Worth the wait: Former Lincoln standout King lands at Coastal Carolina

Reuben King always felt he was a Division I talent. It just took an extra year for college coaches to see it.

The former Lincoln standout recently verbally committed to Coastal Carolina of the Big South after finishing up a year of prep school at Body of Christ Christian Academy (N.C.).

“I’m real excited about it,” the hard-nosed Brooklyn product said. “I always knew I could play on that level. It was a matter of getting a scholarship and letting everyone else know.”

King is waiting to hear from the NCAA Clearinghouse before signing, he said.

The chiseled 6-foot-3, 220-pound King, a combo guard who began his high school career at Bishop Ford before transferring to Nazareth and then PSAL dynamo Lincoln, chose the Chanticleers over Alcorn State, Loyola of Chicago and FDU. King was attracted to Coastal Carolina for a myriad of reasons, from his comfort level with the coaching staff, the chance to play right away, the bond he developed with current players and his affinity to the school’s location.

Denis Gostev

Former Lincoln guard Reuben King has verbally committed to Coastal Carolina.

Coastal Carolina, he said, began recruiting him late in the year and showed they really wanted him. He waited until just recently to finish up his course work and make sure he was making the right decision.

“They were on me hard, they showed me they really had interest in me, and they wanted me to come in and play,” he said. “I believe it’s a good place for me. It’s not too far from home. I liked the school a lot. I spoke to some of the teachers there. The coaches made me feel like I was at home, the players were cool. When I was there I felt like I belonged.”

He had a big year for Body of Christ, averaging 17 points and seven assists as the point guard in coach Darrell Harris' up-tempo system and leading them to a 25-14 record. Harris raved about King’s toughness, his demand to guard the best player on the opposition and deceptive athleticism for his body type. Harris went with King to workout with Coastal Carolina and the coach said he was one of the team’s best guards that day.

“I’m looking forward to him going down there and doing some big things,” the coach said. “He can only get better.”

King will be joining a successful program at Coast Carolina under head coach Cliff Ellis. The Chanticleers are coming off consecutive NIT berths and Big South regular season crowns. He is the fifth member of Ellis’ incoming recruiting class, joining forwards Michel Enanga, Alioune Diagne, Tristian Curtis and guard Justin Daniel.

King had Division II options out of Lincoln, but saw himself as a Division I player. Body of Christ offered him that opportunity and he took advantage of it.

“It feels good to show I’m a Division I player,” King said. “It’s about getting there an keep up what I was doing.”

zbraziller@nypost.com

Follow @NYP_Sports

Coastal Carolina, Coastal Carolina, Reuben King ebook download, Body of Christ Christian Academy, GostevFormer Lincoln guard Reuben King, Body of Christ, Big South, Darrell Harris, Chanticleers, NCAA Clearinghouse

Nypost.com

Sports Shorts

NBA: Morway quits Pacers; Bird next?

David Morway resigned as general manager of the Pacers amid reports that Larry Bird is on the way out, too. Bird, 55, took over from Donnie Walsh in 2008 as president of basketball operations and was this season’s NBA’s executive of the year. Walsh, who left the Knicks last year, is expected to return to the Pacers’ front office.

The Pistons traded guard Ben Gordon and a future first-round draft choice to the Bobcats for swingman Corey Maggette. . . . The Timberwolves acquired swingman Chase Budinger from the Rockets in exchange for the 18th overall pick in tomorrow’s draft. The Rockets also included the rights to Israeli Lior Eliyahu in the deal.

The Celtics will get an additional second-round draft pick in 2013 from the Thunder after a dispute over Jeff Green’s medical condition. Green, who missed the entire 2011-12 season with a heart condition, was acquired by the Celtics for Kendrick Perkins in February 2011.

MLB: Blue Jays sign Jamie Moyer

The Blue Jays signed 49-year-old Jamie Moyer to a minor league deal. Toronto will let Moyer make two starts for Triple-A Las Vegas, then decide whether to bring him back to the majors.

The Rockies reassigned pitching coach Bob Apodaca to special assistant to general manager Dan O’Dowd at Apodaca’s request.

GOLF: Long Island pro leads by six shots

Matt Dobyns, the 34-year-old head pro at Fresh Meadow in Lake Success, had a hole-in-one and shot a 3-under 69 to take a six-stroke lead into the final round of the PGA Professional National Championship in Seaside, Calif. Fra nk Bensel of Century and Deepdale’s Darrell Kestner are tied for sixth, 10 shots back.

Mike Miller, Sam Bernstein, Charlie Edler, Ryan McCormick and Joe Saladino shot 1-over 73s to share the first-round lead at the 57th Ike Championship at Atlantic Golf Club in Bridgehampton.

ETC.: Jamal Anderson fces DUI charge

Former Falcons running back Jamal Anderson is facing a charge of driving under the influence after an officer pulled him over Sunday just northeast of Atlanta. . . . Lions cornerback Aaron Berry faces DUI and other charges stemming from a weekend accident in his hometown.

James Martin, the ex-husband of former boxer Christy Martin, was sentenced in Orlando to 25 years in prison for trying to kill her.

Follow @NYP_Sports

Larry Bird, Bird, Pacers, Jamie Moyer, Donnie Walsh, the Pacers, Chase Budinger, the Rockets, The Timberwolves, PGA Professional National Championship, Lior Eliyahu, Corey Maggette., Ben Gordon, Kendrick Perkins, Blue Jays, Jamal Anderson, Bob Apodaca, Celtics, Atlantic Golf Club

Nypost.com

News Corp. Considers Splitting in Two

News Corp. is considering splitting into two companies, separating its publishing assets from its entertainment businesses. WSJ's Bruce Orwall reports. Photo: Getty Images

News Corp. said Tuesday that it is considering a restructuring to split into two publicly traded companies, separating its publishing assets from its entertainment businesses.

The company's stock jumped about 8% to $21.92 in early trading.

The split would carve off News Corp.'s film and television businesses, including 20th Century Fox film studio, Fox broadcast network and Fox News channel from its newspapers, book publishing assets and education businesses. News Corp.'s publishing assets include The Wall Street Journal, the Times of London and the Australian newspaper, as well as HarperCollins book publishing. If a separation occurs, the publishing company would be far smaller than the entertainment company.

A final decision on the split hasn't been made. News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch has previously opposed such a move, which has been discussed internally for several years, say people familiar with the situation. Mr. Murdoch has recently warmed to the idea, said one person familiar with the situation.

The idea under consideration isn't expected to change the Murdoch family's effective control of any of the businesses, exercised through the family's roughly 40% voting stake in News Corp. The idea is similar to the split of Viacom Inc. into two companies in 2006, when CBS was carved off as a separate company. In that break up, Viacom's controlling shareholder Sumner Redstone ended up with control of both companies.

Consideration of the restructuring at News Corp. comes in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal at the company's British newspaper operations. That scandal has so far resulted in the closure of the News of the World tabloid and the resignation of several senior executives, and prompted News Corp. to abandon a bid for shares it doesn't already own in the U.K. satellite-TV operator British Sky Broadcasting PLC.

In light of the scandal, the U.K. communications regulator has been reviewing whether BSkyB, which is 39%-owned by News Corp., is a "fit and proper" holder of a broadcasting license. Mr. Murdoch's son James, who has been criticized for his handling of the phone-hacking affair, gave up his chairmanship of BSkyB but remains on the board.

A split of News Corp.'s businesses would be welcomed by outside investors who are more interested in News Corp.'s television and film assets than its slow-growing publishing businesses. The entertainment assets make up by far the bulk of the company, contributing three-quarters of the $25.34 billion in revenue for the first nine months of the fiscal year. Those assets accounted for roughly 90% of the operating profit in that period.

In the nine months through March, News Corp.'s various segments together had operating profit of $4.2 billion, of which the publishing division contributed $458 million.

More

Deal Journal Australia: News Corp. Split Looks Good to Shareholders

News Corp.'s stock price has outperformed several other big media companies in the past 12 months, at least in part because of significant increases in stock buybacks since last summer.

Chase Carey, News Corp.'s chief operating officer, said on an investor call in May that he was aware some shareholders favored a spinoff of the newspaper assets. At the time, Mr. Carey said management and the board had discussed the idea but didn't have plans to pursue it. Mr. Carey has long been thought to be more interested in a spinoff than Mr. Murdoch.

Enlarge Image

Close

A split would be a big change for Mr. Murdoch, who built News Corp. into a media conglomerate from a single Australian newspaper he inherited in the 1950s. Until the 1980s his focus was on expanding internationally in newspapers, moving to Britain in the late 1960s with the purchase of the News of the World and the London Sun, and then expanding into the U.S. in the early 1970s.

While News Corp. continued to expand in newspapers, as recently as 2007 buying Dow Jones, the focus of the company shifted toward film and television since the 1980s purchase of the 20th Century Fox film studio and a group of TV stations that formed the basis of the Fox broadcast network. News Corp. later started cable channels such as Fox News that now generate much of the company's earnings.

Mr. Murdoch personally has remained a big fan of the newspaper business. When the London Sun recently launched a Sunday edition, Mr. Murdoch spent time in London helping with preparations.

