edal in Rio, tied for fourth at Evian in France

HOUSTON -- Craig Sager never once thought about giving up as he battled cancer for more than two years.Man, life is too beautiful, too wonderful, theres just too many things, he said in late August. Its not just you. Its your family and kids and all. Fight. Fight until the end. Fight as hard as you can.The end for the beloved TNT broadcaster came Thursday when the man known as much for his outrageous wardrobe as his relationships with the NBAs elite succumbed to the disease he fought so hard to overcome. Turner Sports announced his death without disclosing details. He was 65 and had worked basketball games for TNT for nearly a quarter-century.Craig Sager was a beloved member of the Turner family for more than three decades and he has been a true inspiration to all of us, Turner President David Levy said. There will never be another Craig Sager. His incredible talent, tireless work ethic and commitment to his craft took him all over the world covering sports.His son, Craig Jr., posted a loving video tribute to his father, tweeting: We packed a lifetime and then some into these 28 years together.Sagers passing brought out condolences from every corner of the NBA and Hall of Famer Larry Bird expressed what many were feeling.He was as identifiable with the NBA as any player or coach, Bird said. The league will not be the same without him.Magic Johnson echoed those sentiments on Twitter.The NBA family lost a legend who changed the way sideline reporters did their job. RIP Craig Sager, Johnson said.It wasnt just the NBA community that mourned his passing, with Vice President Joe Biden and Drake expressing sadness at the loss.Sager had two bone marrow transplants with his son as the donor before undergoing a third one from an anonymous donor at the end of August in Houston to fight an aggressive form of leukemia. To no ones surprise, he was characteristically cheerful .It really isnt all that painful, not physically, he said then. I think the hardest toll is mentally and emotionally. I have this thing of positive thinking. I think if you think something is going to be right and you think positive then you feel that way and if you feel that way youll act that way. I try not to get down.Sager announced in April 2014 that he had been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, and he missed the playoffs and much of the following season as he underwent the first two transplants. Sager revealed in March 2016 that his leukemia was no longer in remission. He said doctors told him the typical prognosis was three to six months to live, but I am receiving the best treatment in the world and I remain fully confident I will win this battle.He was overwhelmed by how news of his fight spread and people across the world started talking about the Sager Strong campaign.At first was our familys fight, Sager said. Then because of TV and TNT and people seeing me in the stands and I talk to people and then it got bigger and then that inner circle became an endless world to tell you the truth.Sager then started gaining inspiration from everyone who shared their story or reached out to show support.They saw that I refused to give up and I refused to give in and that Im still fighting it and they saw a lot of inspiration in what I was doing, he said. Now I feel Im not only fighting for what I want and what my family wants, but for everybody out there who has cancer or will.His battle brought out the soft side of Gregg Popovich, the prickly San Antonio Spurs coach with whom he had many memorable exchanges during in-game interviews.Sager never faulted Popovich for his gruff attitude during those interviews, saying hes trying to win a game. He doesnt want to talk to some reporter. But he said they had a great relationship.Later, he said, `Youre still going to be media on the court, but off the court can I call you and see how youre doing? I said: `Heck yes, Sager recalled in August. Just keep treating me the way on the court you always do. He said: `I wouldnt want it any other way.Popovich didnt take questions from reporters prior to Thursday nights game in Phoenix. Instead, he walked out of the visiting locker room and, with a somber tone, spoke only of Sager for close to two minutes.A day like this, basketball has to take a back seat, as we all think about somebody who was very unique, very special, Popovich said. Whether you really knew Craig or not, you got the feeling that he was a very special person in a lot of different ways, and right now I just feel for his family.He was a way better person than he was a worker, even though he was amazing in that regard. He loved all the people around him and everybody felt that, he said. The most amazing part of him is his courage ... if any of us can display half the courage he has to stay on this planet, to live every life as if its his last, wed be well off.Sager sported suits in every color of the rainbow and plenty of shades not found in nature, from teal to fuchsia to magenta. He would match plaid blazers with paisley ties or striped shirts -- all in bold hues.Kevin Garnett once told him to burn an entire outfit. In a 2016 interview with HBOs Real Sports, Sager recalled how Popovich reproached him for trying to stand out. Sager explained to him: Coach, you dont understand. If Im not