HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS
BASKETBALL
The Glenwood Demons boys and girls travel to Palisade tonight to take on the Bulldogs. The Lady Demons tip off at 6 and the boys follow at 7:30. Both games will be broadcast live on KMTS.
The Rifle Bears host the first place Delta Panthers tonight at 6 and 7:30. In 3A hoops action, the Roaring Fork Rams head up valley to battle the Aspen Skiers at 5:30 and 7. Grand Valley welcomes Gunnison to Parachute and Coal Ridge entertains Cedaredge.
WRESTLING
Rifle competes in Green River, Wyoming today and tomorrow. Grand Valley grapples in Buena Vista with the Demons and Lake County.
NBA/NUGGETS
The Denver Nuggets host the Washington Wizards tonight and the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday.
NHL/AVALANCHE
The strike-shortened NHL season gets underway this weekend. The Avs travel to Minnesota tomorrow night to take on the Wild. The Avs host the defending Stanley Cup Champion LA Kings next Tuesday.
NFL PLAYOFFS
The NFL conference championships will be played this Sunday. Both games will be broadcast live on KMTS beginning with the NFC title game from Atlanta between the Falcons and the San Francisco 49ers at 1 o’clock. The AFC championship will round out the action on Sunday at 4:30 as the host New England Patriots get a rematch with the Baltimore Ravens.
Elsewhere in sports…
RENO, Nev. (AP) – Lake Tahoe has qualified as one of four eligible sites to host the 2015-17 Winter X Games along with current host Aspen, Colo., Park City, Utah, and Quebec City, Canada. ESPN, owner of the X Games franchise, plans to settle on a pair of finalists by April 2013 and pick a future destination by the end of the year. Aspen hosted the games the past 11 years and received a two-year contract extension last spring. The Lake Tahoe Sports Organizing Committee is making a bid backed by area ski resorts, local tourism officials and chamber of commerce. If selected, events would be held at Heavenly Mountain Resort straddling the Nevada-California line on the lake’s south shore and on the north shore at Squaw Valley, home of the 1960 Winter Olympics.
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) – Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick says he is encouraging linebacker Manti Te’o to speak publicly about being the victim of a hoax involving a dead girlfriend who never existed. Swarbrick says he believes Te’o has to explain exactly how he was duped into an online relationship with a woman whose “death” was then faked by the perpetrators of the hoax. Swarbrick says school officials would rather see Te’o talk about it “sooner rather than later.” Swarbrick says university officials understand there is more to be learned, but based on knowing Te’o he believes the linebacker is a victim. He says he will continue to believe that until given “compelling evidence to the contrary.”
Swarbrick also says he understands why some people are skeptical about Te’o’s story.
LONDON (AP) – IOC vice president Thomas Bach tells the AP that Lance Armstrong’s confession to Oprah Winfrey about using performance-enhancing drugs while winning seven Tour de France tittles is “too little, too late.” Bach calls it the “first step in the right direction, but no more.”
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods won’t be around for weekend play at the Abu Dhabi Championship. Top-ranked McIlroy carded a 3-over 75 in today’s second round while Woods signed for a 73 before being assessed a two-stroke penalty for a rules misinterpretation.
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – Third-seeded Maria Sharapova (shah-rah-POH’-vah) dominated 25th-seeded American Venus Williams 6-1, 6-3 to earn a fourth round berth at the Australian Open. Two-time defending men’s champion Novak Djokovic (JOH-kuh-vich) also was a straight-sets winner in today’s third round play at Melbourne Park.
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) – The Cardinals have filled the NFL’s final head coaching vacancy. Arizona has hired Indianapolis offensive coordinator Bruce Arians, who went 9-3 as Colts interim head coach while Chuck Pagano was undergoing treatment for leukemia last season.
NEW YORK (AP) – Kobe Bryant has been voted to his NBA-record 15th consecutive All-Star start, leading four Los Angeles players into next month’s game. Lakers teammate Dwight Howard and the Clippers’ Chris Paul and Blake Griffin will join Bryant in the Western Conference lineup for the Feb. 17 game in Houston. Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant rounds out the starting five.