Write to Martin Peers at martin.peers@wsj.com, John Jannarone at john.jannarone@wsj.com and Anupreeta Das at anupreeta.das@wsj.com

News Corp., Rupert Murdoch, Getty ImagesNews Corp., Fox News, 20th Century Fox, News of the World

Online.wsj.com

Chad Billingsley can't hold lead as Dodgers fall to Angels, 8-5

Erick Aybar turns a double play in front of Dodgers right fielder Andre Ethier as he slides into second base during the Angels' 8-5 victory Friday at Angel Stadium. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times / June 22, 2012)

Don Mattingly was tired of hearing about Chad Billingsley’s inconsistency. On Friday, he went into an impassioned pregame defense of his right-hander.

He talked about how Billingsley has never had a losing season. He has won 10 or more games in each of the past five seasons. He said that if you put his numbers over the last four years up against the rest of the league, they’re “pretty damn good.”

The Dodgers’ struggling offense then went out and staked Billingsley to a quick 5-0 lead.

And after four innings, Billingsley had given it all back.

The Angels rallied to hand the Dodgers their fourth consecutive loss, winning, 8-5, before a sellout crowd of 44,548 at Angel Stadium.

A Dodgers team that had managed a total of three runs in the past three games in Oakland opened Friday’s game like it had undergone an unexplainable offensive metamorphosis.

The Dodgers scored three runs on three hits in the first inning, and two runs on three hits in the second.

The Dodgers equaled the total amount of runs scored while being swept in three games by the A’s in the first inning against right-hander Dan Haren. Jerry Hairston Jr. and Andre Ethier singled with one out, before ex-Angel Bobby Abreu drilled a three-run homer into the right-field stands.

It was Abreu’s first at-bat back in Anaheim since the Angels released him.

The Dodgers added two more in the second after Tony Gwynn Jr. led off with a walk, stole second and scored on a Hairston single. After Andre Ethier singled off the glove of first baseman Albert Pujols, Juan Rivera -- another ex-Angel -- singled Hairston home.

The Dodgers turned the 5-0 lead over to Billingsley, and watched it wither away.

The Angels got three runs back in the bottom of the second after Kendrys Morales and Mark Trumbo singled. Alberto Callaspo doubled in Morales, and Howie Kendrick’s fly to center sacrificed Trumbo home. Callaspo scored on Erick Aybar's ground out to first.

The Angels took the lead with three more in the fourth. Callaspo singled and scored on an Aybar triple. The Angels tied it on a suicide squeeze, Billingsley coming home late on Bobby Wilson’s bunt. Wilson was out at first, but the Angels took the lead when rookie sensation Mike Trout homered on Billingsley’s next pitch. It was Trout’s seventh home run of the season.

Billingsley (4-6) left after the fifth, having surrendered six runs on 10 hits. His earned-run average rose to 4.15. Confidence in him did not rise accordingly.

Haren, who had thrown 45 pitches after the second inning alone, managed to make it through the fifth and get the win. Haren (5-7) allowed the five runs on nine hits and three walks.

The Angels added two more in the sixth off Jamey Wright. Aybar opened with a double, but Wright threw him out at third on a Wilson bunt attempt. But after a walk to Trout, Torii Hunter singled both runners in, the lightning-fast Trout scoring all the way from first.

RELATED:

What if Dodgers had hired Mike Scioscia as manager?

End is not near: Dodgers no longer own baseball's best record

Dodgers and the trade deadline: Opportunity versus expectations?

Andre Ethier, Andre Ethier, Chad Billingsley, Billingsley, Erick Aybar, Erick Aybar, the Angels, the Angels, Dodgers, The Dodgers, Jerry Hairston Jr., Angels, Angel Stadium.A Dodgers team, Tony Gwynn Jr.

Latimes.com

South Carolina wins two in Omaha

South Carolina's LB Dantzler, right, celebrates with teammates after hitting a two-run home run against Kent State. (Dave Weaver / Associated Press / June 21, 2012)

South Carolina wins two in Omaha

Freshman Jordan Montgomery and Matt Price combined on a three-hitter Thursday night, lifting two-time defending national champion South Carolina to a 2-0 victory over Arkansas in the College World Series at Omaha.

Michael Roth of the Gamecocks threw a two-hitter against Kent State earlier in the day. South Carolina and Arkansas will play again Friday night to decide which team goes to the best-of-three finals. The winner will play Arizona, which converted three errors into a six-run first inning and advanced with a 10-3 victory over Florida State.

South Carolina is the third team in the 63-year history of the CWS to win two full games in the same day. The last to do it was Holy Cross in 1952, when it beat Western Michigan and Penn State en route to the title.

ETC.

Mathis (64) leads at Travelers

David Mathis had a hole in one and shot a six-under-par 64 to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Travelers Championship at Cromwell, Conn.

Nathan Green, Will Claxton and defending champion Fredrik Jacobson shot 65 on a day that saw temperatures soar into the upper 90s.

Former UCLA star Patrick Cantlay made his professional debut with a 75 on the same course where he made headlines last year with a second-round 60 as a 19-year-old amateur.

Sandra Changkija birdied six of her final eight holes for a career-best eight-under 63 and a three-stroke lead during the suspended first round of the inaugural Manulife Financial LPGA Classic at Waterloo, Canada.

Play was suspended at 4:20 p.m. because of the threat of lightning in the area, and called off for the rest of the day at 6:30 p.m. Seventy-two players were unable to finish the round.

Australia's Marcus Fraser and Paraguay's Fabrizio Zanotti shot eight-under 64 to share the first-round lead in the BMW International Open at Pulheim, Germany.

The U.S. soccer team will face Mexico on Aug. 15 in Mexico City, the first exhibition between the two on Mexican soil in nearly 28 years.

The Americans are still seeking their first win south of the border in a series that dates to 1934. Mexico is 23-0-1 against the U.S. on its home turf, most recently earning a pair of 2-1 victories in FIFA World Cup qualifying in 2005 and 2009.

Hall of Fame jockey Eddie Delahoussaye is getting his own race at Santa Anita.

The track will feature the Grade III Eddie D. Stakes on opening day of its autumn meet on Sept. 28.

The 61/2-furlong race for 3-year-olds and up will be run on the turf. The race was previously known as the Morvich Stakes, which Delahoussaye won in 1984 aboard Tsunami Slew.

David Ferrer routed Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands, 6-0, 6-1, to reach the UNICEF Open semifinals at Den Bosch, Netherlands.

The top-seeded Spaniard next plays Frenchman Benoit Paire, who beat Ito Tatsuma of Japan, 6-3, 7-5.

On the women's side, Kim Clijsters of Belgium beat Francesca Schiavone, 6-3, 7-6 (7).

Marion Bartoli of France beat seventh-seeded Lucie Safarova, 6-4, 6-2, to reach the semifinals of the Eastbourne championships in England.

Bartoli next faces Austria's Tamira Paszek, who defeated Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria, 6-0, 6-4.

Rain forced the postponement of the men's quarterfinals to Friday, when American Andy Roddick is scheduled to face Italian Fabio Fognini.

South Carolina, Kent State, Florida State.South Carolina, Arkansas, Jordan Montgomery, Eddie Delahoussaye, College World Series, FIFA World Cup

Latimes.com

Toyota Prius c: Pleasure Not Included

View Slideshow

Dan Neil/The Wall Street Journal

Click to view the slideshow.

The c—the lowercase is practically existential—was born of two ruthless numbers: 50 miles per gallon and <$20,000. The challenge of cost-engineering such a car worthy of the Prius name must have sent many a fine young engineer off the roofs of Toyota City. And yet it had to be done. The brilliant Prius has become, well, rather spendy, with a base price around $25,000. Many highly motivated, environmentally conscious young buyers simply could not afford the Prius's brand of fuel economy.

Hey, you there, about to fire off a snide email about how your 1986 Honda CRX HF got 50 mpg and cost you pocket lint: Don't. Your CRX was, comparatively, an empty cardboard box of a car. The Prius c has nine air bags, a tilt/telescopic steering column, power windows and doors, a well-kitted stereo with four speakers, automatic climate control, 10 times the high-strength steel and a fraction of the tailpipe and evaporative emissions of your ancient, trembling CRX. No comparison.

More Hybrid Reviews

The Fuel-Sipping Prius Gets a Bigger Brother

Kia's Hybrid Sets a New Commuter Standard

Fisker Karma: The World's Most Interesting Car

Porsche Blasts Hybrids Into New Stratosphere

Speaking of Honda: The c is also an answering salvo to Honda's Insight hybrid, reborn in 2009 as Honda's attempt to undercut the Prius. The Insight barely retains the "cheapest hybrid" title ($19,200, compared with the Prius c's $19,740) but can't touch the Toyota's 53/46 fuel economy, the best of any car on the market (41/44 mpg for the Insight).

I have to admit I felt a pang of regret when I first drove the Prius c. I had mocked the Insight—in my gentle, loving way—for what felt like scant structure and a certain resonating cheapness. And yet, compared with the Prius c, the Insight feels like it was built in a Belfast shipyard. Holy hell. In the Prius c even the air is thin.

Pedigree is not the Prius c's problem. In its 15 years on the market, Toyota's Prius has conquered the world, selling more than four million units and, in the first quarter of 2012, ranking third on the list of global best sellers, behind Toyota's own Corolla and the Ford Focus. Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive technology remains the standard by which other hybrids are judged. The coding in these cars is to powertrain software what "Henry V" is to a night at the theater.