wearing bright colors and if I dont feel lively, its not me.Sometimes lost in the glare of his wardrobe was Sagers relentless nature as a reporter. Every time Popovich would give a terse non-answer, an unfazed Sager would pepper him with another question.During the 2016 NBA All-Star Weekend, Popovich described Sager as an iconic figure in the NBA.He does a great job, the coach added. His sense of humor is obvious. We have a lot of fun going back and forth with that.Sagers persistence was on display at the start of his career, when the 22-year-old found himself in the middle of one of the most famous moments in sports history. Making $95 a week in 1974 as the news director at WSPB -- a Braves-affiliated AM radio station in Sarasota, Florida -- Sager risked getting fired by deciding to hop a flight to Atlanta for a game with Hank Aaron a home run away from breaking Babe Ruths career record.With a last-minute credential, Sager was stuck in the third-base photographers well. As the historic homer sailed out of the park, Sager, without thinking, sprinted onto the field and wound up chasing Aaron down the third-base line. When Aarons teammates mobbed him at home plate, Sager can be seen in his trench coat in the middle of the scrum.The next day, Sager caught a 5 a.m. flight to Sarasota to be back for his morning drive responsibilities, and his tapes from the game wound up in Cooperstown.Sager worked as a reporter on the Olympics, Major League Baseball playoffs, the NFL and the NCAA Tournament, among other sports. But he was indelibly connected to the NBA.Craig was as vital to the NBA as the players and coaches, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. A true original and an essential voice on Turner Sports NBA coverage for 26 seasons, Craig chronicled some of the most memorable moments in league history and was a ubiquitous presence with his splashy suits and equally colorful personality. Craig earned widespread respect for his insightful reporting and inspired so many most recently with his courage.His popularity around the sport was evident as he went through his cancer treatments. Bulls star Dwyane Wade also sold paisley ties during the 2016 playoffs to raise money to combat blood cancers.Sager got to cover his first NBA Finals in 2016 through an unusual arrangement between TNT and ESPN, which invited him to join its coverage. He marked the occasion by wearing a blazer with a royal blue floral print. In an interview with LeBron James after Game 6, the Cavaliers star turned the tables to giddily ask Sager a question: How in the hell do you go 30-plus years without getting a Finals game?He was self-deprecating when asked what the outpouring of support from across the NBA meant to him.It means that Im not just the nuisance that they see on the court when Im trying to talk to them when they want to be somewhere else, he said in August.And Sager loved everything about his job.I try to get there three hours before the game, talk with the ushers and the security guards, the coaches and the fans, Sager said in 2015.A native of Batavia, Illinois, Sager attended Northwestern, where he walked onto the football and basketball teams, and served as the schools Willie the Wildcat mascot for three years.He worked at several TV and radio stations in Florida after college before spending two years in Kansas City. Sager joined CNN in 1981 after handling the networks first live remote report during the 1980 baseball playoffs.Sager was in Dallas for a game in April 2014 when he felt ill and sought treatment from Mavericks team physician Dr. Tarek Souryal, who had previously performed Sagers knee surgery. With a dangerously low hemoglobin count, Sager had six blood transfusions over a 24-hour period before returning to Atlanta. After that came the treatments and his public battle with leukemia.Earlier this year, Sager was involved in the television coverage of the NCAA Final Four and had a memorable postgame interview with Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim.Im proud of you, Boeheim told Sager on air after the Orange lost in the national semifinals. Im really proud of you and what youre doing. Youre a fighter and thats something we all should really aspire to be. Youre setting an example that we all should be really happy to try to follow.Sager replied, Well, thank you very much.And then the professional broadcaster did what professional broadcasters do -- he went to his next question, one about Syracuses famed 2/3 zone, without missing a beat.---AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds and AP freelance writer Jose M. Romero contributed to this report. nike vapormax γυναικεια . R.J. Umberger scored twice to lead the Blue Jackets to a franchise-record for consecutive wins with a 5-3 victory Tuesday night over the Los Angeles Kings. nike vapormax plus greece . All of the scoring came in the final 20:04. Lucic scored on a power play at 15:46 of the third period, when he tipped a shot over Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen for a 3-1 lead. http://www.vapormaxgreece.com/nike-vapormax-flyknit-greece.html . After a first half in which he thought "the lid was on the basket," the Toronto Raptors coach watched his squad mount a second half surge to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 98-91. nike vapormax φθηνα . -- Ryan Getzlaf grabbed the three pucks wrapped in tape and held them up to his chest in the Anaheim Ducks dressing room for a celebration nine seasons in the making. nike vapormax plus Προσφορες . The 26-year-old Ireland striker, who has four goals this season, has signed a three-and-a-half year contract with his new club. LAS VEGAS -- Rod Pampling won for the first time in 10 years on the PGA Tour when he closed with a 6-under 65 for a two-shot victory Sunday in the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.Pampling holed a 30-foot birdie putt on the final hole at the TPC Summerlin that clinched the victory. He raised his right arm and thrust it when the ball was still another foot away from the cup. The 47-year-old Australian last won on the PGA Tour at Bay Hill in 2006.Brooks Koepka closed with a 67 to finish second.Lucas Gloverwas tied with Pampling with two holes to play until he made a bogey from the bunker on the par-3 17th, and he closed with another bogey when winning was out of reach. He shot a 69 to finish third.Pamplings last victory was in the 2008 Australian Masters. He lost his PGA Tour card after the 2013 season and spent two years on the Web.com Tour, and had to return to the Web.com Tour Finals last month just to get his card back. His biggest shot might have been for par.Tied for the lead on the par-5 16th, he pushed his drive well right into rough so deep that Pampling asked to identify his ball, and it was a good thing -- it wasnt his ball. His ball was a foot to the right, buried so badly that he could only muscle it some 30 yards behind another tree, and he had to lay up short of the water. From 121 yards, Pampling hit wedge into 6 feet and saved par to stay tied.Glovers tee shot on the 17th was about a foot away from being good, but it caught the lip of the bunker and left a difficult shot. He missed a 12-foot par putt and never caught up.Pampling finished at 20-under 264 and will be exemption up until his 50th birthday when he is eligible for the PGA Tour Champions.The victory was the third of his PGA Tour career for Pampling, who also won the now-defunct International in 2004. It puts him in the Masters for the first time since 2007, along with the PGA Championship for the first time since 2009.DOMINION CHARITY CLASSICRICHMOND, Va. -- Scott McCarron won the Dominion Charity Classic to get a top-five spot next week in PGA Tour Champions finale, beating Tom Byrum with a 6-foot birdie putt on the first hole of a playoff.McCarron will start next week in Arizona second in the points to two-time defending champion Bernhard Langer, with all of the top five in the reset standings -- Colin Montgomerie is second, followed by Joe Durant and Miguel Angel Jimenez -- in position to win the season title with a victory at Desert Mountain.McCarron and Byrum each shot 3-under 69 to finish at 13 under on the James River Course at The Country CClub of Virginia.dddddddddddd. Byrum missed a 15-footer before McCarron holed the winning putt.The 51-year-old McCarron won the Principal Charity Classic in Iowa in June for his first senior victory. He won three times on the PGA Tour.Kevin Sutherland shot a course-record 63 to tie for third with Brandt Jobe (67) at 11 under. Sutherland just missed a top-five spot, ending up sixth.Langer would have locked up the season championship weeks ago under the old format, but the new three-event FedEx Cup-style system means he has to play to claim the title. Playing with a sore knee that kept him out of last weeks tournament, shot a 71 to tie for sixth at 9 under.TOTO JAPAN CLASSICIBARAKI, Japan -- Shanshan Feng needed every bit of the three-stroke lead she took to final hole at chilly Taiheiyo Club to finish off her second straight LPGA Tour victory.The 27-year-old Chinese star closed with a double-bogey 6 to beat Ha Na Jang by a stroke in the TOTO Japan Classic, the last of six straight events in Asia. Feng closed with a 2-under 70 for a 13-under 203 total, the double bogey her only dropped shots since the fourth hole Friday.The winner last week in steamy Malaysia, Feng has finished no worse than a tie for fourth in her last seven events. She started the run with the Olympic bronze medal in Rio, tied for fourth at Evian in France, opened the Asia trip at home in China with a fourth-place tie, was second behind Jang in Taiwan and tied for third in South Korea.Playing two groups ahead of Feng, Jang birdied 16 and 17 in her third 68. The South Korean player has three victories this year, beating Feng by a stroke in Taiwan.Feng shot a tournament-best 64 on Saturday to take one-stroke lead over second-ranked Ariya Jutanugarn into the final round. Jutanugarn missed a chance to wrap up the LPGA Tour player of the year award with a victory, shooting a 74 to drop into a tie for 10th at 8 under. The Thai star leads the tour with five victories and also tops the money list.TURKISH AIRLINES OPENANTALYA, Turkey -- Denmarks Thorbjorn Olesen held on to win the Turkish Airlines Open for his fourth European Tour title.Seven strokes ahead entering the round, Olesen closed with a 2-under 69 for a three-stroke victory over Englands David Horsey (65) and Chinas Li Haotong (65).After Horsey cut the lead to a shot, Olesen birdied the 12th, 14th and 15th. He finished at 20-uner 264 at Regnum Carya and earned nearly $1.2 million. ' ' '