New York Knicks’ Jeremy Lin, Cleveland Cavaliers’ Kyrie Irving chosen to scrimmage vs. U.S. team

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Rookie of the Year Kyrie Irving of Cleveland and Knicks star Jeremy Lin are among 13 NBA players chosen to scrimmage against the U.S. men’s Olympic basketball team in July.

Also picked Monday were: John Wall (Washington), Ryan Anderson (Orlando), DeMarcus Cousins (Sacramento), Paul George (Indiana), Kawhi Leonard and DeJuan Blair (San Antonio), Gordon Hayward and Derrick Favors (Utah), DeMar DeRozan (Toronto), Taj Gibson (Chicago) and Klay Thompson (Golden State).

The young players will report to Las Vegas along with the Americans on July 5 and work out against them from July 6-11. Lin’s participation is unclear, as he will be a free agent after his breakout season and may not take part until he signs a new contract during that week.

Former Toronto coach Jay Triano, an assistant with the U.S. 2010 world championship team, and Syracuse assistant Mike Hopkins will serve as co-coaches of the select team.

Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press

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Mark Teixeira back for New York Yankees after respiratory issue

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Agent — No slam dunk Jeremy Lin re-signs with New York Knicks

Jeremy Lin will be a restricted free agent this summer, and many see it as a foregone conclusion that the point guard will return to the New York Knicks, but not everyone feels so strongly.

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“I don’t expect that. We’re not anticipating that’s going to happen. We don’t have assurances of anything,” Lin’s agent, Roger Montgomery, said in an interview with the New York Post. “I know history shows most restricted free agents go back to their team, but I’m not going to assume anything. We’re waiting to see what happens.”

Knicks coach Mike Woodson said earlier this month that Lin will “absolutely” be back with the Knicks next season. But Lin, speaking the day after the Knicks’ season-ending loss to Miami in the playoffs, said “nothing is set in stone” regarding his free agency.

“There’s always going to be uncertainty until the final contract is signed, so definitely nothing is set in stone,” Lin said. “Nothing’s set in stone until it’s really written.”

Thanks to a clause in the CBA — named after Gilbert Arenas — the Knicks can match any offer made to Lin this summer.

Another factor in Lin’s free agency is the expected arbitration hearing over the Bird and Early Bird exceptions to the salary cap for waived players.

The union and league are at odds over whether the Bird rights for waived players should be transferred to their new teams. The union says the rights, which allow teams to exceed the salary cap to re-sign players, should transfer for players who are waived. The league argues that the Bird rights should not transfer.

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This is significant for Lin because he was picked up off of waivers by the Knicks. If the arbitrator rules in favor of the union, then the Knicks would be allowed to exceed the cap to sign both Lin and forward Steve Novak, who also was acquired off of waivers.

This would also allow the Knicks to use their $5 million mid-level exception on another player. If the arbitrator rules in favor of the league, the Knicks will likely have to use their mid-level exception to re-sign Lin and would be limited in their pursuit of other free agents.

Lin emerged from the end of the Knicks’ bench in early February to lead the team to seven straight wins, essentially saving New York’s season. In addition, he provided a significant financial boon for the Knicks in merchandising sales and marketing opportunities. These intangibles are why many believe Lin is a lock to re-sign.

But there is yet another wrinkle to consider: Teams under the salary cap can offer Lin more than $5 million per season in the third and fourth years of a contract offer, as long as the average annual value of the deal does not exceed the salary cap.

If the Knicks were to match such a back-loaded offer, it may put them above the luxury tax in the third and fourth years of Lin’s contract and prohibit them from using their mid-level exception.

Lin underwent surgery April 2 to repair a small tear in the meniscus of his left knee. He tried to return during the first round of the Knicks’ playoff series against the Heat but was unable to do so.

Montgomery told the New York Post that Lin is “doing well” but is not 100 percent healthy.

Ian Begley is a regular contributor to ESPNNewYork.com.

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The Appraisal: For Smokers, Apartment-Hunting Is Even Tougher

One category, however, turned up very lean results: apartments that advertised they allowed smoking with an enthusiastic “welcome” or even a tepid “O.K.”

In all five boroughs, there were only four.