“I honor it, I respect it, but what a starved, oppressively dull piece of motorized martyrdom this car is.”

The c's issues stem from the rude collision of those two numbers, 50 mpg and <$20,000, and the principle of diminishing returns. Yes, sure, Toyota could have simply transplanted the regular Prius's powertrain (net 134 hp) into the smaller and lighter Yaris, and Newton tells us it would have gotten better fuel economy. But having transplanted the heaviest and most costly component to the c, you'd wind up with only marginal improvements in cost and fuel economy, and a smaller, crummier car to put them in.

The c's program managers were thus obliged to dial back to the previous generation's 1.5-liter engine (the Gen III Prius uses a 1.8-liter), a smaller traction motor (60 hp vs. 80 hp) and a lighter, cheaper nickel-metal hydride battery (19.3 kilowatts vs. 27 kW).

The mass optimization and general lowercasing continued until the engineers arrived at a car that's 542 pounds lighter and 19.1 inches shorter, with a powertrain netting out at 99 hp, vs. the regular Prius's 134 hp. For all these exertions, the c returns 53/46 mpg, city/highway, as compared with the regular Prius's 51/48 mpg. In other words, both cars average 50 mpg. The engineering value, if you will, is all in the c's price advantage.

2012 Toyota Prius c

Enlarge Image

Close

Dan Neil/The Wall Street Journal

Base price: $19,740

Price as tested: $21,716

Powertrain: Series-parallel gas-electric hybrid, with DOHC, 16-valve, 1.5-liter, in-line four-cylinder (73 hp) with variable valve timing and lift; AC synchronous permanent magnet traction motor (60 hp); nickel-metal hydride battery pack (0.9 kWh, 19.3 kW output); front-wheel drive

Length/weight: 157.3 inches/2,500 pounds

Wheelbase: 100.4 inches

0-60 mph: 11 seconds

EPA fuel economy: 53/46/50 mpg, city/highway/combined

Cargo capacity: 17.1 cubic feet

And yet, what a starved, oppressively dull piece of motorized martyrdom it is. As my Minnesota relatives would say, oofta! A key notion here is that of sufficiency. The regular Prius is no hot rod, to be sure, but it comports itself around town and on the highway with a certain lithe assurance. You never wonder if it's going to be able to thread itself into moving traffic or attain highway speed before a truck looms up behind you.

The c will also perform sufficiently in situations requiring crisp acceleration—nominal 0-60 mph is 11 seconds—but you have to thrash it like Rasputin. This is not merely the result of the difference in the two cars' weight-to-power ratio (the c's 25 pounds per hp vs. the Prius's 22.7 lb./hp). The c's powertrain programming so despises sharp spikes in throttle demand that it often simply ignores them. Overwintering bears are easier to rouse.

There are also some plain giveaways underfoot. Because the battery capacity is smaller—0.9 kWh, compared with the bigger Prius's 1.3 kWh—the car's EV mode rarely seems to be available, due to insufficient charge. The CVT transmission has a "B" for "battery" slot in the shift gate, which tells the computers to increase the regenerative braking effect, but it doesn't seem to do much since the electrons have nowhere to go.

The c's rather one-dimensional powertrain behavior undermines one of the Prius's essential pleasures. Anyone who has driven these cars knows that part of the fun—the nerdy, too-embarrassing-to-talk-about fun—is marveling at its relentless ciphering, the endless fretting over every amp-hour and BTU. For all the energy-flow graphs and readouts on the c, those pleasures are largely missing.

And thus is born a fuel-saving marvel of engineering that I salute even as I can't imagine myself owning. But hey, 50 mpg for under $20,000. That's huge, that's epic, that's…I'm sorry. I dozed off.

Email Dan at rumbleseat@wsj.com .

Explore More

Ford Escape: Kick Up Your Suburban Heels

Scion iQ: Slow, Whiny, Tiny

Luxury Can Be Lonely

Volvo C30 Polestar: The Spirit of Sweden

The Ferrari With the Dragon Tattoo

Kia's Hybrid Sets a Commuter Standard
Online.wsj.com

Uncle Sam squeeze

Wagering against Uncle Sam can be a sucker bet.

Just ask Andy Redleaf, the chief executive of Whitebox Advisors, a $2.3 billion hedge fund known for its savvy fixed-income plays.

“We’ve been short Treasurys since sometime in ’09, which has been painful,” Redleaf said.

Still, Redleaf is in good company. Other big hedge funds who are bearish on US government debt include Paul Singer of Elliott Management, Michael Novogratz of Fortress Investment Group and Seth Klarman of Baupost Group.

When Treasury yields hit 3.0 percent in the middle of 2009, the smart money thought they could go no lower, but yields have been sinking just about ever since.

Christopher Sadowski

Some on Wall Street are getting soaked after betting against the US and Lady Liberty — thinking US Treasurys would fall as Washington got swamped under a rising tide of debt.

After the Federal Reserve announced yesterday it would extend its current plan — known as “Operation Twist” — and buy long-term debt, yields bounced around a bit and ended at 1.66 percent.

“When markets are dominated by uneconomic players, it’s difficult to know how long that will last,” said Redleaf, referring to the Fed’s various attempts to keep rates low to jump-start the economy.

Treasurys have also been bolstered by troubles in Europe, as investors flock to them as a safe haven in times of turmoil.

Undaunted by such realities, Singer proposed selling Treasurys as his trade idea at the annual hedge-fund SALT conference in Las Vegas last month. Referring to current Treasury yields, Singer said at SALT, “it’s aberrant. It’s a pricing extreme.”

Singer has long been an inflation hawk and short various government securities. In a letter to investors earlier this year, he criticized the Fed for what he called “radical” monetarism that he thinks will bring “very serious inflation.”

But the nation’s sluggish economic growth, high unemployment and lack of wage hikes should keep overall inflation in check for some time, analysts said.

Hedge-fund managers who are critical of the Fed’s actions think this could change overnight.

Novogratz told Bloomberg, “For your children’s money, you should be short every fixed-income instrument on the planet or at least in the developed world,” including the US. (He acknowledged the trade probably wouldn’t pay off over the next three months.)

Treasury yields sunk to 1.45 percent at the end of May, the lowest in history.

Yet ValueWalk’s Matt Rego suggested that the short Treasury trade could become the new “Japanese widowmaker trade,” referring to the losses incurred betting again Japanese sovereign debt, which has been below 2 percent for more than a decade.

Perhaps the biggest widow was Pimco’s Bill Gross, who was burnt badly last year when he went net short US governments in his $235.9 billion bond fund under the rubric of his “new normal” investing philosphy.

US Treasurys rallied last summer despite the Congressional stalemate over raising the debt ceiling and the subsequent downgrade of the national debt by the credit-rating agencies. Gross reversed that call and has been buying Treasurys ever since.

“This is going to be a short-term phenomenon,” said a hedge-fund investor, referring to low Treasury yields. “But short can mean six years.”

mcelarier@nypost.com

Andy Redleaf, Paul Singer, Treasury yields, Treasury yields, Fortress Investment Group, hedge fund, hedge funds, Michael Novogratz, Treasurys, Treasurys, Redleaf, Treasury, Seth Klarman

Nypost.com

New racism probe launched against Croatia

WARSAW, Poland — Croatia is facing a second charge over the racist behavior of its fans after UEFA launched a new investigation against the country’s football federation following crowd incidents during a European Championship match.

The proceedings relate to “the improper conduct of supporters (display of racist banners and symbols)” during Monday’s Group C match against Spain in Gdansk, UEFA said Wednesday

UEFA is also investigating “the setting-off and throwing of fireworks” by Croatia fans and the “improper conduct of the team,” which had six players booked during the 1-0 loss.

The new probe was opened by UEFA only a day after it fined the Croatian FA (euro) 80,000 ($101,000) for its supporters’ racist abuse of Italy forward Mario Balotelli in the team’s second match at Euro 2012. Stadium monitors showed 300 Croatia fans making monkey noises at Balotelli, who is black.

The association was also fined (euro) 25,000 ($31,500) last week for its fans’ behavior at an earlier match against Ireland.

Croatia was eliminated from Euro 2012 after finishing third in its group.

UEFA’s disciplinary body will deal with the new case on Sunday.

UEFA President Michel Platini said at a media briefing on Monday that the poor behavior of Croatian fans had soured an otherwise impressive tournament in Poland and Ukraine.

After saying he was “not happy with the Croatian people,” Platini described the atmosphere at Euro 2012 stadiums as “99 percent great. The people who come to the stadiums, they were nice, except some Croatians.”

Croatia’s games against Ireland and Italy were both delayed to clear fireworks and smoke from the field after goals by the Croatians.

On Sunday, Croatia coach Slaven Bilic defended his country’s image after UEFA announced its first racism charge against the federation.

“We are not a racist country and that’s why we are so angry with these couple of crazy supporters,” Bilic said.

Follow @NYP_Sports

Croatia, UEFA, Mario Balotelli online, Euro 2012, WARSAW, Poland, Michel Platini, improper conduct

Nypost.com

Empire Challenge notebook: Explosive Bedell earns MVP honors in Long Island rout

It was the big finish everyone came to see as part of a huge day for William Floyd running back Stacey Bedell.

“They kept saying, 'Stacey when are you going to break a long run,'" he recalled.

The answer was the third quarter.

