaching the Finals for the first time since Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Phil Jackson left town.

We're still quite a while away from finding out which path this postseason will take, but for the time being, it's heartening to hear that Rose himself seems as confident that he'll be able to impact that outcome as his team's front office does.

Chicago baseball pioneer Minnie Minoso dies

The baseball world lost another legend on Sunday with the death of former Chicago White Sox outfielder Minnie Minoso. Minoso was a seven-time All-Star while playing with the White Sox in the 1950s and 1960s, but much more than that he was a pioneer. When he was traded by the Cleveland Indians to the White Sox in 1951 he became the city of Chicago’s first black player.

There is some dispute over when Minoso was born but the team website said he was 92. The Chicago Tribune reported that Minoso was found dead in his car at a Chicago gas station on Sunday morning and that foul play was not suspected.

The Cuban slugger spent 12 of his 17 seasons with the White Sox and hit a two-run home run in his first at-bat. The White Sox retired his No. 9 in 1983 and erected a statue at U.S. Cellular Field in 2004. Minoso is one of only two players to appear in a game in five different decades. He had two at-bats for the White Sox in 1980 at age 54. He was also famous for getting plunked. Between 1952 and 1961 he led the league in times hit by a pitch nine times, and is ninth on the all-time list with 192.

His career was much more than just frivolities. He was a career .298 hitter, a three time Gold Glover, and four times finished in the top four of American League MVP voting. His combination of power and speed also put him in rare company.

Minoso began his career in Cuba then joined the Negro leagues in 1946, winning a Negro World Series in 1947 with the New York Cubans. He signed with the Indians in 1948 but had only 20 plate appearances with the club before being dealt to the White Sox. He also remains notably absent from the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Despite the push by the White Sox and other prominent Latin players, Minoso has never made it to Cooperstown. His highest percentage during his 15 years on the writers' ballot was 21.1 in 1988. He was considered by the Veterans Committee in 2014 and fell short of the required percentage for induction.

“'My last dream is to be in Cooperstown, to be with those guys,”' Minoso said. “'I want to be there. This is my life's dream.”

White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf released a statement on Sunday morning.

“Our organization and our city have suffered a heart-breaking loss today,” Reinsdorf said. “We have lost our dear friend and a great man. Many tears are falling ... When you talk about the top players in the American League in the 1950s, you talk about Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle and Minnie Minoso."

TODAY IN SPORTS HISTORY - MARCH 1ST

1914 - Harry Caray, American sportscaster (d. 1998) is born.

1926 - Pete Rozelle, [Alvin Rozelle] South Gate California,

American NFL commissioner (1960-89) is born.

1934 - Primo Carnera beats Tommy Loughran in 15 for Heavyweight boxing title.
1941 - Elmer Layden becomes 1st NFL commissioner.
1942 - Baseball decides that players in military can't play when on furlough.
1949 - Joe Louis retires as Heavyweight boxing champ.
1949 - The Browns, owners of Sportsman's Park, move to evict the Cardinals.

1954 - In spring training, baseballer Ted Williams breaks his collarbone.

1969 - NY Yankees' Mickey Mantle retires.
1972 - Wilt Chamberlain is 1st NBA player to score 30,000 points.
1973 - Robyn Smith becomes 1st female jockey to win a major race.

1985 - Milwaukee businessman Herb Kohl purchases the Milwaukee Bucks.

1988 - Wayne Gretzky passes Gordie Howe with his record 1,050th NHL assist.
1993 - George Steinbenner is reinstated as owner of NY Yankees.
1993 - New expansion NHL team, owned by Disney, is named the Mighty Ducks.
1996 - Lenny Wilkens, winningest coach in NBA, coaches his 1,000th victory.