“If you’re looking for a place that officially allows smoking, your numbers are going to go way, way down,” said Mike Salvo, an agent at Citi Habitats. “But I smoke myself, and I’m not going to go get in the elevator every time I want a cigarette.”

So smokers like him, Mr. Salvo said, just have to look harder.

Finding an apartment has long been a contact sport in the city, where sacrifices are made and premiums paid, often for the pleasure of living in a broom closet. But for smokers who refuse to put on slippers and head down to the sidewalk every time they have a craving, hunting for a place to live here has become even more of a challenge.

Just last month, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg introduced legislation that would require most residential buildings to adopt a smoking policy and disclose it to potential residents. Mr. Bloomberg said this was not a roundabout way to pressure buildings to ban smoking, but there is already a growing pool of landlords, and even some co-op and condo boards, that are opting to skip the smoke in the vents and tension in the hallways altogether.

“Owners can demand it, and it doesn’t affect their ability to fill their vacancies,” said Anthony Lolli, the chief executive of Rapid Realty, a brokerage that specializes in rentals. “It’s a competitive market out there.”

Mr. Lolli has more than just a passing interest in the topic. He is a landlord who had a devastating fire in a building he owned about 13 years ago, and a man who lost his father to emphysema. His company attaches no-smoking — and no-candle — riders to nearly every one of its leases.

“We do 1,500 transactions a month, and maybe once or twice someone will say, ‘Hey, wait a minute,’ ” Mr. Lolli said. Some of the renters do smoke, he suspects, but just keep their habit to themselves, a practice that is becoming more common these days.

And why might that be?

“It welcomes you like a cloud of disgustingness,” Leonard Steinberg, a managing director at Prudential Douglas Elliman, said of taking a stroll past a smoker. “Hate, hate, hate.”

With that kind of animus in the air, it is not surprising that some smokers demanded anonymity in exchange for their apartment-hunting stories.

“You get judged for being a smoker, so I like to keep it hidden,” said a 28-year-old woman, who declined to reveal herself as a smoker in the newspaper, or to her landlord. “I would like to get my security deposit back.”

While real estate professionals say a balcony or terrace is generally the best way to avoid conflict with nonsmoking neighbors, there are other options. The top floor can help minimize complaints, some suggested, as can a prewar building.

“In newer construction with ventilation between apartments, it becomes more of a problem,” Sarah Rose Katz, an agent at Citi Habitats, said. “As opposed to in a prewar building where you open your window, and that’s your ventilation.”

Finding an apartment for a committed indoor smoker can take a little patience — the closeted 28-year-old smoker estimated that she looked at more than 30 apartments before finding one, on a top floor, that she could afford — but they need not move to the suburbs. Most of the city’s landlords still don’t ask about the habit, brokers say, and there are even a smattering of real estate agents and owners who use smoke-friendliness as a selling point.

“When I post that smoking is allowed, I get more calls, I can tell you that,” said Lori Alvarez, a smoker, a landlord and an agent at Joanne Costa Realty.

Some developers of new projects have been reluctant to join the movement toward smoke-free buildings, worried that it might take a bite out of their bottom line. Angela Pinksy, a senior vice president at the Real Estate Board of New York, said some of its members had expressed concern that a nonsmoking building could be a turnoff to foreign buyers who were from parts of the world where smoking was more prevalent.

But in general, the crowd appears to be marching in the other direction, away from the dingy walls and sticky smell that can often outlast a smoking resident.

Charles Mathison, for example, posted an advertisement on Craigslist recently, looking for a roommate in his Williamsburg apartment. He said he was willing to live with a smoker. When contacted about this lenience, he seemed confused.

“No, now it has to be a nonsmoker,” Mr. Mathison said. He explained it was an old advertisement, one he wrote a previous time he was looking for a roommate and then improperly reviewed before reposting it.

“I used to smoke, but I quit five months ago,” Mr. Mathison added. “Now, I don’t want to be around it.”

He said he planned to take the smoking language out.

New York Taxi Fares May Soon Go Up

The city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission agreed on Monday to formally consider a proposal from the yellow cab industry to raise taxi fares by as much as 20 percent. The increase, if approved, could take effect as soon as mid-July.

A public hearing is set for May 31. Such hearings are almost never scheduled unless the taxi commission is seriously considering a fare increase.