The 5-foot-11, 175-pound speedster finally broke free of New York City defense on a sudden cutback, getting into the second level and outrunning the city's safeties to the end zone. The electric 92-yard score midway through the third quarter was the backbreaker in Long Island’s dominant 31-7 win over NYC in the 17th annual Empire Challenge senior all-star football game at Hofstra University Tuesday night. Bedell’s burst came immediately after NYC was stopped on a fourth-down run on the 1-yard line.

Denis Gostev

Team Long Island's Mike Richardson celebrates a touchdown during the 31-7 victory over Team New York City.

Photos: Empire Challenge

“My first touchdown was a short run,” said Bedell, who earned game MVP honors. “Everyone is used to me breaking a long run. I guess that one was it right there.”

It was the third time he found the end zone, his first two scores 1-yard runs in the first and third quarters, respectively. Bedell rushed 15 times for 137 yards altogether. He was coming off a remarkable season in which he ran for a Long Island Championship game-record 412 yards and scored four touchdowns in a 54-47 win over East Meadow. Bedell, the co-winner of the 2011 Hansen Award, given to the most outstanding player in Suffolk County, had 2,532 rushing yards as a senior, the third-highest total in Suffolk history.

"That was a big play for them, obviously," NYC coach Sean O'Connor said of the 92-yard dash to pay dirt. "He put on the jets. He's got some good explosion."

Fort Hamilton’s Ibric leads NYC’s defensive effort: Mensur Ibric gave his team the playmaking lift it needed on defense. The 6-foot-2, 230-pound defensive end shot through the line and blocked Long Island’s first PAT attempt and earned a sack of kicker Ryan Norton after a botched snap after on the second extra point.

“The offense wasn't really producing,” Ibric said. “The defense has to make plays, make things happen, pump the whole team up, get the momentum [on our side].”

It appeared the Sacred Heart-bound standout had made that play when he forced Isaiah Barnes to fumble and recovered the ball on the Long Island 48-yard line with New York City down just 12-0 midway through the second quarter. It came a play after Dan Low was intercepted by Brian VonBaren, but the city drive stalled at the Long Island 31.

“I just went and made the play, try to be an athlete,” Ibric said.

Empire Challenge enjoys second straight record-breaking crowd: Boomer Esiason said he is approached by kids all the time about the Empire Challenge, which benefits his foundation for cystic fibrosis.

“They say, ‘I’m going to be here in two years Mr. Esaison,’" the former New York Jets quarterback said. “It’s something to shoot for. We want to make it really special for them.”

The size of the crowds the last two years have shown exactly that. Last season they packed 11,992 people into Hofstra’s Shuart Stadium. Tuesday night the record was shattered with 12,418 fans in the stands.

It showed Esaison that after 17 years, the game has taken hold as something people look forward to. Esiason feels it is better promoted better now through the media, particularly with his WFAN morning radio show he co-hosts with Craig Carton.

“What has taken root here is a lot of the younger kids who will be in the game next year will be in the crowd and kids that are ninth-graders, eighth-graders and seventh-graders come to this game," Esiason said. "They have seen it over the years. Their parents have seen it.”

jstaszewski@nypost.com

Follow @NYP_Sports

Empire Challenge, Empire Challenge online, Long Island, Long Island, Boomer Esiason, New York City, Hofstra University Tuesday night, Bedell

Nypost.com

NHL plans to take Devils from owner Vanderbeek

EXCLUSIVE

Hockey is getting ready to freeze out New Jersey Devils owner Jeff Vanderbeek.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is preparing to take control of the money-losing hockey franchise in the event Vanderbeek fails to refinance the Devils’ debt before a looming Aug. 14 deadline, The Post has learned.

In recent days, the commissioner’s office has told potential suitors to be ready in case he moves on the team and pushes Vanderbeek aside, a source close to the situation said.

Vanderbeek is near a deal to sell a majority stake to a mystery investor, which would allow him to keep control of the Eastern Conference champions, one source said. The proceeds from a sale would be used to repay lenders much of the $77 million in past due debt.

But while Bettman has said publicly that he expects the Devils’ financial situation to be resolved soon, his behind-the-scenes moves suggest he’s far from confident that a deal will get done.

His skepticism shouldn’t come as a surprise. Since the Devils missed a principal payment in September, Vanderbeek has said several times he was close to a solution to the team’s debt woes, only to come up short.

When the team made it to Stanley Cup finals this spring, the team’s lenders agreed to extend the deadline for when they could put the team in default from early July to August, sources said.

Asked about the Devils before Game 1 of the finals last month, Bettman said Vanderbeek “is working to both refinance the debt on the club and equity-raise, and he appears to be fairly confident that he can pull this off in the next few weeks.”

Bettman added, “Since I’ve been in touch with the banks on a regular basis, we seem to be on track.”

The commissioner is expected to give Vanderbeek a few more weeks to complete a financial restructuring but will not wait until the Aug. 14 deadline passes, sources said.

The NHL would likely force him out sooner to give suitors enough time to study the team’s financials and make an offer to lenders before the bankruptcy deadline, according to sources.

Moreover, new investors may not want to buy the team and leave Vanderbeek in charge, sources added.

Faced with losing control of the team, Vanderbeek could also decide to put the Devils into bankruptcy and buy himself several months to arrange a restructuring plan.

Thanks to their success on ice this year, when the team staged an upset win over the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference Championships, the Devils could go from losing $20 million in the regular season to almost breaking even next year, sources said.

The Devils declined to comment, while the NHL did not return calls.

jkosman@nypost.com

Commissioner Gary Bettman, New Jersey Devils, the Devils, Vanderbeek

Nypost.com

Egypt Showdown Gains Momentum

Egypt1_G_20120618183217.jpg" vspace="0" hspace="0" border="0" alt="[EGYPT1]" height="369" width="553"/> Reuters

Supporters of Mohammed Morsi gather in Tahrir Square Monday.

CAIRO—The Muslim Brotherhood appeared headed for a showdown with Egypt's ruling generals hours after claiming victory in Egypt's first freely contested presidential election, even as the military sought to assure the public it would hand over power.

The Brotherhood, intent on reclaiming some of the powers that the military has claimed for itself in recent days, said it would convene Parliament on Tuesday in defiance of a court order dissolving the body, and called on Egyptians to take to the streets to challenge the military's recent moves to consolidate power.

The calls sets up a possible showdown with security forces who have been ordered to keep all lawmakers from entering the Parliament building.

Enlarge Image

Close

European Pressphoto Agency

Maj.-Gens. Mohamed el Assar, left, and Mamdouh Shahin address a news conference.

The Brotherhood's presidential candidate, Mohammed Morsi, and his rival, ex-Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq, both claimed victory in the weekend vote. But the Brotherhood's precinct-by-precinct reporting of results convinced many analysts it was the more reliable of the two camps, showing Mr. Morsi winning 52% of the vote.

Mr. Shafiq's campaign has claimed victory by the same margin, but hasn't provided numbers of its own to challenge the Morsi campaign's results for any individual precinct.

Instead, Mr. Shafiq's campaign appears to be hoping the Presidential Election Commission will back its allegations of voter fraud and irregularities to tip the race in Mr. Shafiq's favor.

Mr. Shafiq's candidacy was made possible by the commission, which rejected a law passed by the Muslim Brotherhood-dominated Parliament—and approved by the military—that would have banned Mr. Shafiq from running because of his ties to the old regime.

Likely president-elect Mohamed Morsi promises to unite Egyptians after the Muslim Brotherhood declares early victory. Video courtesy of Reuters.

The commission is headed by a judge who was appointed to the Supreme Court by former President Hosni Mubarak and came up as a judge serving in state security courts used to try political dissidents. The commission's decisions are unappealable.

The confrontation with the Brotherhood, brewing for months, has boiled over in just the past week, as the Egyptian state seemed to mobilize on multiple fronts to trim the Brotherhood's political ambitions.

On Wednesday, the military-appointed Minister of Justice declared martial law, giving the military sweeping powers to enforce law and order. On Thursday, the Supreme Court, which is stacked with Mubarak-era judges, dissolved Parliament on a technicality. The country's ruling generals claimed all of the Parliament's legislative powers for itself.

Then on Sunday, shortly after polls closed in the presidential vote, the military issued a constitutional decree that gave the country's top generals many of the executive powers previously reserved for the president.

The Brotherhood and the secular opposition ranks denounced what they perceived as a military coup.

But the ruling appears to have convinced many revolutionaries, who had been considering boycotting the weekend vote, that the military and remnants of the Mubarak regime were a far greater threat than the Brotherhood, pushing them to vote for Mr. Morsi despite unease with the group's Islamist ideology.

The U.S. military, which is Egypt's primary source of military aid, also relayed its concern to Egypt's ruling generals.

"We're deeply concerned about new amendments to the constitution declaration, including the timing of their announcements as polls were closing for the presidential election," Pentagon spokesman George Little said Monday.

Facing a freshly united opposition, and criticism from its most important ally, the military tried to assuage public opinion on Monday. Two Egyptian generals convened a rare news conference in which they reiterated the military's commitment to handing over power to a civilian president by June 30.

"Everyone is blowing this out of proportion," said Maj. Gen. Mohammed el-Assar, a member of the interim ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. "No one will return Egypt to the past, no matter who wins the presidency."

More

Era of Chaos Erodes Cairo's Influence in the Arab World

Egypt Military Tightens Grip

Egypt's incoming president, Gen. Assar said, would still retain the power to appoint ministers and veto legislation, despite the legislative authority the military has assumed.

"We want a little more trust in us," said Gen. Assar. "Stop the criticisms that we are a state within a state. Please. Stop."

Later on Monday, the military announced the formation a new National Defense Council that would bring together the country's newly elected leaders and top generals. It wasn't clear what the council's duties would be.

The Brotherhood and other opposition forces are looking for far more substantive concessions from the country's military rulers. It plans to convene Parliament as scheduled, in defiance of the Supreme Court ruling.

In a victory speech early Monday morning, Mr. Morsi followed the conciliatory tone and made no mention of Islamic law, instead stressing the group's commitment to building a civil, democratic and constitutional state.

Secular opposition activists said both sides of the Islamist-secular divide appeared to have been jolted to put aside their deep differences by the recent steps by the military to consolidate power.

"They now seem more willing to cooperate with us," said Shadi Ghazali Harb, a secular revolutionary youth leader who has been meeting regularly with the Brotherhood in recent days. "We hope this cooperation will extend to more than just talking and saying good stuff."

—Matt Bradleyand Tamer El-Ghobashy contributed to this article.

Write to Matt Bradley at matt.bradley@dowjones.com and Charles Levinson at charles.levinson@wsj.com

A version of this article appeared June 19, 2012, on page A6 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Egypt Showdown Gains Momentum.

Muslim Brotherhood, Muslim Brotherhood, Mohammed Morsi, Brotherhood, Brotherhood, Egypt, Egypt, Egypt, the Brotherhood, the Brotherhood, Ahmed Shafiq, presidential election, presidential election, Supreme Court, Supreme Court, Mohamed Morsi, president.The Brotherhood, Mohamed el Assar

Online.wsj.com

I can’t turn my back on my baby

The creator of the 401(k) plan concedes there may be problems — including too many options and high fees, but he says all those are fixable in a strong economy.

Ted Benna (right), who in the early ’80s devised the most popular IRA, believes the problems of all retirement plans, both private and public, are highlighted when the economy is bad.

“All retirement programs are dependent on a strong economy. And right now the stock market has poor returns. And the bond market looks very bad,” he says. And bonds, he notes, are where many retirees have traditionally put a big part of their assets, hoping to live off the yield.

Yet Benna believes the 401(k), with certain reforms, can still be an effective retirement savings vehicle. The biggest problem today, he believes, is that workers don’t know how to use the plan and too often switch among a plethora of confusing investment choices.

“We need to simplify the array of confusing investment choices,” he says.

The solution?

Plans should automatically put workers into a mix of long-term life-cycle funds. Workers need to be educated in how to use 401(k)s and all other retirement vehicles, Benna says.

“Convince workers to stay through the ups and downs of the market, to invest for the long term.”

stock market, 401(k), economy, retirement

Nypost.com

Furyk has a share of lead at U.S. Open

SAN FRANCISCO — Graeme McDowell was trying to be complimentary when he said to have success at a U.S. Open you have to play “Jim Furyk golf.” When asked to explain, it took him some time to find the right words.

“I don’t like the word ‘plodder,’’’ McDowell said. “It’s kind of a little bit disrespectful.’’

Truth is, Furyk doesn’t mind being called “a plodder.” In fact, he considers it a compliment, especially when it puts him atop the leaderboard as it has done after two rounds of the 112th U.S. Open at the Olympic Club.

Call him what you want, but Furyk has been one of the few to finish the first 36 holes in red numbers. A 1-under par 69 yesterday, coupled with an even-par 70 on Thursday, had him at 1-under for the tournament and tied for the lead with Tiger Woods and David Toms going into today’s third round.

EPA

THE SOUND AND THE FURYK: Jim Furyk, putting on the second hole yesterday, has a share of the lead at the U.S. Open heading into the third round today.

Getty Images

Jim Furyk.

U.S. OPEN HOLE BY HOLE

So go ahead and call him a plodder. He doesn’t mind, especially when it comes to dealing with the difficult setup at the Olympic Club.

“I think the way the golf course is set up, that’s pretty much what you need to do,” Furyk said. “Get the ball in the fairway or in a playable spot as best you can, get the ball on the green or in a playable spot as best you can and try to make four.

“I’m just trying to plod,” he added. “I think it’s a good word. You take what the course gives you and play the best you can from there.”

That style of patient, precise play helped Furyk win the 2003 U.S. Open at Olympia Fields for the only major championship of his career. It also served him well yesterday.

He made three birdies on the day, two on par-3s at the third and 15th holes, and could have added a couple more. He missed a 15-footer for birdie at the par-4 10th, and narrowly missed a birdie at the par-4 18th.

At age 42, Furyk said he is confident he still has what it takes to win another major.

“I realize that the window’s not wide open anymore,” he said. “I have a lot more good years behind me than I probably do ahead of me, but I still feel like I’ve got some game. I’ve got some more tournaments to win. And I’ve always said, we’re judged by the number of events we win and by the number of major championships we win.

“It would be a blessing for me to get another major championship under my belt. And I feel like in the next few years I have the opportunity still to be able to do that.”

It might even come in the next few days.

george.willis@nypost.com

Jim Furyk, Graeme McDowell, Tiger Woods, David Toms

Nypost.com

Sponsors and fans stick by Lance Armstrong

Lance Armstrong still can’t be beat.

Despite this week’s allegations that the 40-year-old cycling champ turned triathlete used performance-enhancing drugs, his corporate sponsors and fans are sticking with him.

Sponsors — including Nike, sunglasses brand Oakley and Anheuser-Busch — issued statements of support yesterday for Armstrong while marketing experts and shoppers agree that the Texan’s achievements and positive image outweigh the allegations.

“He’s successfully ridden out past allegations about this before,” Kevin Adler, president of Engage Marketing, a leading Chicago-based sports marketing firm, told The Post. “This is just another first round. What he’s proven is that over time, due process works very well in his favor.”

Tamara Beckwith/NY Post

Despite recent doping allegations, cycling champ Lance Armstrong (above) still has the support of his fans, including Thom Rowland, who said he’ll continue buying Livestrong merchandise.

The public seems to have a distinct separation between accusations and proven facts before making their judgments, Adler said.

“Personal achievement has earned him the right to reclaim celebrity status no matter what the outcome,” said branding expert Jarrod Moses of United Entertainment Group.

Armstrong is accused by the US Anti-Doping Agency of using the performance enhancing drug, EPO, and human growth hormone.

Similar accusations have dogged Armstrong for years, and he has continuously and strenuously denied them.

The charges may lead to him being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles.

With the USADA charges, Armstrong cannot compete in any triathlons.

He was training for a June 24 event in France.

Armstrong has until next Friday to respond to the allegations.

Shoppers at the Niketown store on 57th Street were far from ready to castigate the cyclist.

“There is no question of his perseverance and dedication and focus on the positive,” Thom Rowland, 46, of Castle Rock, Colo., a colon cancer survivor shopping at Niketown, told The Post.

On the drug scandal, Rowland said he’d keep an open mind until the verdict.

“Everybody was doing it back then,” he said. “Was he at an advantage if everyone was doing it? But the flip side is, cheating is cheating.”

Queens resident Lucas Mendoza, 31, was buying a Livestrong T-shirt despite the doping charges.

“He is a good person,” Mendoza said. “He has done a lot of good things for people. I’m getting one of the shirts.”

The Livestrong foundation supports people with cancer. According to IRS filings, the not-for-profit based in Austin, Texas, brings in $43 million in tax-free money per year.

The company earns around $30 million from licensing the brand to stores such as Niketown where a T-shirt can cost $38.

The foundation plows back about $28 million annually to the public in marketing awards to health centers to raise awareness about ways of dealing with the disease.

While fans and sponsors are keeping the faith, Adler did say it may be wiser for those companies looking to jump onto the Armstrong brand to wait.

“If your brand is considering a new deal with Lance Armstrong, you might want to ride this one out. For new deals, I’d call this one a definite hold.”

catkinson@nypost.com

Lance Armstrong, Lance Armstrong, Thom Rowland, Kevin Adler, allegations, Livestrong, Anheuser-Busch, Nike, Jarrod Moses, Engage Marketing, performance-enhancing drugs

Nypost.com

Rookie RB Wilson fast fave with Giants

Steve Serby
Follow Steve on Twitter

The elephant in the room has been replaced by a rabbit. Thunder has been replaced by Lightning. A Streetcar Named Ire has been replaced by a Speedboat Named Desire. Goliath has been replaced by David Wilson.

“I don’t know if we’ve had a guy as explosive — regardless of the position — here,” Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride said as mini-camp ended Thursday. “I think Da’Rel Scott gives you a guy that probably in a 100-yard dash may be able to beat him, but I don’t know that you see quite the darting, the explosiveness and short burst that you see with [Wilson].”

N.Y. Post: Charles Wenzelberg

ON THE RISE: Rookie running back David Wilson raises his helmet at Giants mini-camp yesterday.

Brandon Jacobs would take a linebacker’s breath away with the force of his 264-pound fury. If the Giants are right about Wilson, he will take their fans’ breath away.

“This guy’s got the kind of explosion that I’m not sure how many guys in the league have,” Gilbride said.