“The fare hasn’t changed since 2006, so it is reasonable for taxi drivers and fleet owners to put this on the table,” David S. Yassky, the taxi and limousine commissioner, said in a statement on Monday.

The commission has not yet worked out details about the structure of a higher fare, like the initial cost of a ride and the rate at which the meter would tick up.

The average taxi ride in January cost $11.82, for a trip of slightly less than three miles. A 20 percent increase would bring that fare to $14.18. A trip to Kennedy International Airport, which is currently $45, could rise as high as $54, not counting the cost of tolls.

The last across-the-board increase in taxi fares was in 2004, when the fare rose by 24 percent.

At the hearing this month, the taxi commission will consider an increase of from 16 percent to 20 percent, according to a person familiar with its plans, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the internal discussions are supposed to be private.

The city believes that the industry has made a compelling case for higher fares, the person said. Part of the industry’s argument is that the fare should be kept in line with the rate of inflation and the increase in gasoline prices.

Rutgers Webcam-Spying Defendant Sentenced to 30 Days

The case drew wide attention because his roommate, Tyler Clementi, jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge in September 2010, a few days after learning of the spying. A jury convicted Mr. Ravi in March of all 15 counts against him, which included invasion of privacy and bias intimidation. The relatively light sentence — he faced up to 10 years in prison — surprised many who were watching the hearing, as it came after the judge spent several minutes criticizing Mr. Ravi’s behavior.

“You lied to your roommate who placed his trust in you without any conditions, and you violated it,” the judge, Glenn Berman of State Superior Court, said. “I haven’t heard you apologize once.”

In addition to jail, Judge Berman sentenced Mr. Ravi to three years’ probation, 300 hours of community service, counseling about cyberbullying and alternate lifestyles, and a $10,000 probation fee, to be used to help victims of bias crimes.

Prosecutors appeared angry — they and the Clementi family canceled a planned post-sentencing news conference — and said they would appeal.

Mr. Ravi’s relatives hugged one another; just a few minutes earlier, his mother, Sabitha Ravi, sobbed through a statement in which she implored the judge to go easy on her son.

“The media misconstrued the facts to the public and misconceptions were formed,” Ms. Ravi said, adding that she watched helplessly as her son sank into despair after he was charged, trying to take online courses from home but barely eating. “All I could do was hug him and cry.”

Steven Goldstein, the chairman of Garden State Equality, a prominent New Jersey gay rights group, expressed disappointment.

“We have opposed throwing the book at Dharun Ravi,” he said in a statement. “But we have similarly rejected the other extreme, that Ravi should have gotten no jail time at all, and today’s sentencing is closer to that extreme than the other.

“This was not merely a childhood prank gone awry. This was not a crime without bias.”

Mr. Ravi was not charged with causing Mr. Clementi’s death, but the suicide hung heavily over the trial, and over the sentencing hearing on Monday. Mr. Clementi’s mother, father and brother all read statements, their voices occasionally quivering as they spoke.

“I cannot imagine the level of rejection, isolation and disdain he must have felt from his peers,” Tyler’s brother, James Clementi, said. “Dharun never bothered to care about the harm he was doing to my brother’s heart and mind. My family has never heard an apology, an acknowledgment of any wrongdoing.”

His mother, Jane Clementi, also criticized students who knew about the spying from Mr. Ravi’s Twitter feeds. “How could they all go along with such meanness?” she said. “Why didn’t any one of them speak up and try to stop it?”

Mr. Ravi’s lawyers had asked Judge Berman to sentence him only to probation, arguing that it would be a “serious injustice” to imprison him because his actions had not included violence or threats. They said they would appeal the jury’s verdict.

They had attached statements of support from friends, including some who testified against Mr. Ravi to detail his spying on Mr. Clementi, in arguing that he had no bias against gay men and lesbians. Hundreds of people, many of them, like Mr. Ravi, from India, had attended rallies urging the judge not to incarcerate him.

On Monday, Steven Altman, a lawyer for Mr. Ravi, said that his client was being “demonized by the gay community” upon the mistaken belief that he caused his roommate’s death, and that the belief was infused throughout the entire prosecution. “This case is contrived, is being treated and exists today as if it’s a murder case,” Mr. Altman said.