The pre-Jerry Reese Giants missed on Jarrod Bunch and Tyrone Wheatley and Ron Dayne, all first-round draft picks, but The first impressions around the Timex Performance Center about the Giants’ latest top pick will make the rest of the NFC East uneasy with worry that Eli Manning may now have the kind of lethal weapon he has never had in his eight seasons.

“If you leave a sliver, or a peek of a gap open, he is a young man that can see that sliver or that little peek of a gap, and accelerate through that hole before you can close that gap up,” defensive coordinator Perry Fewell said, “and be gone.”

There is the tiny matter of Wilson learning the playbook first, so he doesn’t get Manning killed when he spells Ahmad Bradshaw.

“Obviously, he has the ability to run the ball and make some big plays, but unless he understands a lot of our checks and protections and change of protections, Until you have a great grasp of that, you’re not gonna be able to get on the field,” Manning said. “But it seems like he’s learning and picking up things.”

Wilson used to catch and pick up rabbits in Danville, Va., as a hobby.

“I like him a lot,” Justin Tuck said. “We’re gonna attack him in training camp to make sure he’s still holding that ball, but as far as things we like to do and him being an impact this season, I think he’s gonna really upgrade our running attack. I look at him as a great third-down back too.”

Chase Blackburn can’t wait to see Wilson in pads in training camp.

“He reminds me of LT when I first came into the league a little bit, just the speed and like the vision and stuff,” Blackburn said.

Wilson smiled broadly when he heard that one.

“Hope I have the same career — or better,” he said.

I told him if he somehow were to have a better career, I would drive him to Canton, and he laughed.

“Gotta get some gas. … I’m competitive, so I’m gonna get after it,” Wilson said. “You always gotta try to be the best, that’s how I figure it.”

Wilson proudly said he led the nation in yards after contact at Virginia Tech.

“I’m going in expecting to make an immediate impact,” Wilson says.

He isn’t one of those Dancing With the Stars backs.

“He’s more of that one-cut-hit-the-hole kind of back, which I like,” Tuck said.

Prince Amukamara was quick to check out Wilson’s highlights and backflip video on YouTube.

“If I was scouting him, I would just say he’ s some person who hits the hole, and when he hits it, he hits it hard, and he doesn’t lose a step … especially when he cuts, he continues his acceleration, and he seems like a very tough kid.”

Wilson is Tiki Barberesque at 5-foot-9, 206 pounds.

“He’s almost like a [LeSean] McCoy a little bit,” Linval Joseph said. “He’s very quick, very crafty.”

Bradshaw promised to take the kid under his wing.

“He’s talented, he’s fast, he’s shifty, he can read holes, he can read blocks, he has a lot of talent,” Bradshaw said.

Wilson turns 21 today, but don’t expect a wild celebration.

“I don’t drink,” he said. Music to the Giants’ ears, especially this week.

steve.serby@nypost.com

Exclusive Super Bowl merchandise featuring New York Post front pages

Wilson, David Wilson, Giants, the Giants, Kevin Gilbride, Eli Manning

Nypost.com

Still living the dream at U.S Open

Mark McCormick

I rested after my Tuesday practice round with Phil Mickelson, stayed at the hotel, showered and went to bed. Yesterday, I continued my dream week with a practice round with Matt Kuchar and Gary Woodland.

When I was signing up for practice rounds, I just saw the two of them were in the book and I said to the guy making the tee times, “These guys are just two. Can I play with them?’’ He said, “‘Sure.’’ I said, “Put me in. I already played with Phil. No big deal.’’

U.S. OPEN: HOLE BY HOLE

My son Ryan (a sophomore on the St. John’s golf team) is a big fan of Matt Kuchar and his instructor, Chris O’Connell and the one-plane swing he teaches, so I figured it would be great for him. I like Kuchar. He’s a great guy. How can you not like Kuchar? Come on.

Matt Kuchar, Chris O’Connell, practice rounds, Mark McCormickI

Nypost.com

Grubler one-ups sister, wins family's first Wingate Award

Ashley Grubler is the best Grubler now.

Her and her sister Mallory each enjoyed memorable volleyball careers at Cardozo, dominant tenures that includes city championship and division titles.

Monday night at the Brooklyn Marriott, however, Ashley separated herself from her old sister when she won the Wingate Award – given to the top senior in each sport – for girls volleyball, an honor her sister never achieved.

“My sister never got one,” said Ashley, The Post's All-City girls volleyball Player of the Year. “I wanted to beat her. It means a lot. Now it’s in the Grubler house.”

Denis Gostev

Cardozo's Ashley Grubler won the Wingate Award for girls volleyball on Monday.

It was a memorable senior year for Ashley, who led Cardozo to a second straight city championship. The Bayside native had 19 kills in a victory over Susan Wagner in the semis and 13 kills in the championship match against rival Francis Lewis to cap a magical career. Even more importantly, the senior became a leader, the key to the Judges’ playoff run after an uneven regular season.

Before the playoffs, coach Danny Scarola talked with his star about not just leading her teammates with her powerful swings on the court, but taking the pressure off of them. She was hard on herself and that attitude wasn’t beneficial. In the postseason, she cut out the negativity, encouraging teammates and her play, in addition to theirs, picked up as a result.

“She knows she had to take on more of a vocal role and I knew she had it in her,” Scarola said previously. “It’s great to watch high school kids finally realize they had it in them and they all of a sudden take it upon themselves to do that.”

Ashley added: “It was exactly how I pictured my senior year and more because I won the award.”

“It was an honor, to be among so many really, really good athletes and be one of them,” she said. “It was fun. It was very rewarding. … My hard work paid off.”

Ashley is headed to Penn State, where she may walk-on. She hasn’t decided yet, because her major -- veterinary and biomedical sciences – may be too demanding. She exchanged emails with the program’s coaches in the Fall, so there is still an option.

No matter what happens, Ashley will always have her four years at Cardozo, the two city titles and the Wingate Award. She’ll also have the edge on Mallory as well.

“Having a champion and the Wingate, it gives me bragging rights even though she had a fantastic four years,” Ashley said. “I don’t know if she’s jealous. I haven’t asked. She was real proud of me.”

zbraziller@nypost.com

Ashley Grubler, sister Mallory, Grubler, volleyball, girls volleyball, Ashley, Ashley, Danny Scarola, Susan Wagner, Francis Lewis, championship

Nypost.com

Logo switch hitting

Viacom’s cable network, Logo, is going from gay to “gay-ish.”

Launched in the summer of 2005 and aimed at the LGBT community — with shows like “Drag U” and “1 girl 5 gays” — Logo is switching focus and adding programs geared for straight women, The Post has learned.

The switch was first evident this past April when Logo debuted a show about kids’ beauty pageants, “Eden’s Wood,” featuring the child star of TLC’s “Toddlers and Tiaras.”

Other new shows are about gay and married couples adopting kids in “BabyWait,” and gay and straight couples in therapy in “Love Lockdown.”

The change is upsetting some gay TV executives who feel the programming changes have gone too far.

“Maybe as the core focus they are abandoning gay and moving towards what seems to be the primary target: straight women,” one source close to the channel told The Post.

“The word gay is getting left behind a bit,” the source noted.

Logo is using NBCUniversal’s Bravo and Discovery’s TLC as a template of sorts, sources said.

Both channels have shows with high concentrations of gay viewers, according to cable experts.

Logo currently commands six cents per subscriber per month, and is carried in 53.4 million households, according to SNL Kagan estimates.

Affiliate revenue is expected to grow about 18 percent to $35.5 million this year from $30 million in 2011.

Advertising revenue at Logo has been flat at around $18 million between 2009 and 2011 — forecasts have it reaching $21 million in 2012.

The switch away from almost exclusive LGBT programming is no doubt aimed at boosting ad rates and broadening the focus of the niche channel, a move being made by many cable channels.

Other cable networks broadening their focus include A&E TV Networks’ History, which dumped the black-and-white World War II documentaries in favor of hit period dramas such as “Hatfields and McCoys,” while NBCUniversal’s SyFy Channel took the unusual tack of airing a food show last year, “Marcel’s Quantum Kitchen.”

“Shows like ‘Project Runway’ and ‘Real Housewives’ are strong with a gay audience, but not exclusively so,” said Gary Lico, founder and CEO, of CableU, a online analytics company that tracks changes in cable programming.

“If I’m Logo, can I be a bit like [Bravo and TLC] and drop the gay tag and be a bit more androgynous?” he asked.

The network, launched by cable veteran Matt Farber, was always programmed to be inclusive of non-gay themes, but now the network’s top executive says that gay themes permeate the culture so much that the network needs to evolve.

Logo Executive Vice President Lisa Sherman told Multichannel News recently that only 30 percent of the gay audience wanted to live, work and socialize exclusively with other gays, hence the changes.

“About 24 percent of primetime shows on broadcast and cable have a gay story line or gay character because that’s reality and life,” she said.

A spokesman for the channel said: “Gay remains in the DNA.” The network’s tag line is Logo: Beyond Labels.

catkinson@nypost.com

cable network, cable networks, gay audience, Executive Vice President Lisa Sherman, straight women, LGBT community

Nypost.com

Moscow Lifts Pressure on Opposition

MOSCOW—Russian police searched the homes of several prominent opposition leaders Monday, raising the pressure on critics just a day before a major antigovernment rally in Moscow.

The searches, which lasted more than 10 hours and ended with the confiscation of computers, documents and large sums of cash, marked a new escalation in the Kremlin's crackdown on opponents. They came after President Vladimir Putin signed into law a controversial bill on Friday that sharply increases fines for violations at protests.

Investigators also summoned protest leaders for questioning Tuesday in what activists said seemed to be an attempt to prevent them from attending the demonstration.

Authorities said their actions were entirely in line with procedure and part of a probe into violence that broke out between police and demonstrators at the last protest, on May 6. No opposition leaders have yet been charged in that case. But due to the charges' severity, anyone charged in that case could see substantially longer jail terms than the 15 days protesters often get for minor violations.

A spokesman for the Investigative Committee, which handled the actions Monday, said in a statement that investigators confiscated "large amounts of agitation materials and literature with antistate slogans," as well as computers and other materials.

Monday's searches elicited angry responses even from figures relatively loyal to the Kremlin. Mikhail Fedotov, chairman of the presidential human-rights commission, told the Interfax news agency he was "shocked" and said he canceled a trip to be able to attend Tuesday's demonstration as an observer.

Alexei Kudrin, a longtime Putin ally and former finance minister, said on Twitter, "The searches of the opposition leaders on the eve of June 12, alongside the new law, will radicalize the protest and demonstrate the strengthening of the influence of radicals in the regime."

Opposition leaders said they thought the actions would only add to turnout at Tuesday's demonstration, which is shaping up to be a test of strength for Kremlin critics and of the authorities' tolerance for protests. The protesters are calling for an end to Mr. Putin's domination of the political system, new parliamentary elections after allegations of widespread fraud in the December vote, and an end to Kremlin media control.

A prominent Internet TV station said local residents who had agreed to allow cameras into their apartments to film the march changed their minds or stopped answering phones Monday.

Investigators' actions Monday were covered virtually live in Twitter, at least until police confiscated activists' computers, iPads and cellphones.Anticorruption blogger Alexei Navalnyi kept up a steady stream of reports during the more than 10 hours police spent at his apartment. Policemen with submachine guns stood guard at the door.

A smiling Mr. Navalnyi followed masked investigators carrying boxes of confiscated materials from his apartment and denounced the probe as an effort at "intimidation" aimed at sabotaging the protest and collecting information on opponents. "All this will lead to greater turnout," he said.

Leftist leader Sergei Udaltsov said police "turned his apartment upside-down" and summoned him for questioning Tuesday. "They clearly want to prevent me from coming to the demonstration," he wrote in Twitter. "In any case, I appeal to all to come out tomorrow to the protest. We shouldn't have fear." Investigators said they confiscated lists of members of his movement from his apartment.

Kseniya Sobchak, the glamorous TV host who has become one of the stars of the protest movement since it picked up pace in December, also was targeted Monday. Her lawyer said police had qualified her as a witness in the case against Ilya Yashin, a young opposition leader to whom she has been linked romantically.

Ms. Sobchak complained in Twitter that she was "half-dressed" during the search and wasn't allowed to change her clothes. She said police had read her correspondence with "her beloved person," though she didn't mention Mr. Yashin by name.

She also said police confiscated €1.5 million ($1.9 million) in cash from her apartment. She didn't explain why she had such a large sum of money at home. Many major transactions in Russia, such as real estate, are conducted in cash.

The Investigative Committee said it found over €1 million in both euros and dollars, "packed in more than 100 envelopes," and was trying to ascertain its source and purpose.

Write to Alexander Kolyandr at Alexander.Kolyandr@dowjones.com and Gregory L. White at greg.white@wsj.com

Vladimir Putin, opposition leaders, Kremlin, Russian police, demonstration, Investigators, Investigative Committee, opposition leader

Online.wsj.com

Pacquiao promoter rips decision for Bradley

LAS VEGAS -- Moments after Tim Bradley was awarded a controversial split decision over Manny Pacquiao on Saturday night at the MGM Grand, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum went into a tirade, ripping the two judges who scored the fight for Bradley and threatening to keep the rematch out of Nevada.

“What we saw tonight was ridiculous. That’s the only word to describe it: ridiculous,” Arum said. “We’re not morons, all of us. The outcry world wide about this decision will not be good for boxing.”

Bradley (29-0, 12 KOs) handed Pacquiao (54-4-2, 38 KOs) his first loss in seven years and claimed the WBO welterweight championship when he was awarded a split decision that stunned a packed crowd. All three judges scored the bout 115-113. Jerry Roth had it for Pacquiao, while Cynthia J. Ross and Duane Ford gave Bradley the nod. All are veteran judges from Nevada with multiple championship fights to their credit.

Boos filled the arena when the decision was announced and Arum didn’t hold back his displeasure even though he promotes both fighters.

“I think it’s incomprehensible,” Arum said, adding he would offer to take the judges to see his eye specialist. “I have the best eye doctor in the world and if they would get on a plane and go to Los Angeles, I would pay for them to have a visit.”

The Post scored the fight 116-112 for Pacquiao, who according to CompuBox landed 253 punches to 159 for Bradley, including 190 power punches to 108 for Bradley.

“I thought we won the fight,” said Pacquiao’s Hall of Fame trainer, Freddie Roach. “I thought he fought a very good fight. I thought it was one of his best fights since the [Miguel] Cotto fight. Bradley was very tough and very durable, but I thought we clearly won the fight.”

Pacquiao said he respected the decision, “but 100 percent I believe I won the fight.”

A replay of the bout will be shown on HBO on Saturday at 10 p.m. EDT before the live telecast of the middleweight championship between Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Andy Lee from El Paso, Texas.

A rematch had been negotiated as part of their original deal, with the date set for Nov. 10. Bradley went so far as to display an oversized ticket made up for the rematch, during the press conference on Wednesday. The outcome has left some wondering whether everything was on the up-and-up.

“Something wasn’t right,” Roach said, “because what everyone else saw and what [the judges] saw were two different things.”

What shouldn’t be lost is a gutsy performance by Bradley. He fractured the top of his left foot in the second round, also sprained his right ankle, and needed a wheelchair to attend his post-fight press conference. Despite the pain, he was able to withstand the hard flurries of Pacquiao and steal the fight because the two judges that favored him scored the last three rounds for Bradley.

“He hit me with some big shots early on,” Bradley said, “but I persevered and went through the pain and used my boxing ability towards the end to clear some rounds, maybe the last five rounds, to get the victory.”

Bradley didn’t apologize for winning the split decision.

“There were three judges out there and two felt I won that fight,” Bradley said. “What do you want me to do? That’s all I can say on that. But we definitely have to do it again.”

Boxing has had its share of controversial decisions in recent months. Three judges were suspended in New Jersey after Paul Williams was given a majority decision over Erislandy Lara last July. There were plenty of people who thought Pacquiao didn’t deserve the majority decision he earned over Juan Manuel Marquez last November.

Pacquiao is already looking forward to the rematch, saying he’ll become “a warrior” in his training.

“I don’t want the rematch to last all 12 rounds,” he said.

george.willis@nypost.com

Manny Pacquiao, Pacquiao, Pacquiao, Tim Bradley, Bradley, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, split decision, Cynthia J. Ross, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

Nypost.com

Grand ‘D’ is dandy in clutch

The Yankees have had to rely on Curtis Granderson’s bat more than a few times this season, but last night, they needed his glove.

Granderson, playing in his customary shallow spot in center, had to race deep into left-center to catch up to Omar Quintanilla’s drive in the seventh inning that almost certainly would have scored Josh Thole from first to tie a game the Yankees ended up winning, 4-2.

“Whenever you can keep runs from scoring, it’s always big,” Granderson said.

Especially when you’re going through an 0-for-18 slump.

Granderson snapped that in the bottom of the eighth when he hit his 18th homer of the season, a shot to right off Bobby Parnell to give the Yankees an insurance run.

Despite the hitless streak, Granderson never thought he lost his swing.

“I felt like I had decent at-bats,” Granderson said. “I just haven’t been able to do much with them. It’s not mechanical.”

BOX SCORE

SUBWAY SERIES MOMENTS

But he hasn’t been bothered in the field. After Thole’s one-out single in the seventh knocked Phil Hughes out of the game, southpaw Boone Logan was brought in to face the lefty-hitting Quintanilla.

Though the Mets’ newest shortstop isn’t about to make anyone forget Ruben Tejada, let alone Jose Reyes, he has had a strong Subway Series so far.

After coming up with the Mets’ only hit off Hiroki Kuroda on Friday night — a double up the gap in left-center — Quintanilla added a homer to right in the second inning last night. Then he came up with what looked like another extra-base hit in the seventh.

“It was just a matter of trying to get there,” Granderson said. “The ball hung up a little bit, and I was able to get there and catch it. A play like that can change a ballgame.”

It did. Thole never scored and the Mets failed to knot the game.

And it made Granderson even more confident about leaving plenty of room between him and the fence.

“It can go both ways,” Granderson said. “You don’t want a double [over your head], but I feel more comfortable going back. I feel better that way, and I get a better jump going back since that’s my first instinct.”

One that served the Yankees well last night.

dan.martin@nypost.com

Curtis Granderson, Granderson, Omar Quintanilla, Josh Thole, the Yankees, Yankees, Hiroki Kuroda, Bobby Parnell

Nypost.com

Cardinal Hayes' Jenkins ends the suspense, picks George Mason

Jalen Jenkins, the supremely versatile and talented forward out of Cardinal Hayes, has toyed with the idea of going straight to college or taking a postgraduate year for a while now.