He also said that prison would serve no more deterrent purpose than probation and community service, and that Mr. Ravi’s age — he is now 20 — should be taken into account. “His youth and immaturity were unable to provide him with the tools necessary to appreciate the consequences of his actions,” Mr. Altman said.

Practical Joking – I’m Kidding, No Really

You may have heard the question from either a friend, a co-worker or a colleague; How Long Does it Take to Get a Bachelor’s Degree?

Well according to the practical joke site Phony Diploma, in as little as a week or so. Furthermore it may be easier than investing tons of money into a college tuition to get a little piece of paper to hang in a frame on your wall. Okay, so maybe we are being a little misleading.

Obviously we are joking and to set the record straight we want to make it clear that Phony Diploma is not selling legitimate college degrees of college educations at a discount rate. Nor did that find a way to cram years of lecture, study time and tests into your head in a few easy steps.

But while they haven’t found out how to do that they did find out how to pull one hell of a practical joke on someone. And for that, Phony Diploma get’s an A+. No matter what percentage of americans with college degrees break down to, we can guarantee that almost 100% of the american population enjoys a good joke and a good gag.

So where does Phony Diploma come into this equation? Easy, they offer a great website product that can not only hit your funny bone but give you some phenomenal ideas for that next prank or practical joke.

Imagine constructing a authentic-looking copy of high school diploma, but better yet imagine that the school on that certificate is 100% fake, made up or some crazy named school that never existed.

Imagine creating diplomas that look, feel and come across as 100% real. Make some for your friends to bust their chops, make some for yourself to give you some fancy titles to brag about, either way, Phony Diploma accomplishes plenty!

So get yourself some laughs and load up on the practical joke ammunition at Phony Diploma today!

How to Redecorate Your New York Loft

Are you looking to completely redesign your New York City loft but want to cut down on cost? Maintaining a generous budget can be tough, especially when you want to strive for a new and futuristic look and style.

There are a few things to keep in mind when starting a makeover of your loft. Even if you are just moving into your brand new loft you are going to want to maximize your budget while still accomplishing your goal of a new-age look and feel to your home.

So where do we find the solution? Where can we find exactly what we are looking for?

Surprisingly the answers are not in the big chain decor stores. Nor are they with any particular interior designer or design company, the answers may be as easy as turning on your computer and enter a web address.

What you find as a possible solution may surprise you. Bean Bag furniture

No, that isn’t a typo, seriously… Bean Bag Furniture.

While it is easy to think about Bean Bags as the little bags you used to play hacki-sack with, but bean bags have come a long way since those days. In fact, people are using bean bag chairs and furniture for their health benefits. So not only can you find a furniture option that will surely benefit your budget, but you can find one that has actual health benefits as well.

Bean Bags have changed over time. Now there is an online store that sells great looking furniture made completely of bean bag material. Interesting right?

The perfect option for decorating a bedroom, redecorating your New York loft, achieving that “new age look”, fixing your posture and much more.

So in honor of this article, we are going to refer you to a website store that offers great deals on Bean Bag furniture. Check out their site here: Click Here

Liberty lose to Sun again, open the season 0-2

Tina Charles scores 25 points to lead Sun past Liberty

UNCASVILLE, Conn. — Tina Charles has played 70 games in the WNBA and now has reached double figures in both points and rebounds 47 times.

Charles had 25 points and 11 boards Sunday as the Connecticut Sun beat New York 92-77, opening the season with back-to-back wins against the Liberty.

Charles, who was 11 for 15 from the floor, scored 18 points in the second half as the Sun rallied from an early 11-point deficit.

AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

Connecticut Sun star Tina Charles, left, is guarded by New York Liberty’s DeMya Walker, rear, and Kia Vaughn, right, during a WNBA basketball game in Uncasville, Conn., on Sunday. The Sun won 92-77.

“It’s definitely maturity,” Charles said. “Especially the core players of this team, just us playing together for three years, we know where we are going to be. We believe in each other and know we can dig ourselves out of this.”

Asjha Jones, who also is Charles’ teammate on the U.S. Olympic squad, added 20 points and eight boards for Connecticut, which beat the Liberty in New York on Saturday to open the season. Renee Montgomery had 15 points and six assists.

Cappie Pondexter scored 18 points for New York, and Plenette Pierson added 16.

Connecticut, 15-2 at home last season, hasn’t lost to the Liberty at Mohegan Sun Arena since the 2008 playoffs.

“They are a great team,” Pondexter said. “They’ve got two Olympians, and it’s tough to beat a team that has been together for a while. I think they are the favorite to win the East.”

Charles, who is in just her third season, needs just three more double-doubles to tie the team record, a mark it took Taj McWilliams-Franklin 241 games to set. If she gets four rebounds in her next game, she’ll reach 800 for her career faster than any player in WNBA history. Yolanda Griffith had 800 in her first 72 games.

“When we have a team like this and a group of girls that believe in you and give you confidence, especially with the coaching staff, it makes (the game) easier,” Charles said.

New York scored the game’s first eight points and opened with a 13-3 run. The Sun hit just one of their first nine shots and made 3 of 18 in the first quarter. They trailed by 11 early and 24-15 after a quarter.

Connecticut used a 10-2 run to cut the deficit to three points, before New York stretched the lead again. Charles, who faced double teams every time she touched the ball, didn’t score her first points until midway through the second quarter.

Connecticut used free throws to climb steadily back into the game, and closed the quarter on a 14-3 run that turned a 37-30 deficit into a 44-40 halftime lead.

The Sun also trailed by nine points Saturday before coming back to win.

“There are going to be points in the game when you are struggling,” Jones said. “But we’re doing a good job right now just sticking with it and picking it up on defense. So, the last two games, that’s what we’ve done.”

The Sun hit just 10-of-23 shots from the field in the half, but made 23-of-26 free-throw attempts. New York had just eight shots from the line, hitting five.

Liberty coach John Whisenant responded to that disparity by picking up a technical foul, the only one Sunday after the teams combined for four on Saturday in New York.

After scoring just seven points in the first half, Charles had eight in the third quarter as the Sun extended their lead to 67-59.

She started the fourth quarter on the bench, and New York pulled to 69-67 on a three-point play by Essence Carson. But once Charles returned, the Sun pulled away, outscoring the Liberty 23-10 the rest of the way.

The game marked the start of the Sun’s 10th season in Connecticut since moving from Orlando.

2012 Triple Crown — I’ll Have Another off to New York for Belmont Stakes

I’ll Have Another Wins

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  Parting Shot: Caring For The Race Horse

BALTIMORE — I’ll Have Another poked his head out of his stall, started nibbling on his nameplate tacked to a wall and looked up at all the people watching his every move.

Yes, I’ll Have Another came out of his thrilling Preakness win over Bodemeister in “super shape,” trainer Doug O’Neill said Sunday, and now comes New York for a Triple Crown try in the Belmont Stakes on June 9.

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I’ll Have Another trainer Doug O’Neill talks about winning the Preakness, Mario Gutierrez, Bodemeister, the possibility of claiming the Triple Crown at Belmont and more.

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“Bring it on! We’re ready to go. Super pumped!” O’Neill said as he held court outside the stall of his Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner. “I can’t put into words how incredible it is. We’re just on Cloud 9. It’s super exciting.”

The colorful and controversial trainer was returning to his home base in California, and making plans for the trip to New York in the next week or so. I’ll Have Another, meanwhile, was loaded onto a horse van at Pimlico and arrived at Belmont Park on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

O’Neill’s assistant, Jack Sisterson, will oversee the chestnut colt until O’Neill and the rest of his team arrive.

The trainer took time to soak in the moment before leaving Baltimore, though, and to contemplate the pressure-packed days that await leading to the first Triple Crown attempt since 2008. It will be the 12th Triple try since 1978, when Affirmed won thoroughbred racing’s most elusive prize.

“It’s hasn’t completely sunk in yet,” he said. “The party out here at the barn after the race was like wow! I’ve never seen anything like that — everyone so excited about horse racing and I’ll Have Another being 2 for 2. I definitely feel the energy and buzz in the air.”

He hasn’t seen anything yet.

The Triple Crown quest brought some tantalizingly close calls since Affirmed turned back Alydar in the Derby, Preakness and Belmont 34 years ago — the longest drought between Triple Crown champions.

There was Real Quiet in 1998, who looked like a lock to take the Belmont until he was nailed at the wire by Victory Gallop. And there was Smarty Jones, who also seemed golden in the Belmont stretch only to be reeled in by 36-1 shot Birdstone in the final 70 yards.