The recent high school graduate has gone back and forth between the two like a pendulum swinging from side to side. In that time, colleges have come and gone, some turned off by the possibility he may reclassify into the Class of 2013 and others hoping he would do so.

George Mason never stopped recruiting the Yonkers native. The CAA school wanted him either way – this coming season or the one after. Jenkins returned the Patriots’ loyalty this week, verbally committing to George Mason and head coach Paul Hewitt. He has yet to decide if he will be at the Fairfax, Va., school in the fall or do a prep year – at 17 years old, he is a young senior, after all.

Denis Gostev

Cardinal Hayes' Jalen Jenkins has verbally committed to George Mason.

“They’re with me whatever I want to do,” he said while playing with New Heights at Rumble in the Bronx at John Jay College in Manhattan.

Jenkins, an All-City second team selection by The Post, chose George Mason over Rhode Island, Fordham, Manhattan, Quinnipiac, Iona and others, but he said it was really George Mason all the way. He fell in love with the campus and was comfortable with the coaching staff, notably Hewitt who was his lead recruiter.

“It’s always good when the head coach calls you – that’s who calls the shots,” Jenkins said. “It was a big sign, a sign they wanted me and saw potential in me.”

There were high major schools to enquire and show interest in Jenkins, he said, like Providence and Marquette, but he felt George Mason fit him like a glove.

“They make the [NCAA] Tournament every year, they compete every year,” he said. “I know if I work hard and do what I need to do, they’re going to give me a chance.”

Jenkins was particularly impressed with the sprawling campus, which he said reminded him of the North Carolinas and Dukes of the ACC. He wanted to get out of New York City, but not go too far, and George Mason offered that.

“I wanted to get out, experience something new,” he said. “When you’re a kid playing basketball in New York City, you’ve seen all of the tri-state and everything it has to offer.”

His transition will be eased by the presence of point guard Corey Edwards, a good friend of his who he stayed with on his visit. The two talked a lot about the school in recent weeks and Jenkins liked everything Edwards had to say, from the coaching staff to the school’s social life to its academic programs.

“It’s a great marriage,” New Heights coach Kimani Young said. “It’s a great level for him, whether he gets there this year or next year. Paul Hewitt will be a great mentor for him.”

George Mason is getting a multidimensional player in Jenkins. A combo forward who can step out behind the 3-point line, score inside and distribute and lead a fastbreak, one Division I coach familiar with Jenkins said he has the “potential” to be an all-conference performer in the CAA.

“Jalen is a very cerebral player who can really pass and handle the ball for a forward,” the coach said. “He’s a great kid that will have a lot of success in the MAAC.”

Jenkins is happy to have the long-and-winding process over with. While there is the possibility he could attend prep school in the fall – he will likely decide after the AAU season ends in July, his most important decision – where he will attend college – is over with.

“[George Mason] has everything I wanted,” he said.

zbraziller@nypost.com

George Mason, Jalen Jenkins, Paul Hewitt, Paul Hewitt, Jenkins, Cardinal Hayes

Nypost.com

Trojans lament poor at bats, Sanchez's absence in loss to Grand Street

George Washington believed its title got away in the early innings.

“We didn’t let the pitcher work,” Trojans star Nelson Rodriguez said. “We didn’t take good at bats.”

The catcher felt he and his teammates were too anxious at the plate against Grand Street ace Gerry Gonzalez. They swung at too many first pitches and didn't look to work enough walks. The crafty left didn't give up a hit through the first four innings to the mighty GW lineup. By the time they adjusted, Gonzalez had his confidence and a two-run lead.

“I think we let him get into a rhythm and didn’t break up his rhythm at all,” George Washington coach Steve Mandl said.

Christina Santucci

George Washington's Steven Segarra reacts to the loss.

Photos: Grand Street Campus-George Washington

His team got just a fifth-inning run and left the bases loaded with one out for the defending champions. With two on in the seventh, Randy Rodriguez hit a comebacker to Gonzalez that ended the fourth-seeded Trojans' 2-1 loss to No. 2 Grand Street Campus in the PSAL Class A baseball final Friday night at MCU Park in Brooklyn.

“We outhit them and even five hits are a shock to us,” said Mandl, who didn’t coach last year because of a suspension for recruiting violations.

The Trojans played without one of their best players in center fielder Fernelys Sanchez, who was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the 16th round of the MLB First-Year Player Draft earlier this week. Mandl said he found out Thursday that the organization didn’t want him to play and his advisor agreed out of fear of him getting hurt. Sanchez missed almost the whole season with a broken fibula. The longtime coach wasn’t happy, but didn’t use it as an excuse.

“It made no sense whatsoever,” Mandl said. “All these kids play in the College World Series. Their first two picks are a catcher and a pitcher in the College World Series.”

GW starter Edwin Corniel gave his team a chance to rally giving up just four hits over five innings while walking three and striking out four. The senior allowed an RBI triple to Kevin Martir in the first inning and a solo blast to left by Ernesto Lopez in the fourth to make it 2-0 Grand Street (21-1).

The Trojans (19-3) showed life in the top of the seventh. Bryan Mejia reached on an error and with one out Yasmany Gomez was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second. Henry Rodriguez flied out Randy Rodriguez repeatedly fouled off Gonzalez pitches and was almost safe on a high throw.

“He is one of the people you want up in that situation,” Mandl said.

While that at bat didn’t go its way, George Washington still lamented its approach at the plate in the early frames.

“When we had bases loaded that’s when we started taking pitches,” Nelson Rodriguez said. “He started walking people and then we started swinging at first pitches. We weren’t patient.”

jstaszewski@nypost.com

George Washington, George Washington, Nelson Rodriguez, Nelson Rodriguez, Grand Street ace Gerry Gonzalez, Trojans, Randy Rodriguez, SantucciGeorge Washington, Grand Street, Grand Street, Gonzalez, Grand Street Campus, Steven Segarra, Atlanta Braves, Mandl

Nypost.com

Time Warner mulling leadership change at CNN

Time Warner brass is succession planning at CNN, but no one’s walking the plank just yet.

Senior management is putting together a short list of potential candidates to run CNN Worldwide to end the ratings death spiral at the flagship news channel, several sources confirm.

The once-mighty neTWork, created in 1980 by Ted Turner, has been recording some of its lowest ratings in 20 years. Last month, CNN ranked 44th in prime time in the advertiser-coveted, 25-to-54-year-old demographic.

That lowly rank places CNN below even Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network and the Bio Channel — attracting just 114,000 viewers in the demographic. A lackluster primary season hasn’t helped the network rustle up its usual presidential election spike.

Dimitrios Kambouris

Time Warner chief Jeff Bewkes (above) and Andersen Cooper can’t help fractured ratings.

CNN has pulled in an average of just 633,000 primetime viewers in the year ending June 30 — about 20 percent fewer eyeballs than two presidential election cycles ago.

Such a rating meltdown demands action and TW higher- ups are brainstorming for ideas for new management candidates with an eye on potentially replacing Jim Walton, who runs CNN Worldwide, several sources said.

The 53-year old executive’s contract is said to end on Dec. 31. Nothing will happen before the Nov. 6 elections The Post has learned.

When asked if there’s a search on, one TW insider told The Post, “We’re always thinking about succession. Are there any changes right now? No.”

Officials declined comment.

The poor ratings come as Madison Avenue allocates its annual ad dollars.

CNN’s ad revenue growth over the last two years is roughly 12 percent — the smallest increase of any of its rivals, including younger sibling Headline News, which saw ad revenue grow 20 percent in the period.

“Its being looked at very hard by [Time Warner CEO] Jeff Bewkes,” said one source who is familiar with TW’s thinking, adding, [Turner’s] “Phil [Kent] has stuck by Walton through thick and thin. Until recently they had a good business story going for them, but they’re having to do a lot of make-goods.”

Other cable news outlets are doing make-goods, too.

At a recent media conference, Walton’s direct boss, Kent, chairman and CEO of Turner Broadcasting, said he was “very unhappy,” with the situation.

Kent backed the current primetime lineup, which only includes shows hosted by Anderson Cooper at 8 p.m. and Piers Morgan at 9 p.m. A Cooper re-run airs at 10 p.m.

“We haven’t put the best shows on the air,” said Kent, speaking of the line-up outside of prime time.

Several news business high-ups say one name being floated internally to come in and revive CNN ratings is Jeff Zucker, the former NBCUniversal boss. Zucker is friendly with both Bewkes and corporate adviser, Gary Ginsberg. The Zucker prospect has rattled some in the executive ranks. No outreach has occurred around that idea.

In any case, Zucker is tied to Walt Disney Co. until at least early next year, as exec producer of “Katie.” Zucker did not return a call for comment.

Meanwhile, CNN insiders are also carping about the hiring of chef Anthony Bourdain to record a weekend show as editorial staff are being downsized. “People were like, ‘whaaaat?’ They’re eliminating reporters and replacing them with a food guy?”

catkinson@nypost.com

Jeff Zucker, Time Warner, CNN Worldwide, Jim Walton, TW, Ted Turner, succession planning, Jeff Bewkes, Andersen Cooper, Anderson Cooper, ratings, presidential election

Nypost.com