So can I’ll Have Another win it? Steve Cauthen, who was a fresh-faced, 18-year-old jockey who rode Affirmed into history, believes the colt can deliver. Not only does he see similarities with Affirmed, but “The Kid” can relate to what “new-kid-on-the-block” rider Mario Gutierrez is experiencing.

“I guess I’m having a flashback,” Cauthen said Sunday from his breeding farm in Verona, Ky. “He’s a new kid on the block like I was. The kid’s got a great attitude and a great smile. And, like me, he’s been put in a position to ride in these kinds of races and a shot at maybe winning the Triple Crown. And the trainer and owner have confidence in him, and that’s important, because Laz (Barrera, Affirmed’s trainer) and Mr. Wolfson (owner Louis Wolfson) were 100 percent behind me.”

As for I’ll Have Another, Cauthen said the colt seems relaxed and takes things in stride, just like Affirmed.

“Horses that seem to come out of their races pretty well, it means they don’t bother themselves, and that’s a huge benefit when you’ve got three tough races,” Cauthen added. “It’s like three title fights in five weeks. You are taking on the best around. With Affirmed, he always did the right thing. He didn’t waste any energy. And when it came down to a battle, he thrived on it.

“This horse looks like he’s got that fighting spirit. He likes a game, and he wants to win and he can’t wait to get another battle. He thrives on it and to me that’s why more than anything he’s got a good chance.”

The race is one thing, the buildup another. Some cave to the pressure, others try to find ways to deal with it. It’s impossible to dismiss. Since Affirmed, no one’s come up with a winning formula.

J. Paul Reddam, who owns I’ll Have Another, would like nothing better than to have his horse join the equine pantheon of Triple Crown heroes that includes Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Citation. He’s just dreading all the time before the race.

“I’m actually not looking forward to the next three weeks at all,” Reddam said. “I know there is going to be a certain amount of tension, and I’m not eager to do a bunch of TV interviews. That’s not me.”

“I am going to tell everyone to try and keep the tension down. Enjoy it. If you want to be in the spotlight, knock yourself out. If you started singing on David Letterman, you probably carried it too far. But this is supposed to be fun.”

O’Neill already has embraced the hoopla, and can’t wait to take Manhattan.

“Like we did in Louisville and Baltimore, when we come to New York we’re going to see the town, enjoy it, soak it in,” he said. “And the reason we’re enjoying it so much is the horse has been thriving so much. If he continues to do good, we’ll have a good time.”

There could be bumpy times, too. O’Neill has been under scrutiny over his many violations for giving his horses improper drugs. He has been accused in California of “milkshaking,” the illegal practice of giving a horse a blend of bicarbonate of soda, sugar and electrolytes. The mixture is designed to reduce fatigue and enhance performance. He was fined $1,000 and suspended 15 days in one incident. He is contesting another and faces penalties ranging from a minimum 90-day suspension and a $5,000 fine to a maximum 180-day suspension and fine of $15,000.

“I can’t talk about all that stuff,” O’Neill said. “I know we play by the rules, and I know we love our horses and we take great care of them.”

He chooses to accentuate the positive.

“One thing we have here is an open-door policy and a backstage pass for everybody,” he said. “And it’s been a great opportunity to share with everybody who loves horse racing to see what goes into trying to take care of a horse. You can say whatever you want about me, but you have to be so amazed at how amazing I’ll Have Another and all of the people around him are in taking care of him.”

After winning the Santa Anita Derby by a nose, the colt purchased by Reddam for $35,000 won the Derby by 1½ lengths with a stretch run that caught Bodemeister in the final 100 yards. I’ll Have Another then produced an even more dramatic finish in Saturday’s Preakness, reeling in Bodemeister in the final strides to win by a neck.

In less than three weeks, it’s the biggest test of all, the grueling, 1½-mile Belmont, the longest of the Triple Crown races known as the “Test of the Champion.”

The wait is on.

“These three weeks will be the longest of their lives,” Cauthen said. “Every day they wake up, they have to make sure nothing goes wrong, that when he comes back from a gallop something doesn’t happen to him, like he steps on a stone or something silly. No matter what you do, there’s always going to be pressure, probably even more so now after 34 years without a Triple Crown.”

Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press

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